Waterkeeper Alliance

20142015

REPORTANNUAL

1845 N Farwell Avenue • Suite 100Milwaukee, WI 53202

www.milwaukeeriverkeeper.org414 • 287 • 0207

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Grants Receivable

Rent Security Deposit

Prepaid Expenses

Fixed Assets, Net

Beneficial Interest In Assets Held By Others

Total Assets

LiabilitiesAccounts PayablePayroll LiabilitiesTotal Liabilities

Net AssetsUnrestricted Temporarily Restricted Permanently Restricted Total Net Assets

Total Liabilities and Net Assets

$160,977

$167,308

$1,816

$1,063

$928

$51,369

$383,461

$15,992$29,190$45,182

$61,589$225,321$51,369$338,279

$383,461

Assets – Sept. 30, 2015

(-$607)

$10,000$23,726$47,656$56,015

$370,203 73% Foundation

11% Corporations9% Individuals5% Event Income2% Government Grants

0% Gain/Loss On Investment

2014-2015 Sources of Funding

Statement of Financial Position

Mustafa Emir Board President

Jennifer Bolger BrecedaExecutive Director

Dear Friend of the Rivers,

We are pleased to publish our 2015 Annual Report. It was another very busy year full of exciting work and progress towards swimmable, fishable rivers. Highlights from the year are included in this report as well as descriptions of many of our projects and achievements toward protecting and improving water quality in the Milwaukee River Basin.

In May of 2014, Jennifer Bolger Breceda left the Board of Directors of Milwaukee Riverkeeper, and her 15 year private practice in law, to become the Executive Director. She is grateful to the Board who had faith that she could lead this important organization and make a real difference in our community.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper is deeply grateful to all the people who helped make 2014 a success including our members, sponsors, donors, volunteers, part-ners, friends, and staff, and for all the countless ways and hours our supporters gave to our rivers. Thank you for your support and commitment to Milwaukee Riverkeeper. We look forward to working with you towards cleaner and health-ier rivers in 2015!

With Much Gratitude,

Mustafa Emir

Jennifer Bolger Breceda

6% Administration$29,637

8% Fundraising$41,117

86% Program$434,074

2014-2015 Use of Funds

Improving Fish Habitat In 2015, we finished work with Inter-Fluve to design several culvert retrofits to better enable fish passage, and completed removal of 25 large woody debris blockages in the Menomonee River that were impeding fish movement.

Our Missionand Vision

Advocating for Healthy WaterwaysIn 2015, Milwaukee Riverkeeper remained a leading voice and advocate for swimmable, fishable rivers in the Milwaukee River Basin. We worked with many communities to identify strategies to meet our water quality goals and to reduce pollution to our rivers. We continued to review permits for any entity discharging into our local rivers or developing along their shores. In 2015, we also continued to fight for removal of the Estabrook Dam as the cheapest and most environmentally friendly option to reduce risk to public safety. In the Menomonee River Watershed, we partnered with Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust and local municipalities to implement watershed restoration plans, develop a better system for finding and fixing sewage leaks to our stormwater system, and to identify opportunities for jointly funded green infrastructure, streambank stabilization, and stormwater reduction projects. In the Kinnickinnic River, we worked with many partners to find opportunities to address illicit discharges and to achieve water quality and habitat improvements as part of large-scale flood management efforts. Given the strong connection our rivers have to the Great Lakes, we also advocated for policies and measures to protect this resource. We advocated against a proposed nuclear waste repository along Lake Huron, stronger rules for crude oil transport over and under the Lakes through barges and pipelines, and implementation of Asian Carp and invasive species controls. We are also leading efforts to watchdog Waukesha’s Great Lakes diversion proposal, which would be the first proposed diversion under the Great Lakes Compact.

Education We attended dozens of public events and educated people about pollution solutions, how to enjoy rivers, and other timely water topics. We educated our Senior Water Advocates Network (SWAN) to advocate for river protection and get involved in local advocacy efforts. We led a guided river boat tour of the Milwaukee River to talk about all of the important efforts happening along our rivers and why they matter for river health. We continue to partner with local universities like the UWM-School of Freshwater Sciences and MATC to educate the next generation of scientists on water quality issues.

2015 Achievements

Our mission is to protect, improve and advocate for water quality, riparian wildlife habitat, and sound land management in the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic River Watersheds.

We envision a future in which people from all walks of life can enjoy the healthy waterways of the Milwaukee River Basin.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper is a licensed member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, an international coalition ensuring clean water and strong communities.

We are a licensed 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, and a charitable licensed organization through the State of Wisconsin.

On The Water! 2015 did not pass by without some fun on the water too. We connected the community to our rivers, hosted several successful paddles with Milwaukee Kayak Company and added Clear Water Outdoor as a valued partner to get people out enjoying our rivers. We also co-hosted the 10th Annual Milky Moonlight Paddle with River Alliance of Wisconsin. Milwaukee Riverkeeper was proud to partner with Lakefront Brewery for a second year in a row to conduct a rain barrel workshop to convert and paint used sorghum barrels to artististic rain barrels! We also brought our rivers and artists together by hosting our 3rd Annual Arts And Rivers contest with special guest speaker Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Renewing Rivers More than 3,500 volunteers attended our 20th Annual Spring River Cleanup, removing 70,000 pounds of trash and debris from more than 50 locations throughout the Milwaukee River Basin all in one day. We partnered with Leinenkugel Brewing Company for the 4th year in a row, cleaning up a significant section of the Milwaukee River and partnered with several other corporate and community partners to host cleanups throughout the year.

