BECOME A FRESH COAST GUARDIAN

Fresh Coast Guardians are everyday people who love Lake Michigan and want to protect it.
You can help us prevent polluted storm runoff from reaching our waterways by managing water better when it rains or snows. Here’s how: 

Install a Rain Barrel

blue rain barrel

Get a rain barrel

Plant a Rain Garden

plant with rain drops

Dig It!

wear Your Support

Fresh Coast Guardian T-shirt

Get your FREE T-shirt

Have questions? Contact the Fresh Coast Resource Center today!

 

Feb 14, 2025, 11:00 PM

Save the Date! Rain Garden Plant Sale Opens in Early Spring!

Once open the sale is online.

What Is Green Infrastructure?


It captures, absorbs and stores rain and melting snow, taking on numerous shapes and sizes from 55-gallon rain barrels to trees and porous pavers for parking lots, driveways and sidewalks. Green roofs can top buildings and bioswales can line city streets.


Benefits

• Helps protect rivers and lakes from water pollution.

• Keeps stormwater from becoming someone else's headache downstream.

• Reduces the risk of basement backups and sewer overflows.

Explore Benefits

Our Goal

We have an aggressive goal and we need your help! It's to create, by the year 2035, enough green infrastructure in our region to capture 740 million gallons of water every time it rains. Why? To reduce water pollution and improve our rivers and Lake Michigan. Yes, 740 million gallons is huge, but consider this:

One Inch of Rain on MMSD's Service Area = 7.1 Billion Gallons of Water.

Fresh Coast Guardians Goal

Get Inspired

Check out some of the green strategies local residents and businesses are using to help combat water pollution.

Residential Project

Rain Garden By A Local Homeowner

Non-Profit Project

Porous Pavement By Urban Ecology Center

Private Project

Green Roof By Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance

Municipal Project

Bioswale By The Village Of Brown Deer

Green Strategies

Explore these solutions, then call us with your questions at 414-225-2222.  We’re here to help!

Rain Barrels & Cisterns

save rain for later

Rain Gardens

beauty & rain collection

Natural Landscaping

create a healthy habitat

Stormwater Trees

hold more water

Downspout Disconnection

direct rain to lawn or garden

Residential Soil Amendments

create deeper roots

Green Roofs

protect your roof

Porous Pavement

rain soaks into the ground

Bioswales

catch dirty road runoff

Wetlands

support wildlife

All Strategies