In September of 2025, the Reel Quest team traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to create a short video celebrating the 25th anniversary of the city’s Greenseams program. In the late 1990’s, the city experienced a pair of destructive floods that inundated city neighborhoods. The city has spent the decades since improving green infrastructure in the city and building systems within the city to retain flood waters safely. In addition, they created the Greenseams program in 2001 to protect upstream forest and wetlands habitat to help naturally slow the flow of water into the city during large rain events. The Greenseams program is a collaborative effort involving partnerships between the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, The Conservation Fund, Pheasants Forever, and other municipalities and non-profits.

Drone view of the Milwaukee River and the city skyline. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We spent several days primarily filming outside the city in areas that have been protected by the Greenseams program. We visited properties owned by land trusts, municipalities, and families who recognize the importance of preserving their land in order to help mitigate future floods. Some habitats were familiar to us New Englanders, especially the riverine and hardwood forests. And it was great to explore some restored tall grass prairie habitat as well – something we don’t see in the Northeast, but which felt familiar to Jerry who spent his middle and high school years just 50 miles south of Milwaukee in northern Illinois. And we learned that mosquitos can annoy us just as much in Wisconsin as they can at home:

Restored Wisconsin prairie that is part of the Greenseams program.

The 25th anniversary celebration will be in the fall of 2026. In the meantime, to learn more about the Greenseams program, you can watch the finished video:

Learn More: You can see another project we did for The Conservation Fund in Maine here: Strengthening Communities through Conserving Working Forests – Reel Quest Films.