The MiCorps Program is pleased to announce that six organizations have been selected to receive volunteer water quality monitoring grants under the 2009 MiCorps Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program (VSMP). Since 2005, the VSMP has provided technical assistance, training and grants to volunteer stream monitors around the state to ensure that they are collecting reliable, high-quality data. Full grants are awarded to eligible monitoring programs to build upon an existing program over a period of 18-24 months. Smaller, one-year “start-up” grants are awarded to newly forming volunteer monitoring groups to assist them in developing a monitoring strategy for their community and to build capacity for their program so that they might be eligible to apply for a full grant in future years.

Volunteer monitors receiving training on sampling methods at the 2008 MiCorps
Annual Conference. Photo: Great Lakes Commission.

At present, monitoring programs typically focus on evaluating benthic invertebrate communities and stream habitat. Data collected by MiCorps VSMP participants is reviewed for quality and then shared via the MiCorps Data Exchange available from the program’s website www.micorps.net. In addition to sharing these data with other monitors around the state, the Michigan DEQ uses the data collected as a screening tool to identify sites requiring a more detailed assessment and as supplemental data for DEQ water resources management programs.

This year, the VSMP has awarded four full grants and two start-up grants, totaling nearly $50,000 in funds, to support the recipients’ volunteer monitoring work beginning in 2009.

Full grants:

Clinton River Watershed Council
Project Title: Adopt-a-Stream Improvement and Expansion Project
Watershed: Clinton River
Funding Amount: $1,995
Contact: Michele Arquette-Palermo, Ph: 248-601-0606, michele@crwc.org

Data collected from three proposed new sites will add to the Clinton River Watershed Council’s (CRWC) current Adopt-a-Stream program efforts to develop and maintain a long-term assessment of stream health throughout the watershed. The North Branch historically has not received much attention from CRWC’s Adopt-a-Stream program due to limited funding and lack of volunteers. With additional funding, hopes of these site establishments will further the measurable data and allow for a more detailed assessment of the overall condition of the watershed, including identification of macroinvertebrates to the Family level.

Jackson County Conservation District
Project Title: Upper Grand River Watershed Adopt-a-Stream Program
Watershed: Upper Grand River
Funding Amount: $20,979
Contact: Cecilia Govrik, Ph: 517-782-7404 cecilia.govrik@macd.org

The Upper Grand River Watershed Adopt-A-Stream Program, initiated in 2007, began as a partnership among the Jackson County Conservation District, Dahlem Environmental Education Center, and Upper Grand River Watershed Alliance. The Adopt-A-Stream Program helps achieve the public education and involvement goals of the Jackson Phase II communities and the Upper Grand River Watershed Management Plan by using trained adult volunteers to collect and identify benthic macroinvertebrates, conduct stream habitat assessments, and take other water quality measurements following the methods outlined in the MDEQ-approved Quality Assurance Project Plan. With funding under this grant, the partner organizations are working to further develop and strengthen the Upper Grand River Watershed Adopt-A-Stream program into a sustainable and watershed-wide monitoring program.

Muskegon County Conservation District
Project Title: Duck Creek Stream Monitoring Program
Watershed: Duck Creek
Funding Amount: $6,231.24
Contact: Erin Charles, Ph: 231-773-0008 erin.charles@macd.org

The 11,500-acre Duck Creek watershed lies entirely within Muskegon County and is the only watershed in the county that is designated a high-quality watershed with no TMDL listing. However, preliminary monitoring has shown an increase in water temperature and sedimentation; increases in nutrients, nuisance algal blooms, and occurrences of exotic species; and general degradation of fish and wildlife habitat. The Muskegon Conservation District and Duck Creek Watershed Assembly are striving to halt this decline and avoid an eventual TMDL listing. By identifying the sources and proactively addressing the causes of these preliminary findings, the project team hopes to preempt any major water quality issues and the associated costs (and inherent inadequacies) of mitigation.

Superior Watershed Partnership
Project Title: Millecoquins River Watershed Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program
Watershed: Millecoquins River
Funding Amount: $9,288
Contact: Geraldine Larson, Ph: 906-228-6095, geri@superiorwatersheds.org

The Millecoquins River watershed has experienced impacts from historic and recent land uses such as logging, agriculture (cattle), and increasing development and recreational pressures. Recent evaluations of tributaries of the Millecoquins River watershed by the Michigan DEQ indicate increasing water temperatures and changes in the fish community to more of a warm water fishery rather than a coldwater fishery as they are designated. In addition, changes have also been observed by local landowners. Goals of the project include fostering landowner and citizen awareness, stewardship and surveillance of the watershed; producing quality-assured data that can be used by DEQ biologists as a screening tool; making results available to interested parties; and utilizing these data to document water quality changes over time and existing and potential sources of impact.

View of Shiawassee River looking south from DeVries Nature Conservancy’s West Woods
Trail. Photo: Tracy McMullen, DeVries Nature Conservancy

Start-up grants:

Branch County Conservation District
Project Title: Coldwater River Watershed Monitoring Project
Watershed: Coldwater River
Funding Amount: $2,000
Contact: Kathy Worst, Ph: 517-278-8008, kathy.worst@mi.nacdnet.net

The grant funding will be used to develop a Coldwater River Watershed volunteer-based monitoring plan that can potentially receive full funding in the near future. This will include establishing a Project Oversight Committee, identifying key parameters and locations to be monitored, cataloging existing and needed equipment for long-term monitoring, and identifying potential partners for long-term support of the program. In addition, the project team plans to develop a public outreach strategy for local media releases and announcements related to their ongoing work.

Michigan Trout Unlimited/Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Project Title: MCTU / KVCTU Stream Monitoring Project
Watershed: Kalamazoo River
Funding Amount: $1,940
Contact: Kristin Nelson, Ph: 616-460-0477 knelson@mctu.org

The Michigan Council and Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited are teaming up to monitor macroinvertebrates and water quality in Spring Brook and Dickinson Creek within the Kalamazoo River watershed. During 2009, the project team will be developing a program that they plan to implement in 2010. The program developed under this grant will also serve as a template for other chapters of Trout Unlimited in Michigan. The long term goal of this program is to increase monitoring of the state’s coldwater streams by Trout Unlimited. There are several very active and motivated volunteers in the Kalamazoo Valley Chapter who will be assisting the Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited in designing and implementing this monitoring program.

Author:
Laura Kaminski
MiCorps Staff
Great Lakes Commission