Several projects in Door and Kewaunee counties will receive critical state funding after Governor Tony Evers announced more than $1.3 million in grants on Friday. The announcement was in celebration of Coastal Awareness Month, and it will benefit 35 coastal communities in Wisconsin as a result.

“Today’s investment works to ensure these vital communities have the tools and resources they need to thrive, address climate change, expand public access to our coastal resources, and preserve our coastlines for future generations of Wisconsinites,” said Evers following the announcement.

Five projects specific to Door and Kewaunee counties will receive $120,620 in grant funding, while hundreds of thousands more could impact them.

In Door County, the Door County Soil & Water Conservation Department received $25,800 to address the spread of terrestrial invasive species along the Lake Michigan shoreline through public outreach and workshops for residents through partnerships with Wild Ones and the City of Sturgeon Bay. Crossroads at Big Creek in Sturgeon Bay will improve access to monitoring equipment in Door County and gather baseline water quality data for future research studies, thanks to a $27,962 grant from the program. The Wisconsin Historical Society will use its $15,786 grant to investigate, map, and evaluate the cultural resources associated with commercial piers on Washington and Detroit Island.

In Kewaunee County, the City of Kewaunee will develop a habitat restoration plan for the city-owned marshland, 65 acres of an 810-acre wetland at the mouth of the Kewaunee River, with its $27,800 grant.

Both counties will benefit from a $23,272 grant for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey to calibrate and test a geologically realistic numerical groundwater flow model and develop a water-table map and a map of groundwater recharge values for southern Door and Kewaunee counties.

Additional grants for the Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission and UW-Green Bay for the area’s National Estuarine Research Reserve designation process could also have an indirect, but potentially positive impact on Door and Kewaunee counties. The grants were recommended by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Council and part of the federally-funded Coastal Management Program.