Summer En La Plaza

Summer en La Plaza is a series of gatherings hosted by individuals, neighbors, artists, entrepreneurs, or community groups to bring the plaza to life, fully utilize the space, and introduce new people to the space. We invite you to consider how this space could get energized by you or your organization! Click here to learn more about the application, and apply today! Email Nora Godoy- González (nora@harbordistrict.org), Placemaking Director, if you have questions.
Harbor District Science Boxes are similar to Free Little Libraries that offer educational information for the community.
There are three Harbor District Science Boxes. Explore each one at the locations below!
Fun stuff! Although contents may vary you will most likely find:
Visit a Science Box and win a free Harbor District t-shirt. This is what you need to do:
We are always looking for educational items to fill our Science Boxes! If you have items to contribute, please reach out to the Harbor District at info@harbordistrict.org.
Our appreciation and thanks goes to the Green Tree Garden Club of Milwaukee. Their contribution to this project helps educate the greater Harbor District community. The purpose of the Green Tree Garden Club is to promote the knowledge and love of gardening by providing education and activities in the areas of conservation, horticulture and civic improvement.
Learn more about the Green Tree Garden Club and how you can become involved by visiting greentreegardenclub.com.
Join Harbor District Milwaukee, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, and Riveredge Nature Center at Harbor Fest for another year of family fun celebrating all things fish, water, and boats! Harbor Fest will take place on Sunday, September 24, 2023 from 11am -3pm in front of UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences (600 E. Greenfield Avenue).
This is NOT for food vendors or exhibitors. Deadline to apply June 1. Selections will be made that following week.
This is for food or merchandise vendors and nonprofits and exhibitors, NOT entertainment or performers. Note – this Deadline to apply August 25. Payment is taken immediately upon submission of application.
Sign up to volunteer at Harbor Fest! Lots of opportunities to help make this community event wonderful!
Green infrastructure captures rain water where it falls and absorbs water into the ground, keeping it out of the sewer system. This is especially important in places with a lot of paved surface.
Green Infrastructure, as opposed to gray infrastructure like sewers, can take numerous forms like rain gardens, barrels, and porous pavers for parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks. All of these strategies store or absorb rain where it falls, keeping it out of our sewer system, which helps:
Pileated Woodpeckers are found in the Northern half of North America and they like to live in heavily wooded areas. They dig rectangular holes in trees with their bill to find ants. This is the largest woodpecker in North America.
The Common Yellowthroat is found in thick marsh vegetation across North America. They feed on mostly insects and they typically migrate at night.
Red-winged Blackbirds live in grassy areas and wetlands. They inhabit both saltwater and freshwater marshes, especially if cattail is present. The oldest wild Red-winged Blackbird was known to be 15 years old.
The House Sparrow is native to most of Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, and Europe. It is now the most widely distributed wild bird due to its accidental and intentional introductions to many other regions, including the Americas. These birds are very social and nest in colonies.
Rainbow Trout are native to the North Pacific Ocean and Eastern Asia. Today, rainbow trout have been introduced to every continent except Antarctica. Rainbow Trout are predators that will eat almost anything they will catch.
Pumpkinseed sunfish live in warm, calm freshwater bodies that have vegetation throughout North America. They travel in schools with other sunfish and bluegills. These fish contain spines that are sharp and aid in protection.
Sturgeons are native to lakes and coastlines of North America and Eurasia. Most are bottom-feeders that migrate upstream to spawn. Sturgeons have barbels that help them locate prey hiding on the bottom, such as snails, clams, and insect larvae. Lake sturgeon can reach 6 ft. long, weigh 200 lbs., and females can live up to 150 years.
Brook Trout are freshwater fish that is native to Eastern North America and Canada, but they have been introduced throughout North America and even Alaska. They can grow to be 3 ft. long and live up to 9 years. Brook Trout are a good indicator species of pollutants because they require clean water to live.
Yellow perch, also known as lake perch, are native to the Atlantic, Arctic, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River basins, as well as some other areas of Canada. They live close to the shore of slow-moving rivers, streams, and lakes, feeding on small fish and insects.
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or adolescent. Humans are characterized by erect posture, bipedal movement, high manual dexterity, and heavy tools use. They also have open-ended and complex language, and a general trend toward complex brains and societies. Humans are known for greatly altering their environment to suit their needs and wants.
