Environmental Enhancement of Infrastructure
Milwaukee Harbor Breakwater Fish Habitat Demonstration Project Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
The Milwaukee Harbor Breakwater Fish Habitat Demonstration Project—the breakwater is a rubble mound structure built to protect Milwaukee Harbor—was developed as part of an approach that focuses on broadening the environmental, economic, and social benefits that structures can provide. The benefits can be easily integrated as part of ongoing maintenance or new construction activities. The project was designed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Detroit District (LRE) and completed in 2014. The design consisted of a five-hundred-foot-long by ten- to fifteen-foot-wide fish habitat that was built using smaller stone than what is typically used for maintenance projects. This project was intended to help planners determine whether suitable habitat can be created as part of the harbor breakwater by making simple, low-cost modifications to the design of the rubble mound used to repair the structure.
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