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13th Annual Fox River Summit to be held March 13, 2025
Every March residents of Illinois and Wisconsin gather at the Fox River Summit to update one another on what is happening along and throughout the Fox River watershed. The objectives of this gathering include:
✓ Develop a framework to support ongoing watershed protection actions
✓ Continue dialogue on shared challenges concerning recreation, economics, sustainable flows, surface water/groundwater interactions, sediment and ecosystem services
✓ Develop relationships/build trust among Illinois and Wisconsin stakeholders
✓ Identify commonalities, project successes and future challenges facing communities within the watershed
Registration is now open for the 13th annual Fox River Summit which will be held from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm on Thursday, March 13 at Veterans Terrace in Burlington, Wisconsin.
http://13th Annual Fox River Summit to be held March 13, 2025A remote viewing livestream option is also available for those who cannot attend in person. Registration is open at www.southeastfoxriver.org.
The early registration deadline is March 11, 2023.
Early registration is $45 and after that, the cost is $75.
The registration price for in-person or virtual attendance is the same.
The registration fee covers a breakfast bar and lunch for in-person attendees. Reduced student rates are available by contacting Tom Slawski at tslawski@sewrpc.org.
Stakeholder Engagement– Gary Swick, Friends of the Fox River’s President, will kick off this year’s
Summit by summarizing the State of the Fox River, noting significant happenings across the entire watershed of both states in the past year. What can we learn from what’s going on the Milwaukee River basin? Cheryl Nenn will share how the Milwaukee Riverkeeper engages stakeholders and protects water quality in their watershed. Kristin Schultheis will discuss how the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) engages farmers to help address climate resiliency through project implementation. Tony Peirick, President, Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil & Water, will present a Wisconsin perspective on “Soil Health” and “Regenerative Agriculture” activities amongst producer lead groups.
Recreation– Fabulous Fox! National Water Trail collaborative bi-state effort continues!
Challenges-Tom Koepp, Pewaukee Lake Sanitary District, Wake Boat, Lake Users and Lake Management Challenges. Tim Campbell, AIS Program Manager, Negative Emotions Drive Preference for Herbicide Treatments for Aquatic Invasive Species in Wisconsin Lakes. Steve Vavra, WI State Climatologist, Present Day and Future extreme rainfall statistics for the Fox River watershed.
Wildlife-Come learn about the status of otter in the Fox River (Urban River Otter Research project) by
Chris Anchor. Regional Natural Areas and Critical Species Habitat update and interactive webtool in
Southeastern Wisconsin.
Actions-Will you sign up to host an event for It’s Our Fox River Day 2025? And finally, the keynote panel speakers [Kane County Dept. of Environmental & Water Resources, Forest Preserve District of Kane County, V3 Companies (contractor), and RES (consultant)] will complete the Summit by presenting on the Carpentersville Dam Removal-how planned, sequence of removal, lessons learned, and how has the river responded.
The full list of presentations can be found here at 2025 Fox River Summit | waukeshafoxriver.
Who should attend? Interested citizens; Fox River recreational users; property and business owners; developers; lake, river and other environmental organizations; federal, state, county and local units of government; environmental and water resources professionals, scientists (including students), engineers, managers, biologists, planners, consultants, educators and attorneys; tourism representatives; economists. Anyone with interest in watershed issues is invited to attend the summit.
