With grant money from the DNR, the City of Green Bay will soon begin construction on a $2 million restoration project of the Atkinson Marsh, which is located on Hurlbut Street near the mouth of the Fox River. The Atkinson Marsh Restoration Project is expected to cost about $2 million, according to Green Bay public works director, Valerie Joosten. Green Bay received a $1.7 million grant for the project from the DNR. The marsh area is a part of the Lower Green Bay and Fox River Area of Concern.Amanda Matzke, president of the Bay Area Bird Club, is often outside looking for birds."I'm birding everyday," she says. "As long as it's not too bad of weather, I'm out here."The Bay Area Bird Club has nearly 90 members and hosts monthly events and fundraisers around the area."It's really just this community, this tight-knit little bird family," Matzke says.Matzke often visits the Atkinson Marsh area, which she calls the Hurlbut Ponds, to watch black crown night herons, a species of local bird, take off."I'll go there just at sundown to watch them all fly out of the reeds," she says.The area, however, is not easily accessible.Many trucks travel on Hurlbut Street, and there's no place to safely park."There's really no walking around, and it can be kind of sketchy," she says.A multi-million dollar, City of Green Bay project is aiming to change that. The Atkinson Marsh Restoration Project will look to restore the area- rebuilding habitat, managing invasive species, planting native plants and diversifying the typography."We're hoping to bring back more of the natural habitat and restore the area with native vegetation and native conditions," Valerie Joosten, director of Green Bay Public Works, says.The project also includes a public parking lot and trail for recreation access.Its really nice to see that their focus is making the habitat better, and making it more accessible to birders, is really just a bonus," Matzke says. "So yeah, I am really excited honestly.Joosten says the City has been working on this project for several years and finalized the designs in 2023-24.With construction and design costs factored in, Joosten says the project will cost about $2 million.It will be exciting to see the project transform the area," she says.The Atkinson Marsh area covers 30 acres of marshland, but it was once a part of a 600-acre wetland complex, according to Mandy Sharkey, a DNR Office of Great Waters Area of Concern project manager.Sharkey says industrial development and invasive species have decreased the marsh area."This was actually historically part of one of the largest coastal wetland complexes in the whole of Lake Michigan," she says. "It has experienced substantial environmental degradation over the past several decades."The DNR reached out to the City of Green Bay about this restoration project because the marsh is part of the Lower Green Bay and Fox River Area of Concern.An area of concern is an area, within the Great Lakes region, that has experienced substantial environmental degradation, that has a potential to impact the broader Great Lakes Area," Sharkey says. "Areas of concern are prioritized for restoration and remediation."In 1987, the DNR identified 31 areas of concern across the U.S.Sharkey says the Lower Green Bay and Fox River Area was identified because of loss of habitat, contaminated sediment and poor water quality.The Atkinson Marsh Project is just one of 12 DNR projects throughout the Lower Green Bay and Fox River Area of Concern to address loss of fish and wildlife habitat.Sharkey says healthy wetland areas can improve water quality, help store storm water runoff and benefit wildlife."Everybody has a stake in habitat restoration," she says. "Improving this habitat will also improve fishing, improve your duck hunting opportunities.Joosten says they hope to begin construction this summer, but the City will have a better timeline after a pre-construction conference in July. ...read more read less