HDI has worked with a number of schools that fall within a two-mile radius of the Harbor District to create fun educational experiences. Students are given a number of in-person class visits by HDI staff that range from community building to ecologies and are then brought to the Harbor District for a field trip.
Field trips range from wildlife field data collection to boat tours of the Harbor District. Our educational programming is free and flexible. More information can be found in our brochure linked below.
The Neighborhood Advisory Committee is made up of nearby residents who serve as our neighborhood experts. The NAC advises us on outreach methods, event ideas, and decision-making that will benefit neighborhoods surrounding the Harbor District.
If you live in or near the Harbor District and would like to be a part of the NAC please contact Nora Godoy-González at nora@harbordistrict.org.
Even though the Harbor District is in the very heart of Milwaukee and has been the center of economic activity for centuries, there is still a healthy community of organisms that live here. From mammals like deer, coyotes, gray and red fox, muskrats, beavers, groundhogs, squirrels, and bats all the way down to dragonflies, insects, and barely visible invertebrates in the water, a rich ecology is thriving just out of sight. The Harbor District has identified ways to improve habitat so that more things besides humans can find a home here, through rebuilding ecological functioning of the landscape. We do this by considering the needs of organisms for food, reproduction, shelter, and movement. Finding opportunities to re-introduce native plants and reserving space for animals is at the heart of this implementation, while also encouraging everyone to remember that nature is right here if you just stop to look and listen.
The KK River Trail (KKRT) is 2½ miles of off-street paved trails and on-street bike lanes following the river through a densely populated and industrial corridor. The trail links the Harbor District with Bay View and offers natural greenery and gritty industry.
The segment between Lincoln Avenue and Maple Street utilizes bike lanes on South 1st Street. The KKRT is a segment of the Bay View to Downtown route, which includes the raised bike lane on Bay Steet and bike lanes on South Kinnickinnic Ave.
The KKRT is part of the larger Kinnickinnic River corridor revitalization efforts underway that are improving the health and quality of life for city residents in general, and South Side residents in particular.
In 2018 the City of Milwaukee Common Council approved the Harbor District Water and Land Use Plan (WaLUP) as an element of the City’s comprehensive plan. The first of four catalytic projects in the WaLUP is an “Improved Waterfront Experience”, which proposes a new vision for the waterfront of the Harbor District as a “multi-purpose multi-use waterfront” that includes a public Riverwalk.
With the WaLUP completed, Harbor District, Inc. (HDI) and the City of Milwaukee are now moving forward with efforts to develop a public Riverwalk along the western shore of the inner harbor and the Kinnickinnic River. The first step in that process took place over 2018 as HDI and City staff worked with waterfront property owners to create and approve the Harbor District Riverwalk Site Plan Review Overlay Zone (SPROZ). This overlay zone covers the western shore of the inner harbor and both sides of the Kinnickinnic River up to Lincoln Avenue.
Following the adoption of the Harbor District Riverwalk SPROZ, a consultant team developed design standards, concepts for addressing challenging Riverwalk segments, and concepts for capitalizing on several more significant public spaces and access points. The Harbor District Riverwalk Design Standards will ensure the Riverwalk operates as a cohesive network with a common aesthetic theme and meets high standards for elements such as furniture, lighting, landscaping, natural habitat, and stormwater management.
The Harbor District Riverwalk SPROZ includes all waterfront parcels on the western shore of the Inner Harbor and waterfront parcels on both sides of the Kinnickinnic River between the Union Pacific rail swing bridge and Lincoln Avenue. City Plan Commission approval is required for all projects located 50 feet landward of an existing dock wall or ordinary high-water mark. For any property located within or partially within the overlay zone, a Riverwalk that complies with the requirements of this overlay zone and associated design standards shall be constructed at the time of any new construction or substantial improvement of a principal structure on the property. The requirement to construct a Riverwalk shall apply even in cases where the principal structure itself is not located within the zone.
For questions or comments related to the Harbor District Riverwalk Overlay Zone, please contact us at info@harbordistrict.org
We are excited to announce the Harbor District Riverwalk is a new member of the High Line Network, a group of infrastructure reuse projects located across North America. For more info, visit http://network.thehighline.org.