Measuring Water QualityOur citizen water quality monitoring program continues to provide us with quality data to help us further our mission and focus our work to best serve our rivers. More than 90 volunteers continued to monitor more than 100 locations throughout our three watersheds. In addition to testing for dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity, pH, stream flow, and macroinvertebrates, many volunteers also monitored phosphorus and chloride, which are major impairments to water quality in our watersheds. This data allowed us to publish our 5th Annual River Report Card, summarizing water quality in the watersheds. We continued to work with Dr. Sandra McClellan's lab at the UWM-School of Freshwater Sciences to monitor hotspots of human bacteria pollution from our stormwater systems in the Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers. We also worked with Menomonee Valley Partners to measure the quality of stormwater running through treatment systems in Three Bridges and Stormwater Park. We identified local streams that have chloride levels that are both acutely and chronically toxic to fish and aquatic life, and raised funds to expand this work.

We have been involved on advisory committees for several MMSD-led projects, including finishing removal of 1,000 feet of concrete channel from the lower Menomonee River, as well as a nearly million dollar project to remove four “low flow” fish barriers and to ramp another barrier with rock in Hoyt Park. We are also working with private landowners that own riverfront land with fish barriers to educate them about fish passage issues and opportunities for habitat restoration throughout the Menomonee River Watershed.

designed by Eileen Phillips

Mustafa Emir, PhD, PEPresident

Eric VogelVice President

Demaris KenwoodSecretary

Lilith FowlerTreasurer

Joeseph Cincotta

Chris Daood

Brian Lambert

Francisco Martorell

Brian Spahn

Anne Vogel

David Wolfson

Jennifer Bolger Breceda, J.D.Executive Director

Cheryl Nenn, M.S.Riverkeeper

Joe Rath, M.A.Water Quality Specialist

Christina Taddy, M.P.ADevelopment & Operations ManagerCoo

Kelly Moore BrandsCleanup Coorrdinator

We are indebted to the many individuals and organizations who made donations in fiscal year 2013-2014. Due to space limitations, we regret that we cannot list them all.

$500 and upChristopher & Jennifer DaoodMustafa & Laura EmirErehwonDavid GilbertGlendale Woman's ClubKapco, Inc.Demaris & Gontran KenwoodBrian & Sue LanserMargaret McGuireKaren Schapiro & Douglas FrazerDean & JoEllyn SchultzAnn TerwilligerMario Valentinelli $250 and upRichard A. & Joan F. Adboo Jennifer Bolger & Enrique BrecedaMichael Briselli & Jeannee SackenCarolyn EdwardsLilith & Lincoln FowlerJodi Habush Sinykin & Dan SinykinHerbert H. Kohl CharitiesJoDee KuhlFrancisco & Elizabeth MartorellPamela Pletcher & Robert FrenchReinhart Boerner Van DeurenKevin Stone & Marion LivingstoneJim & Marie SederVirginia Linabury & Robert WelkerMatt & Angela Wolter

$100 and upDr. Margo AndersonMike & Michele Arney

Nancy Aten & Dan CollinsJohn BahrKathleen BatesDorothy BeckAnn & Bill BeverlyDoug Bower & Josie CusmaPeter McAvoy & Jacqueline BoyntonMark & Cheryl BrickmanChristy BrooksDonald and Betty CarlsonShelly & James CuleaKathy & John DeCarloRobert & Kristin FewelBarbara FuldnerDarcy & Larry GillPaul & Wendy GreeneyBeth & Dan HandleRichard & Myrna HartleMargarete HarveyScott & Lorrie HeinsDave HetzelLucille RosenbergCharles & Mary KampsJuli KaufmannRenee Kubesh & Thomas MorelySally Kuzma & Aaron GodfreyTerry LeahyThomas LittelmannMatt LuceKevin Mackey & Susan LeVineLou & Mariann MarisJanet MatuszakRachel McGraw & Patrick BradyLaura Meka

Mercury MarineBeryl & John MulhernChrysa MurphyTim & Ellen MurphyDonna NealLaura PeckWarren & Dorothy PhinneyScott HessSteven JanowskiAvigail RubinWendy PorterfieldTheofilos RafaelidysEllen Redeker & Steven HarveyColleen ReillyPat RuetzMax SamsonTim & Jan SchaferBeverly SchwabeScott SiletDale SniderJeffrey StapletonStreich Family FoundationCraig TrewarthaPaul VandeveldAndrea VelicAnne & Fred VogelErika VossWaukesha County Environmental Action LeagueDavid WenstrupGreg & Jean WildeDavid ZalewskiMike ZebrowskiLinda Zetley & Randall Rowlett

$50,000 and upGreat Lakes Restoration IntitativeThe Joyce Foundation

$10,000 and upForest County Potawatomi FoundationFund For Lake MichiganHelen Bader FoundationWisconsin Costal Management

$5,000 and upLux Foundation, Inc.PatagoniaChristine Rundblad in honor of Karen Schapiro

$1,000 and upAmerican Transmission Co.Bob Boucher & Mary WashburneRalph BronnerCommunity Shares of Greater MilwaukeeLynn & Marc GorelickGilbaneJohn and Shirley Jeffrey Fund at the Greater Milwaukee FoundationLeinenkugel Brewing Co.MillerCoorsNatural Resource Technology, Inc.Robert W. Baird & Co. FoundationEric Vogel & Megan HolbrookSusan WineckiWisconsin Energy FoundationDavid & Diane WolfsonUnitarian Universalist Church West