Rise

Along the Upper Rock River in southeast Wisconsin, a group of flooded-out farmers and residents have spent years raising funds, hiring scientists, and gathering data to prove what state officials kept denying—that flooding in their area is getting worse. But when they proposed a winter water drawdown study to help reduce spring floods, upstream residents showed up to a county meeting with signs and anger, convinced the group was trying to “drain their lake,” revealing how environmental crises can fracture communities along lines of self-interest, misinformation, and the struggle to be heard.