As we are the new lease holder of the Kenosha rearing pond facility the DNR and City of Kenosha have washed their hands of liability, maintenance and funding of the facility. Our responsibilities include all of this and more with added insurance costs, electric etc. We must find revenue sources for the continued success of our group and facility. 50 years of success and counting.
We are a 501 c3 non profit and all donations are tax except.
Our funding goals and projects;
$10,000
Rearing pond operational expenses. Electric use for our 1000’ well, river water pump, air supply compressor this cost for the 4-6 weeks of operation is over $6000. Cleaning, power washing, re sealing, new roof on shed, relocation of job crane for hauling tank placement.
$35,000
Installation of NOAA style of river monitoring test station at the rearing pond location. This is necessary to document a baseline of the Pike River. As river clean up, rebuilding the habitat and addressing the farm run off issues we need to know if our efforts are successful and what more has to be done.
The monitoring includes;
Dissolved oxygen, water flow and speed, water clarity, chemical analysis.
$25,000
Harbor monitoring station by boat launch. Per DNR reports one issue that plaques the spawning and reproduction of fish is a very low oxygen level. This station will continuously monitor the oxygen levels, water temp, and other.
$38,000
Shock testing of the harbor and Pike River to determine the baseline fish that exist by species, size and count. With out this information we can’t determine if the restoration efforts are a success or failure.
With habitat, water clarity, oxygen and water temp all influencing the reproduction and spawning of the native population.
$58,000
Back up generator for rearing pond. If we’ll or air pumps fail during a power outage the fish have less that 1 hour before death. This generator will keep the critical systems operational during a power failure.
$34,000
18kw solar 2 axis array to provide electricity year round and help in electrical costs to run facility
$100,000
Install and monitor via underwater cameras 100 habitat structure cages in harbor and Southport marina. These will be located under the floating docks and secured to the lake bottom. No hazard to boaters navigation. These will be monitored to see what species are utilizing the habitats. This will aid in the design of permanent design of habitat to help to bring back shore fishing to Kenosha. By helping the fry grow safely and not be food for larger predators the population of perch, walleye, bass, pan fish and salmon should be helped to rebound.
Research and educational center and enclosure of rearing pond.
Our architects are working on the engineering and design of this new facility. Located on our rearing pond site. The facility includes; educational hall for meetings and teaching groups, research labs, offices, bathrooms, enclosure of the ponds, additional rearing equipment for warm water species including pike, walleye, pan fish, perch. This new equipment is a recirculating type system. This also includes the recirculating of fish waste to a research greenhouse for aqua culture study. This facility will be open for local educational groups to utilize for their research as well as our staff biologist.
