Kyle Puckhaber helped remove trash from the Kinnickinnic River during a clean-up event. (Photo by Scottie Lee Meyers)
Milwaukee Neighborhood News : Jerry Zaren lays out the 25-pound salmon he and his buddies reeled in Saturday morning from the Kinnickinnic River near the Sixth Street bridge. Zaren, 46, doesn't plan to eat the fish because he fears it's not safe. Nevertheless, he said, "The river is a lot better now than when I was a kid, I can tell you that."
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District launched the River Rehabilitation and Flood Control Project in 2008 to help revive the river. The plan calls for removing more of the concrete-lined channels, installing natural landscaping and demolishing 82 houses that are susceptible to flooding. More than 40 houses already have been demolished.
The physical and ecological transformation is in part a product of partnerships between river and public health advocacy groups with governmental agencies, which have begun a series of projects to control flooding and rehabilitate the river, called the KK River for short.
"The health of the environment directly improves the health of the community," said Amanda Milford, a community health organizer for Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers.
The health center, along with Milwaukee Riverkeeper, hosted the biannual river cleanup near the Sixth Street bridge.
Volunteers work to clean up the Kinnickinnic River. (Photo by Scottie Lee Meyers)