Milwaukee, WI - March 26, 2013 - A two-year, six-county effort will tackle the task of removing invasive aquatic plants from southeastern Wisconsin, with help from a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

The Foundation made a $20,000 grant to the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, the lead agency in coordinating the effort, during the first quarter. Along with six county governments, the Wisconsin DNR and several environmental organizations, the land trust will work to identify, remove and prevent infestation of aquatic invasive plants, in particular Phragmites, Purple Loosestrife, Lyme Grass and Japanese Knotweed, in 1,500 acres of wetlands located in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Racine, Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Washington counties.

Also during the first quarter, the Foundation provided a $5,789 grant to Wellspring, a nonprofit education and retreat center and certified organic farm in West Bend. The grant will help the agency launch an organic gardening project in collaboration with the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center that will work with 25 low-income Hispanic families on Milwaukee's south side.

During the first quarter, the Foundation awarded $725,789 in grants through its competitive grantmaking process.

About the Greater Milwaukee Foundation

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation is a family of more than 1,100 individual charitable funds, each created by donors to serve the local charitable causes of their choice. Grants from these funds serve people throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. Started in 1915, the Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the world.

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