The Central Upper Peninsula Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program began in the spring of 2007 with the goals of training volunteers to collect baseline water quality data and increasing stewardship of aquatic resources through community involvement and education. The watersheds initially targeted for this project – the Anna River watershed in Alger County and the Dead River watershed in Marquette County – were selected because of development pressure, growth patterns, nonpoint source pollution concerns, and interest from local stakeholders.

Watershed managers from the Alger and Marquette County Conservation Districts teamed up with the Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council (UPRC&D) and Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP) to bring volunteer monitoring programs to the central Upper Peninsula. The watershed managers run the programs in their individual counties, relying upon the technical and scientific support from SWP and fiscal management from UPRC&D. This arrangement makes it possible for the one program to transcend political boundaries and bring volunteer monitoring all across the Central Upper Peninsula.

Streams in the Dead River watershed in Marquette Township are being monitored because new subdivisions and big box stores have created more impervious surfaces. In the fall of 2007 nearly 500 linear feet of Brickyard Creek was reconstructed to prepare the site for a Lowe’s Home Improvement Store. The highway is also a major contributor of nonpoint source pollution from the sand and salt that are used to maintain winter roads. Other urban streams including Nordwald and Wolner Creeks are being monitored for similar reasons. Approximately six volunteers make up the Dead River watershed monitoring team. Conducting stream habitat assessments and macroinvertebrate sampling north and south of the US41 crossing of Brickyard Creek is helping volunteers and local stakeholders gauge the impacts of non point source pollution on the aquatic community. Results so far have prompted leaders to consider land-use zoning that protects riparian areas.

Volunteer monitoring in Alger County is focused on two headwater tributaries of the Anna River, a state designated coldwater fishery in the 30,350 acre Munising Bay Watershed. The Anna suffers from severe sedimentation and the monitoring is intended to help evaluate the success of best management practices being implemented with a Clean Michigan Initiative grant. In the three monitoring sessions held so far, seven trained volunteers conducted habitat assessments and collected macroinvertebrate samples upstream and downstream of two badly eroding road stream crossings that are scheduled to be replaced in 2009.

In the spring of 2008, the monitoring program expanded into Baraga County to assist local stakeholders in collecting baseline water quality data on the Huron River watershed. The Huron River watershed is mostly wilderness; however land use dynamics in the last ten years have resulted in increased parcelization, development of riparian land for secondary homes and camps, ore prospecting along the Marquette Iron Range, and use of secondary access roads by off road vehicles. The goal of the stakeholders is to study the river and develop a plan that will improve, protect, and restore water quality and aquatic habitat in the Huron River watershed. Over 24 volunteers were trained in the MiCorps protocol to collectively monitor 10 sites in the 61,000 acre (95 square miles) watershed.

Photo courtesy of Huron River Watershed Council.

The response from volunteers who have participated in the stream monitoring has been very positive. Constance Sherry, a volunteer with the Huron River watershed writes, “Learning about stream monitoring and the workshops you hold on macroinvertebrate sampling and identification have given us a whole new dimension of awareness in looking at other streams where we fish and have our camp - especially knowing the kinds of "bugs" that are characteristic of healthy streams with high oxygen content and being able to identify so many of them in other areas. It is fun to be able to do that.”

The MiCorps protocol is also being used in the 130,000 acre (203 square miles) Big Two Hearted River watershed as part of the watershed management plan developed by SWP through a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality 319 grant. In all, over 30 volunteer monitors have participated in trainings, habitat assessments, sample collections and macroinvertebrate identification in four major watersheds in Marquette, Alger, Baraga and Luce counties in the northern Upper Peninsula. Contacts within the Two Hearted Chapter of Trout Unlimited also helped the SWP promote the MiCorps program to interested stakeholders in the Millecoquins watershed in Mackinaw County. After only three monitoring sessions the sampling results aren’t conclusive yet, but the widespread interest and involvement of the volunteers promises to meet the goals of increased awareness and stewardship.

Guest Author:
Elizabeth Coyne
Watershed Manager
Alger Conservation District