Motivations
East River Watershed:
-
Major tributary to the Lower Fox River and Green Bay in northeastern Wisconsin.
-
Communities are threatened by intensifying flooding problems.
East River is one of the highest contributors of sediment and nutrients to Green Bay, leading to eutrophication, toxic cyanobacteria blooms, and poor water clarity in the bay. East River’s watershed was once full of forests and wetlands; now land use is dominated by agriculture and urban areas, with only 15% of the land remaining wetland and forests.​
Rising Flooding Risk
-
Period of increased development is also seeing more intense and frequent flooding.
-
More frequent and intense rainfalls, rapid thawing of ice and snow, and ice dams exacerbate flooding events.
-
The lower reach area is more vulnerable to coastal flooding due to the high water levels, seiches, and storm events.
Changes in land use, particularly the loss of wetland and forests, pose an increasingly daunting threat: flooding. Extreme flooding jeopardizes the lives and livelihoods of people in urban and rural areas, as well as wetlands, forests, and agriculture. The lower reaches of the East River become even more vulnerable to flooding due to the influence of coastal processes in the bay, e.g., high water levels, seiches, or storm surges. As more flooding hazards can be expected due to increasing extreme precipitation, there is a need to assess and reduce the impact of flooding in the East River watershed.​
