The Potential

Communities similar to Cedarburg across the country and world are experiencing tremendous social, environmental, and economic benefits after restoring their rivers. Many towns have decided to remove their obsolete dams, forever ending the taxpayer burden, and allowing their rivers to flow freely once again. These towns are enjoying incredible new social and economic benefits, while still honoring their history. They increased economic growth and community benefit by ending tax dollar waste. 

It is a challenging thing to envision a freely flowing Cedar Creek, because no living person has ever seen it.

When non-working, obsolete dams are removed, a lot happens. The river is able to do its job - keep moving and carry its load - and becomes much healthier and much cleaner immediately. The benefits similar towns are experiencing right now would happen here in Cedarburg as well. These include:

• Increased property values
• Increased economic activity at existing local businesses
• New local business creation
• Increased sales tax revenues
• A real riverwalk could be possible
  
• Beautiful, natural rapids, riffles or waterfalls tumbling over limestone
• Our kids could take walking field trips to a clean river in our own city, instead of having to travel somewhere else
• The ability safely enter our river to swim, wade, explore, play, and cool off
• The ending of a very large taxpayer burden forever
• New recreation opportunities that we do not have now
• Our local tax dollars used for dam repairs would stop leaving our city. Every dollar spent on dam repairs is a dollar that leaves our city and does not come back
• More local residents would spend time near our river, and in our downtown
• The city's taxpayer-funded budget would have a lot more money, forever, available for things that do provide a service
• Cedarburg residents could have a new connection to our river that is not present now
• Cedarburg could receive awards and generate a much more far-reaching, far larger audience than any economic development campaign or "Branding Initiative" ever could
• Our Parks & Rec department could provide new opportunities and generate new revenue
• A new river festival could happen, providing new revenue for our local businesses
• A much healthier environment for wildlife and the enjoyment of experiencing it

This list is not complete. Other towns always find there are more benefits that they could not have predicted, and we would too. Dexter is a small town in Michigan that looks like Cedarburg's twin. Their river in downtown Dexter, the Huron, does not have the rapid descent that Cedar Creek has in our downtown, but their once unusable, polluted river is now a new attraction for residents and visitors, and they have not regretted it. Their local economy has boomed as a result of restoration on the Huron. Here is a short video about their experience.