As coastal land manipulation and flooding increase along Wisconsin’s Great Lakes regions, two graduate student teams at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences have delivered a set of recommendations to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) aimed at building long-term climate resilience. The work was completed through Professor Melissa Scanlan’s “Water Consulting” spring graduate-level course that pairs students with public-sector clients to work on real-world water management challenges.
“This course is a bridge from graduate school into the workforce,” said Professor Melissa Scanlan, who leads the program. “Students work in teams to develop consulting skills, meet with industry professionals, and produce research with direct policy relevance.”
This spring, students comprised two teams—the Shoreline Team and the Flood Team —each tackling distinct but interconnected topics to Wisconsin’s communities. Both teams collaborated closely with WDNR staff to craft reports to inform the agency’s planning, permitting, and public engagement efforts.Ěý
The Shoreline Team took on a deceptively simple question: where exactly was Wisconsin’s Great Lakes shoreline when it became a state in 1848?
Under Wisconsin Act 247, a 2023 law regulating the use of “longstanding fill” on Great Lakes lakebeds, this question has taken on new importance.
Graduate students Elizabeth Modahl, Daniel Wroblewski, Dan Vrobel, and Mutadhid (Avid) Al Obaidi produced their report to navigate this issue. Their goal was to build a flexible, data-driven framework to approximate the statehood-era shoreline—supporting the WDNR’s legal responsibilities while protecting the public’s access to coastal waters.
The students’ research blended historical lake level data, digital elevation modeling, and analysis of how other Great Lakes states define public trust boundaries. Using digital elevation modeling, they demonstrated how even slight changes in water levels can dramatically shift the shoreline, with visualizations illustrating how these shifts can move the boundary of public trust lands by dozens of feet. “We found no single method works across all landscapes and there are huge gaps in data from 1848,” said Elizabeth Modahl. “The team concluded that shoreline boundaries are best established on site on a case-by-case basis, drawing from the best data available in each location, particularly where historical maps or topography vary,” she added.
A key takeaway from their comparative research is that no other Great Lakes state has a law like Act 247 and is attempting to identify statehood-era shorelines for current regulatory purposes.
The Flood Team examined the evolving landscape of flood risk in Wisconsin—where intensified storms, outdated infrastructure, and environmental inequities are converging to create a perfect storm of vulnerability across the state.
Graduate students Joe McCormack, Cami Armendariz, Frank Ferrante, Evelyn Grimm, and Stephanie Gruenloh focused their work on the growing risks posed by increasingly frequent and severe rainfall events. Using a mix of ecological, infrastructure, and socioeconomic data, the team observed Wisconsin’s flood-prone areas, paying special attention to neighborhoods outside FEMA-designated flood zones where flood risk is high, but insurance coverage is rare.
“These gaps in coverage are often tied to long-standing systemic inequalities in income, housing, and access to information,” according to Cami Armendariz. The team provided side-by-side comparisons of the National Flood Insurance Program and private market policies, pointing out where coverage gaps and confusion still leave many Wisconsinites vulnerable. Their report offers recommendations for where the WDNR can take a more active role in encouraging mitigation strategies that reduce flood risk.
“We truly appreciate the enthusiasm and the hundreds of hours the students dedicated to these projects. Their recommendations are thought-provoking, and the WDNR looks forward to reviewing them further and taking forward what we can for implementation,” said Michael Thompson, WDNR Southeast Secretary’s Director.
Is your organization interested in being a client for an upcoming Water Consulting course? Contact Professor Melissa Scanlan at waterpolicy@uwm.edu to discuss whether your research needs would be a good fit.
Written by Cami Armendariz, Water Policy and Science Communications Fellow, UW-Milwaukee Center for Water Policy
