2021 Tenney Park Lagoon Shoreline Replanting

The City of Madison has been awarded FEMA funding to replace sections of the lagoon shoreline biostabilization that were damaged with the August - September 2018 flooding events. This project will include replanting native wet-tolerant species in sections of the shoreline that were damaged. These plants will be installed in the spring of 2021, and will continue to be maintained through the city-wide Invasive Vegetation Control and Maintenance contract.   

In 2015, the City of Madison Parks and Engineering Division spearheaded improvements to Tenney Park including reconstruction of the East Johnson bike path, removals of invasive species and ash trees, and stabilization of the Tenney Park lagoon shoreline. The bike path construction and the grading associated with shoreline restoration was completed in 2015.In 2016, the Madison Parks continued these efforts with installation of over 800 native shrubs, 30,000 shoreline and prairie plants, over 200 trees and continued invasive removals.

The plantings were installed in 2016 by Eco-Resource Consulting, Inc. an ecological restoration company that specializes in native plant communities. These plantings were maintained in 2017 by this same company. Maintenance included watering, mulching, as well as invasive species management, to protect the newly planted shoreline from being overtaken by invasive species. Eco-Resource Consulting, Inc. was also hired to perform a prescribed burn to help manage invasive species.

In 2018, this area was included as part of a city-wide Invasive Vegetation Control and Maintenance of Native Seed and Plants contract. This contract was awarded to Quercus Land Stewardship Services, LLC, an ecological restoration company. As part of this work, Quercus Land Stewardship Services continued removal of invasive species, and supplemented areas of biostabilized shoreline with native plants and seed.

In August 2018, after three years of plant establishment, the City of Madison experienced prolong flooding conditions. Tenney Park experienced significant damage related to the flood and many parts of the park were under water for several weeks.

Learn more about the original 2015 Tenney Lagoon Shoreline Rehabilitation project.