Power Lines Would Ruin What Remains of Parkway

“I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness….” – Henry David Thoreau

Like Thoreau, I would like to speak a word for nature. Although the “freedom and wildness” that our parks provide us here in Wauwatosa can hardly be called “absolute,” that doesn’t make them less valuable or less deserving of protection. So, let me speak a word for relative freedom and wildness.

Once upon a time Underwood Creek was as free and wild as any other stream in Wisconsin. Then houses were built near it and the Menomonee River, into which it flows. Eventually, flooding occurred. What followed, for long portions of Underwood Creek, was called channelization. Riparian woodlands were chopped down, the meandering stream was bulldozed straight, and its channel was lined with concrete. This “solution” was not only temporary; ultimately it led to increased flooding.

Current plans for Underwood Creek include the removal of concrete and the restoration of a more naturally meandering stream. This already has been done for the short stretch that runs next to Hwy 100.

Despite the degradations to which it has been subjected, Underwood Creek is valued enough to be part of the Milwaukee County Parkway system. A popular segment of the Oak Leaf Trail runs through it. Furthermore, a short stretch of unchanneled creek lies in a densely wooded, swampy area. This is a place that is just about as free and wild as nature gets in Wauwatosa, a place where even Thoreau might have found what he termed the healing “tonic of wildness.”

Sadly, unless there is concerted public effort to preserve it, this small bit of urban wilderness may soon be destroyed.

As in Wauwatosa Patch, We Energies is planning to build a new substation on the County Grounds. Electrical power will be brought to the substation via two new transmission lines to be constructed by the American Transmission Co. (ATC). Four routes are being considered, from which two will be selected by the Public Service Commission (PSC). (See the attached map.)

One of the proposed alternatives would run 60- to 100-foot-tall high-voltage overhead power lines through Underwood Parkway. If this route is chosen, an 80-foot right-of-way would be cleared, effectively destroying one of the few natural areas left in Wauwatosa.

What is potentially more distressing to the many people who use it, utility poles and overhead cables also would run along the off-road portion of the Oak Leaf bike trail between 115th Street and Watertown Plank Road.

This doesn’t have to happen. Unfortunately for the parkway and the people who enjoy it, other alternatives run along residential streets. The prospect of having your yard and street dug up for a buried power line, even temporarily, is a powerful incentive to become a vocal opponent of that alternative. This is to be expected and it is how a solution that benefits the few may win out over a solution that benefits the many.

The parkway and Oak Leaf Trail need vocal opponents of the Underwood Creek alternative. Only if many people are willing to speak a word for nature will we save it. 

Please attend the open house on Sept. 12 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Wauwatosa Civic Center, . ATC experts will be able to answer questions about the project and explain how to provide input to the PSC.

The PSC will rule on the final two routes based on input received from all interested parties, including ordinary citizens as well as residents of affected neighborhoods and major stakeholders such as the Milwaukee Regional Medical Complex and UWM.

No one wants overhead power lines obstructing their own views. Cables will be buried in sensitive locations, like the Medical Complex, UWM’s Innovation Park and residential neighborhoods. But this is expensive. From a purely economic standpoint, the parkway seems an attractive alternative because the overhead power lines would save money. From a political standpoint, the parkway lacks residents who complain. From an ecological and recreational standpoint, however, overhead power lines and an 80-foot-wide swath of clear-cut are anything but attractive.

It seems ironic to me that just months after announcing its new Innovation Parkway branding campaign, Wauwatosa might willingly sacrifice one of the parkways that give it meaning. Everyone at City Hall who supports the Innovation Parkway theme, as well as all the users of the Oak Leaf Trail should be pounding home the point – power lines do not belong anywhere near our parkway.

For the benefit of all, let us speak a word for nature….