Our funding would support an expanded water quality monitoring program at the Heckrodt Wetland Reserve, a 91-acre urban nature reserve located on the northern shore of Lake Winnebago in Menasha.

Despite its location in a rapidly urbanizing area, the reserve supports a wide variety of habitats including forested wetland, cattail marsh, open water, prairie, and upland forest.

With this grant, the reserve will conduct 20 water quality monitoring sessions, launch a new microplastics monitoring component, publish a Community Water Quality Annual Report, and offer a free hands-on public education program focused on the ecological importance of wetlands.

The project will also restore 400 linear feet of the Bartz Pond inlet shoreline by removing invasive species and planting native vegetation, helping to filter sediment and pollutants before they reach the broader watershed. This is the Fund’s second grant to the Heckrodt Wetland Reserve.