The Milwaukee River Watershed is suffering from degraded water quality. This program is a partnership between United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), local municipalities, county conservation Departments, and various other entities whose overarching goal is to improve water quality in the Milwaukee River Watershed. 

 The Milwaukee River Watershed covers a large portion of southwest Sheboygan County, as well as large portions of Fond Du Lac, Washington, and Ozaukee counties. The Milwaukee River drains into Lake Michigan, and is most impacted from sediment, phosphorus, and bacteria runoff.  

There is funding available to support agricultural conservation easements and to implement conservation practices throughout the river corridors in the project area. Through this program, our Department is offering technical and financial assistance to landowners in the Milwaukee River Watershed for the implementation of grassed based practices including but not limited to grassed waterways, cover crops, pollinator plantings, no till, and managed grazing. 

These practices help build healthy soils. Healthy soils protect water quality by retaining more water, resisting erosion, mitigating flooding, and they can even increase agricultural productivity. 

Contact us today if you live in the Milwaukee River Watershed and are interested in implementing conservation practices on your land! 

Sheboygan County Milwaukee River Watershed Conservation Partnership Program Informational Handout 

MMSD Working Soils/MRWCP: 

https://www.mmsd.com/what-we-do/flood-management/working-soils 

USDA-NRCS MRWCP Handout: