2 Milwaukee women hike 330 miles for conservation awareness

Two Milwaukee women recently completed a hike from the lawn of Discovery World to Lake Superior to raise awareness and funds for conservation.

Julia Robson, who came up with the idea, and Alyssa Armbruster created the Walk to Sustain Our Great Lakes. They began the 330-mile (532-kilometer) trek on Aug. 26 with the initial goal of raising $10,000 for three Great Lakes organizations.

Now they’re planning additional hikes. Kenosha-based Rayni Day Productions is producing a documentary that will “feature the walk and our journey, but also tell a story about the Great Lakes and how they’ve changed since the ’60s and ’70s and what we need to see happen going forward,” Robson said.

The documentary will feature interviews with researchers, land managers and community members in the Great Lakes area.

Generosity

 “When we started hearing about proposed cuts to the EPA and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative program, we both really felt it was important to bring attention to all of the positive progress that’s been made to restore and clean up the Great Lakes and a lot of our freshwater systems — rivers and streams,” Robson said.

Robson said she's been surprised by the generosity she’s encountered for the project.

“We can't tell you how many times we've had a couch offered to us. We’ve had people feed us warm meals and take us in when it’s been raining on us,” Robson said.

In addition to the great experiences, Robson says she’s learned “how to better communicate about these things that I find professionally and personally to be so important.”

Robson and Armbruster graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Conservation and Environmental Science program and work at Milwaukee County Parks.