County digs into Saukville nature preserve project

In recent days, local residents have seen bulldozers and other heavy equipment moving and hauling large quantities of soil, preparing the way for changes to the local landscape.

No, not in Port Washington, where the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus is being built, but in Saukville along Highway W north of Highway 33 along the Milwaukee River.

That’s where archaeologists discovered remnants of a “pre-contact” Indian village standing in the way of plans to reconstruct Highway W and restore the river’s oxbow to help reduce chronic flooding.

The remains, some of which date back 1,500 years or more and were discovered last November, will become part of the Milwaukee River Oxbow Nature Preserve, which will be created as part of the reconstruction of Highway W.

Signs of current construction are the first that the project is underway. Work on the highway by the county Highway Department will begin later this summer. Completion is expected next year.

Wisconsin Historical Society archaeologists discovered four separate locations, the largest of which is about two acres, where artifacts were found.

Artifacts found at the site are “pre-contact,” meaning before Europeans were present in the area. They include pottery, arrowheads and other tools.

The Historical Society was hired by the county to conduct “cultural and historical”  research on the site where Highway W will be reconstructed to help alleviate flooding.

The highway project seeks to raise Highway W, move it slightly east and add two culverts under it.

The culverts will allow the Milwaukee River when it rises, to flow under the road into the historic oxbow and then flow back out, helping keep the highway open to traffic during rainy weather.

It will still be subject to closure during 100-year storms, officials said.

In decades past, work on Highway W removed the oxbow, forcing the river to flow over the road, often closing it to traffic.

The project will create a 67-acre park that will include land donated by the Village of Saukville.

But finding the encampment will require moving the river channel farther east, necessitating the current earth-moving operation. That will expand the park by about 13 acres and almost triple the wetlands in the park from about two acres to about six, county Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck said.

About two acres of wetlands west of the road will also be restored by moving the road east, Struck said.

Moving the channel east will allow it to connect with a river channel that runs under Green Bay Avenue.

Plans call for the encampment to be a feature of the park, which will include a kayak launch and be suitable for passive recreation activities like fishing and walking.

Struck said he anticipates a trail system that will skirt the encampment and include signage explaining what was found there.

Nearly $4 million in state and federal grants have been committed to the project, which should be completed next year, Struck said.

Earlier this month, county supervisors sought to add to that total by applying for a $1 million National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant that would be used to develop the nature preserve.