Federal and state agencies from eight Great Lakes states are meeting in Green Bay this week. On the agenda is a one-of-a kind project that is restoring a chain of islands in the Bay.
The three Cat Islands are on the western shore of Green Bay. Over time they eroded but a $27 million project managed by the Great Lakes Dredging Group is underway to build them back up.
The first stage of the project, a wave barrier, is done. Now, Brown County’s Port Director Dean Haen said the effort to rebuild the islands is in motion.
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The fill material comes from dredgings from the port’s channel, something Haen said is unique at least to the Great Lakes region.
“Probably the nation. It is unique in that you’ve got to keep the economic vitality of the port open which means you’ve got to come up with places to put the dredge material,” he explained. “In this case we’ve created an island structure in which we’re going to derive environmental benefits.”
Twenty years from now, when the project is done, Haen said the Cat Islands will be home to birds and other wetland creatures.
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