MEQUON, Wis. — Dozens of neighbors gathered Friday to mark decades of Ozaukee County's investment in its parks, floodplains and natural ecosystems — but the celebration comes as one of the primary grant programs that helped fund the work has run out.
WATCH: Ozaukee County celebrates decades of conservation work; grant program expires
The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, a fixture in the Wisconsin state budget for nearly four decades, saw its funding expire at the end of June.
The county had planned a tour of bluffs, forests and prairies showcasing completed park projects and restoration sites starting at Mequon's Virmond Park Friday morning, but it was canceled due to poor air quality.
The afternoon still included a Gathering Waters lifetime achievement award presentation to Andrew Struck, director of the Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Department, for his leadership on many of those projects.
Struck acknowledged the funding loss creates real challenges, but said the department is already focused on what comes next.
"It can mean projects might not get done that are sorely needed," Struck said. "We'll continue to look at using federal funds, but we'll have to probably do more private fundraising, or private foundations, or corporations to kind of fill that void in the interim."
Knowles-Nelson is one of several ways the department secures funding, along with federal funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Struck says Knowles-Nelson helped provide Ozaukee County and many other communities in Wisconsin with leverage and the ability to meet match funding requirements, a necessary step for receiving many federal grants.
Struck also noted the county's long-term strategy helped temper the impact of last fall's historic flooding — an example of why he says the work must continue regardless of where the funding comes from.
The projects drew praise from residents who have watched the landscape transform over the years. Dale Buser, a lifelong Ozaukee County resident and retired hydrologist, pointed to the Milwaukee River Oxbow project as a prime example of the program's lasting value.
"The Milwaukee River Oxbow project is a quarter a mile away from where I grew up, and it's going to lessen the flooding on the road that connects to the house," Buser said. "It's one of the rare opportunities where we can improve the performance of hydraulic infrastructure and improve wildlife value at the same time."
His wife, Shelly Buser, described the county's natural spaces in broader terms.
"I've traveled the world, and there's no place like Ozaukee County, Wisconsin," she said. "It's important that we also consider how these other areas help us, as well as other animals. But how the trees clean the air. How the marshes filter the water."
Some of the last Knowles-Nelson grants are still being used on active projects, such as the new Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve in Port Washington.
Struck said he is confident the community will find a way forward.
"I'm hopeful that... we'll all be able to come together and... figure out a way to move stewardship forward," Struck said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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