The fourth annual Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) conference was held October 20-21, 2008 at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center in Higgins Lake, Michigan. The conference featured presentations from MiCorps members from across the state of Michigan as well as presentations and training from regional experts, MiCorps staff, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. We also celebrated the amazing work that is being done by the MiCorps volunteers to protect Michigan's lakes and streams.

Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Commission.

Linda Green, University of Rhode Island (URI) Cooperative Extension, was the keynote speaker. Linda is a nationally-recognized leader and educator who has worked in the area of volunteer monitoring for over 20 years. Her presentation was very well received and was an inspiration to many attendees.

Four breakout sessions were also included in the conference and were well attended and well received. Two of these breakout sessions focused on the experiences of people who lead volunteer monitoring programs across Michigan. Patrick Ertel and Kevin Cronk spoke about how to start and grow a monitoring program, while Jean Roth, John Hayes, and Sally Petrella shared some of the lessons they had learned in making their programs successful. Margaret Smith from the Huron River Watershed Council led a very informative breakout session about strategies that groups can use when raising money. In a data analysis breakout session, Drs. Jim Martin and Paul Steen shared their experiences in working with macroinvertebrate data in the River Raisin and Huron River watersheds. In addition, Dr. Ace Sarnelle from Michigan State University shared results from a cyanobacteria research project that used data collected by CLMP volunteers.

An optional training session on Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Search and Identification was offered on October 20. Rainy weather did not stop the twenty participants from visiting the AuSable South Branch as it flowed through the town of Roscommon. The group was impressed by the large diversity of mayflies, dragonflies, and true bugs, as well as the extremely cold water, one of the AuSable’s most famous characteristics. The group returned to the R.A.M. Conference Center to learn about insect taxonomy and identification, and had the opportunity to look at their AuSable insects under microscopes.

Feedback from the conference attendees was very positive. Many people commented on the quality of the presentations and appreciated being able to hear from their counterparts from across the state. Our thanks go to those MiCorps staff members and volunteers who contributed to making “MiCon ‘08” a successful event! For more information or to see the conference presentations, go to: www.micorps.net/conference2008_proceedings.