Allouez Bay Restoration: What’s Happening This Fall

There’s been plenty of activity at Allouez Bay this summer, with restoration work continuing, monitoring wrapping up for another year, and partners beginning to look ahead to the next phase of the project. Here’s a look at what’s happening now and what’s coming next.

Invasive Plant Management Underway 

Work to manage invasive plants continues throughout Allouez Bay. On August 5, 2026, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) released approximately 27,000 beetles at four priority locations to help control purple loosestrife across roughly 38 acres. These beetles feed on purple loosestrife and are used as a biological control to help reduce the invasive plant over time. 

This month, crews are also continuing efforts to manage invasive (narrowleaf and hybrid) cattails. WDNR, Audubon Great Lakes (AGL) and GEI Consultants are leading mechanical cattail control from September 16–25, using several methods, including grinding dense areas of cattails and using hand tools in sensitive areas, such as areas adjacent to manoomin. GEI will provide on-site oversight, with additional monitoring from AGL and WDNR. 

People visiting the area may notice crews and equipment working in Allouez Bay during this time. Equipment will be staged near Wisconsin Point Lot 1, and signs will be posted to help explain the work underway. 

Monitoring This Year’s Progress 

Partners have also wrapped up bird and vegetation monitoring for the 2026 field season and will be developing reports summarizing what they found. Vegetation monitoring has directly informed the current cattail management and bird monitoring data will be analyzed later this fall.  

At the end of August, GEI also collected new drone imagery of the project area. Together, this information will help partners track how the wetland responds to restoration work and guide future management.

Looking Ahead to the Next Phase 

At the same time, planning continues for the next phase of restoration in Allouez Bay. 

Over the past several years, partners have collected information on conditions throughout the bay, including ice thickness, light availability, sediment, water depth, and where aquatic vegetation may be most likely to grow under different water levels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is now bringing this information together in a technical report summarizing data collection, modeling, and restoration alternatives explored from 2023–2026. 

Once that work is complete, the project’s technical team will use the findings to develop recommendations for a conceptual restoration plan. Partners expect to begin reviewing potential concepts this fall, with the goal of identifying a preferred concept later in 2026. 

As those ideas take shape, the project will move from several years of research and modeling toward a clearer picture of what the next phase of restoration at Allouez Bay could look like.

Community Engagement Continues 

Community involvement is also an important part of planning for what comes next. Through a partnership with Minnesota Land Trust and WDNR, the St. Louis River Alliance has spent the past year connecting people with the work happening at Allouez Bay and Wisconsin Point through community events, online updates, newsletters, and other outreach. 

Our final River Revival event of the season, Ishkode: The Past, Present, and Future of Fire on Wisconsin Point, took place September 17. We’ll compile what we learned throughout this engagement effort and develop recommendations for continued community involvement. 

Additional community engagement is anticipated as a conceptual restoration plan takes shape, including opportunities for people who use and care about Allouez Bay to learn about potential plans and provide input. 

There’s more to come as restoration work continues and planning moves forward. We’ll keep sharing updates as partners learn more and the next phase of Allouez Bay restoration begins to take shape.