Work is continuing on a major project to identify areas adjacent to the Cedarburg Bog that supply groundwater needed to protect critical habitat there.

The project is being managed by Joanne Kline, longtime Bog Friend and an Environmental Analysis and Review Specialist with the Wisconsin DNR.

Very soon you will be able to follow the project online via a Google Earth map on the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program Web site click here . It already has some of the previous years' grants posted so keep an eye on the site.

The Cedarburg Bog is a groundwater dependent ecosystem. Groundwater affects the Bog's water supply, which in turn affects its plant communities and the populations of many rare plants and animals. Land use and development in areas where groundwater is recharged have the potential to change the quality and quantity of water reaching Cedarburg Bog. Determining how groundwater flows to and through the Bog and identifying the groundwater recharge areas is essential to protecting this critical habitat. Supporting scientific studies to protect Cedarburg Bog is a major goal of the Friends.

The first phase of this project consists of developing a local scale water table map and mapping the stratigraphy of the Cedarburg Bog area to understand local groundwater flow. To do this we examined well logs and previous hydrogeologic studies in the area. A second phase will refine these maps using a variety of methods and then examine the relationship of groundwater flow to surface water features and to known rare species habitat. Groundwater dependent rare species of particular interest are the Hine's emerald dragonfly and the eastern prairie white-fringed orchid.

The project is funded by the Friends of the Cedarburg Bog through a grant from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, and support from the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Ozaukee and Washington Counties, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.