The grants keep coming for Clay Bluffs preserve

Ozaukee County has secured an additional $600,000 grant it will put towards acquiring land that will become the Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Center — pushing the project closer to completion. 

The Community Forest Program grant was awarded to the Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Department by the U.S. Forest Service after the department applied for the funding on Jan. 7. 

“Any funds that help us move forward to acquiring a park that will be of similar quality to Lion’s Den Nature Preserve is greatly appreciated,” County Administrator Jason Dzwinel said. 

The county and Ozaukee Washington Land Trust have been securing funds to purchase 132 acres of lakefront property on the far south end of the City of Port Washington to establish the park since July 1, 2020. 

The property is located north of Lion’s Den Nature Preserve along Highway C.

The County Finance Committee approved a  recommendation to the Board of Supervisors to accept the $600,000 grant amount during its June 24 meeting. 

The funds would be doled out over three phases with the first phase taking about two years and totaling $113,000 including $41,000 for parking, $56,000 for a trail system and $13,000 for signage, gates and garbage cans and other improvements to make the preserve accessible to the public.

To date, $1.95 million in grant funding has been secured to support the project to fund over $2.5 million in acquisition costs, according to Dzwinel. 

The land would be purchased from its current owner, Waukesha State Bank. 

Additional grant applications have also been submitted and are awaiting determination. 

Funding for the project includes a $200,000 county contribution, $561,000 in grants through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Joint Venture Program, a $538,290 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Costal Wetlands Conservation grant, a $250,000 WCMP/NOAA grant and a $10,000 contribution from the Town of Grafton. 

The OWLT has also submitted a grant request for a $2 million award through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program. 

While the State Committee on Joint Finance authorized funding for the stewardship program of just over $33 million for the next four years, the exact status of the grant will not be known until the biennial budget is passed into law due to state level budget deliberations. 

Dzwinel said the stewardship grant coupled with the private fundraising efforts of the OWLT should bring the project to completion.