Parks & Open Spaces

While the SEWRPC region is the most heavily urbanized portion of the State, it remains blessed with an abundance of high quality natural resource amenities, including Lake Michigan, numerous inland lakes and streams, attractive woodlands and wetlands, good wildlife habitat, rugged terrain, and scenic landscapes. Preserving and protecting these resource amenities and finding ways to accommodate outdoor recreational activities that frequently depend upon the natural resource base are important public policy objectives. The SEWRPC region has a long and proud history of park and open space planning beginning with the work of Charles B. Whitnall nearly 100 years ago. The fruits of Whitnall’s labor remain evident today in the much beloved and honored Milwaukee County Park System. Building on that base, as well as the work of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and its predecessor agencies, SEWRPC has sponsored a number of cooperative planning efforts aimed at preserving and protecting open spaces in the region while providing for many forms of outdoor recreational activities. This work complements and supports SEWRPC planning for the protection and preservation of environmental corridors and prime agricultural lands.