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SEGG is accepting funds on a rolling basis for grants starting in January of 2024. All applications should be emailed to Laura at schulztwin2@gmail.com

The application should include the following information:

Sierra Club Grant Application 2024 – Maximum of $500

SEGG Member Name:

Email:

Phone Number:

Organization/Project:

Project Start Date:

Project End Date:

Have you received funding from SEGG before? If yes, list years and amounts.

Summarize the project describing the purpose and issues that will be addressed:

Who will benefit and estimate their number:

Describe how your project will address racial inequalities in the SEGG district area:

Describe how your project will address the Sierra Club’s motto of “enjoy, explore, and protect the planet”.

Measurable Outcome Number 1:

Measurable Outcome Number 2:

Please submit a detailed project budget (separate document is allowed), including funds raised to date and total requested from SEGG: 

Sunday, April 14, 2024, at 1:00PM

Spring is a great time to get your bicycles out. Please join us for our first bike ride of the
year on the White River Trail. This is a crushed limestone trail that was once a railroad
connecting small towns enabling farmers to ship their crops to Racine and farther. Since
it is an old railroad there are no hills, and since it is a trail there is little traffic to deal with.
This trail was built and is maintained in part by Rails-to-Trails and there is a usage fee of $5 for a day pass and $25 for annual. The trail roughly parallels and crosses the White River in Lyons, WI. We will be seeing some old small towns and some glacial formations and have some good views of the countryside. The trail is 12 miles to the end by Elkhorn and we will do an out and back (not a circuit) so you can turn around whenever you hit your halfway point.
Meet at 1:00 in the town of Lyons at the parking lot in the center of town. Please contact Al Sommer at 262-716-6955 or
sommerallan4@gmail.com if you plan on joining us in case we need to cancel for bad weather. Hope to see you there!

Have you ever wondered how all the water that flushes down your
toilet, and drains from your sink, washing machine or dishwasher is
cleaned to make it safe to dump back into Lake Michigan? Or if the
toy car your kid flushed down the toilet ended up at the treatment
plant?
The staff at Racine’s Wastewater Treatment plant has generously
agreed to give us a tour of the facility to give us all insight into the
steps to make our “used” water clean and safe to return to the lake.
If you’d like to join the group for this informative tour, please let
Laura Schulz know by emailing her at schulztwin2@gmail.com.
Since part of the tour will be outside, it’s important you RSVP Laura
so if there is bad weather and we need to cancel we can contact you
before you show up at the door.

Sunday, May 19 meet at 1:00 PM
at White River County Park, southwest of Lyons, WI
While some of us are unloading watercraft from our cars others will be transferring
cars to downtown Lyons so there will be rides back to the parking lot.
The White River leaves Lake Geneva and flows ultimately into the Fox River by
Burlington, WI. Under normal conditions, it is a shallow clear river with a rocky
bottom, meandering its way through countryside before meeting with Ore Creek in
the town of Lyons and then ultimately joining with the Fox River.
While most of the river is knee-deep - if there is an upset you merely stand up - you need flotation devices for other parts of the river. Once the crafts are loaded back onto cars, there is an option to drive a short distance down Sheridan Springs Road to see an eagle’s nest from the road.
Please call or email Al Sommer to let him know you will be there:
sommerallan4@gmail.com or 262-716-6955. If it snows or rains, Al will call you to let you know of a cancellation.

Thursday, June 27 at 5 PM
Seno Woodland Center, 3606 Dyer Lake Rd, Burlington
Soar on over to Seno Woodland Center to learn about North America’s most
recognized and loved insect, the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
Participants will learn about the Monarch Butterfly’s life cycle, habitat, migration, and tagging.
We will take you on a walk around Seno Woodland Center’s prairie to identify and learn about
milkweed, a plant vital to the Monarch’s survival. During our walk we will gather
eggs and all stages of a monarch caterpillar and learn how to raise these
caterpillars into butterflies.
Each participant/family/group will also build a Monarch rearing box to take home!

Due to some technical problems over the past year, we need to revamp our email list! If you would like to be added to the list to receive notices about events and outings between the regular newsletter, please enter your information here :https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wuf3jnF41MZGhkwPZRC4Oig-Cm2g6eTI2dLUAnfnnXE/edit?usp=sharing or email Laura Schulz at schulztwin2@gmail.com .

History of Southeast Gateway Group participation in the Adopt-a-Highway program.

The Adopt-a-Highway program in the US began in 1985 and Wisconsin got onboard in 1990. It is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation with coordination assistance from Racine County.

SEGG joined the program in the first year as Group #32. There are now about 2300 volunteer organizations state-wide participating. Since neither the State nor County has the personnel to clean up along local highways, these volunteer groups have been vital in “Keeping America Beautiful.”

Since we began picking up trash and recycling along a section of Hwy 38 in Racine County, we have removed about 1080 bags of trash and several hundred bags of recyclables and have put in about 1700 hours of volunteer labor. We have received letters from County workers that mow along the highway expressing their appreciation for not having to grind up the trash with their machine. If we don't pick it up, it likely eventually finds its way into our waterways. Volunteer groups have also been helpful in identifying nesting sites or locations of endangered plant species that produce “no mow” areas.

As many of our long-time volunteers have retired from this work, we really can use a new batch of members and friends to help keep the program going. It's not a bad way to spend about an hour and a half on a Saturday morning.

We meet at Blessed Hope Church 4949 Hwy 38 (corner of Hwy 38 and 4 Mile Rd) at 9:00 AM on three Saturdays each year. Safety vests and bags are provided. This year we are meeting on May 11, July 27 and October 5.

To sign up to help or for more information contact:

Jeff Sytsma

Jeff12759@aol.com

262 637-6845

262 497-4761