The Rouge River Project
Bringing the river back to life!
What is a subwatershed and where is the Lower 1? What's important about the Lower 1 Subwatershed? What are some of the problems in the Lower 1 Subwatershed? How will these problems be fixed?
What is a subwatershed and where's the Lower 1? The Rouge River Watershed is approximately 466 square miles and includes all or parts of 48 communities and 3 counties. To manage this large area more effectively, local units of governments decided to divide the whole Rouge River Watershed into seven subwatersheds based on the 4 main branches of the Rouge River - the Main branch, the Upper Branch, the Middle branch, and the Lower branch - and certain political jurisdictions.
One of these seven subwatersheds is the Lower One Subwatershed. Check out the map below. Do you live, work, play in, or travel through any of these areas?
If you do, then your actions impact the Lower One Subwatershed, or part of the land area that is drained by the Lower branch of the Rouge River. The Lower One Subwatershed is approximately 39,785 acres, encompassing 6 communities and 2 counties with a diversity of land use characteristics that range from almost fully developed to sparsely populated rural townships. Canton and Plymouth Townships serve as examples of the more built-out, urbanized landscapes in the subwatershed, with mostly commercial and residential land uses and fewer acres of natural features, agricultural and open space land uses remaining. Van Buren Township, Superior Township, and Salem Township represent communities that are currently characterized by rural large lot residential land uses along with agriculture and pasture land. These more rural townships are experiencing growth pressures from both the west and the east. The Lower One Subwatershed is currently one of the most undeveloped in the Rouge River Watershed. Over 50% of the Subwatershed remains in agricultural use, forested, or in streams and wetland areas. Low to medium density residential land use and agriculture/pasture clearly dominate the developed areas. By observing future land use trends based on master plans in neighboring subwatersheds, in the next few decades, residential land uses will dramatically diminish the areas of forest and open space as well as agriculture or pasture land. These trends, if not managed appropriately, will have a negative impact on the water quality, water quantity and wildlife habitat, as well as the character of the communities in the Lower One Subwatershed. In general, in the past few decades the communities in the Lower One Subwatershed have been experiencing tremendous growth rates. Studies show that the most prevalent land use changes are converting the landscape from agricultural and open space land use to primarily residential land uses. A strong economy and the aesthetic appeal to building new houses in more rural areas has encouraged development of large lot houses and new subdivisions that pepper the landscape in various stages of development. In fact, SEMCOG predicts that the number of households in the Lower One Subwatershed will double from 1990 to 2025, adding 444 households per year to the Subwatershed.
What's important about the Lower 1 Subwatershed? The Lower One Subwatershed is especially important to the health of the whole Rouge River Watershed because it is part of the headwaters of the River system - or, where the River begins. The protection of these headwater creeks and streams is crucial to the quality of water downstream in the Lower 2 and Main 3 and 4 Subwatersheds. Several high quality creeks drain the headwaters of the Lower One Subwatershed. In fact, the mottled sculpin - a fish sensitive to fluctuations in water quality - has been found in Fellows Creek that runs through Superior and Canton Townships. In some areas of the Lower One, creeks and the river are supporting more species of fish than scientists had predicted. Also, the Lower One Subwatershed is unique within the Rouge River Watershed because it represents a substantially undeveloped area with almost 50% of its land still attributed to open space and agricultural land use. This means that although the urbanized areas of the Lower One Subwatershed may need cleaning up or restoring, there is a lot of opportunity to simply protect natural resources - wetlands, woodlands, open space - that exists in the less developed areas of the Subwatershed. Protecting these natural resources and open spaces is important because new residential and commercial development is occurring at a fast pace.
What are some of the problems in the Lower 1 Subwatershed? The good news is that the quality of the surface waters within the Lower One has been quite good compared to other downstream subwatersheds; although, increased sediment laden and nutrient rich runoff is becoming more of a problem as new development occurs. Technical studies on the Lower One Subwatershed include the 1997 USDA Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCS) study entitled "Lower 1 Subbasin Resource Plan, Southeast Michigan River Basin Study" and the draft Lower One Subwatershed Management Plan currently under development by the Rouge Program Office (RPO). These plans identify problems within the Subwatershed as well as the solutions for protecting and restoring water resources. The following is a list of concerns addressed in both of these plans:
How will these problems be fixed? The six communities and three counties in the Lower One Subwatershed have been working together for several years to come up with solutions to the above problems. Their working group, called the Lower One Subwatershed Advisory Group, or SWAG, is working with the Rouge Program Office (RPO) and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in developing a Lower One Subwatershed Management Plan. Based on this plan's guidance, the six communities and two counties will be developing Storm Water Pollution Prevention Initiatives (SWPPIs) that will serve as individual "Action Plans" for the next five years and beyond. These are just a few of the actions that Lower One Subwatershed communities are taking on as part of their SWPPIs or Action Plans. Some actions that have been suggested are the following:
If you are interested in helping to protect and restore the Rouge River in the Lower One Subwatershed, there are many ways to get involved. See the How to Get Involved page of this web site for ideas. |
||
Last Updated: 8/13/02 Please address all comments and suggestions about the contents of this Web page to rougeweb@co.wayne.mi.us. The Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project is funded, in part, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grants #XP995743-01, -02, -03, -04, -05, -06, -08 and C-264000-01. |
