The Rouge River Project
Bringing the river back to life!
Friends of the Rouge 2001-2002 SuccessesRouge Education Project (REP)The year 2002 marked the 15th anniversary of the REP. During 2001 and 2002, 74 schools within the Rouge River watershed participated: 57 of those were returning schools and 17 new schools. In all,141 teachers and 5,905 students participated. Additionally, the REP team recruited 19 College Student Assistants (CSAs), trained them in water quality testing and other aspects of the program and assigned them to assist teachers in the classroom and on monitoring day. In addition to the 74 schools that came from within the boundaries of the watershed to participate in the REP, 10 schools outside the boundaries also participated in the program. These 10 schools monitored within the Rouge watershed boundaries. The REP team began a pilot program for fall monitoring in October of 2001. There were several teachers who expressed interest in monitoring in the fall and spring so they could compare data seasonally and have more time to analyze and interpret their data. The pilot program included 13 schools, 15 teachers and 408 students from within the watershed boundaries. An additional three schools from outside the boundaries monitored within the watershed. Throughout the winter and spring, the REP team coordinated and facilitated 15 training and informational workshops for CSAs, teachers, students and volunteers. These workshops are reviewed and assessed each year in order to provide the best information and training for the participants of the program. Notable improvements were made to Student Congress. This workshop was once held for all students at one time and place. This year, the workshop was divided into two, one for middle and high school students and one for elementary school students. The workshop was redesigned to a hands-on, rotational workshop where students spent a certain amount of time participating in each of the following activities: data discussion (for middle and high schools students), garlic mustard control, native planting, water jeopardy, Freddie the fish (for elementary students) and rouge writings. The feedback on all of the REP workshops was very positive. In 2001 and 2002 the REP incorporated a t-shirt design contest that brought in a number of creative designs for the project’s 2002 t-shirts. Also, the new FOTR web site developed in 2001 allows teachers to enter their data through the web site electronically instead of sending it through the mail.
Rouge Rescue/River Day (RR/RD)FOTR successfully completed its 16th annual Rouge Rescue/River Day. WDM was developed in order to manage logjams in an environmentally friendly manner. It is now recommended that logjams not be entirely removed from the river due to the fact that new studies have shown that logjams provide necessary habitat for fish and wildlife, helps to reduce erosion and is a natural process in the life of a river. FOTR promoted the WDM techniques to site coordinators participating in Rouge Rescue 2002. In addition to volunteers working on WDM techniques, they also expanded their activities to include streambank stabilization projects, the removal of invasive species and planting of native species, bird house building, storm drain stenciling, nature walks and the clean up of man made debris. In 2002, there were 20 Rouge Rescue/River Day sites throughout the Rouge River watershed with the participation of 844 volunteers. Participating communities included Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Lathrup Village, Southfield, Troy, Dearborn, Detroit, Melvindale, Farmington Hills, Livonia, Redford, Westland, Wayne, Novi, Northville Township, Plymouth, Plymouth Township and Canton. FOTR will continue to assess and develop Rouge Rescue/River Day programs.
Storm Drain Stenciling (SDS)The Public Involvement (PI) team heads this activity that focuses on sending the message to Rouge River stakeholders not to dump waste down storm drains. The PI team provides supplies and maps for teams of volunteers to stencil the message "Dump No Waste - Drains to the Rouge River" next to storm drains within the Rouge River communities. A door hanger that explains the project is distributed by the volunteers to all residents that are located in the stenciling area. In 2001 and 2002 there were 270 stenciling volunteers. Many of these volunteers were from Ford Motor Company through the 16 Hour Community Service program. Additionally, many Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops stenciled and several scouts organized a group as part of their Eagle Scout certification. These volunteers collectively stenciled 4,309 storm drains in Dearborn, Detroit, Livonia, Redford, Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Wayne, Westland, Plymouth and Canton. Each year, the SDS program further expands throughout the watershed and continues to be an effective tool in increasing awareness of residents of the Rouge River.
Frog and Toad Survey (F&T)The Rouge River watershed Frog and Toad Survey is a long-term volunteer monitoring program that tracks the distribution of amphibian populations within the Rouge River watershed. The survey is a concentrated presence/absence survey. Volunteers survey a quarter square mile section of the Rouge River watershed by listening in the early spring through the end of July for all 9 southeastern Michigan species of frogs and toads. The PI team held seven Frog and Toad workshops in 2002 with a total of 448 volunteers attending. This is a record number of attendees since the inception of the program in 1998. Workshops were held in Southfield, Dearborn, West Bloomfield, Livonia, Wayne, Plymouth, and Canton. The workshops provided volunteers with the information and materials needed to successfully monitor their designated sites for the calls of frogs and toads. Materials included a guidebook and a CD or tape of the breeding calls. In addition to the workshops, the PI team facilitated two group listens. Group listens are opportunities for volunteers to practice their listening skills in the field with an experienced team member who can verify their identifications. In 2002, 32 volunteers participated in two group listens held in Novi and Superior Township. There were a total of 703 volunteers signed up to participate in the survey in 2002, which made up 333 teams of both new and returning volunteers. The American toad has been the most commonly heard species in the Rouge River watershed since 2001. This year, the percentage of blocks with calling toads reached an all time high. Seventy-one percent of survey blocks had toads, compared to 58% in 2001. Their ability to adapt to suburban development and their tolerance for very dry conditions seem to have enabled these creatures to survive the droughts and increased development in the watershed. Spring peepers and western chorus frogs were the most commonly heard species after toads, heard calling in half of the blocks. Green frogs and eastern gray tree frogs were heard in 39% and 36% of the blocks, respectively, and wood frogs were heard in 21% of the blocks. Three species were rarely heard in the watershed: northern leopard frogs, bullfrogs and pickerel frogs. The Frog and Toad survey has increased in participation each year of its existence. This program brings out a variety of volunteers, many of whom continue to survey year after year.
Information Outreach Workshops (IOWs)FOTR IOWs are designed to educate local citizens on the history of the Rouge River and how they can help to improve the health of the Rouge River watershed. In 2002, the PI team offered Rouge River bus tours, streambank stabilization workshops and hands-on projects, a wetland tour, River Friendly Lawn Care workshops (in conjunction with Wayne County DOE), rain garden workshops, and riparian workshops. The PI team tailored the requested workshops to meet the needs of the community holding the event. The PI team coordinated five bus tours in 2002. The primary facilitator of the bus tours was Dr. Orin Gelderloos, professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at the U of M Dearborn, in addition to other local experts. There were two bus tours held in the Main 1-2 subwatershed, one in the Middle 1, one in the Middle 3, and one in the Main 3-4. The Main 1-2 bus tours, hosted by the M1-2 Public Education Committee, covered sites in the upper portion of the Rouge such as, Firefighters Park, SOCCRA Gardens, Birney Middle School Yard Habitat, Acacia retention basin/Douglas Evans Nature Preserve and Quarton Lake. One tour was held for members of the Main 1-2 Subwatershed Advisory Group and a second tour was held for the general public. The Middle 1 tour, called the Headwaters Tour, was hosted by the city of Novi. This tour followed the headwaters of the Middle branch at both Walled Lake and the Johnson Creek. Stops on this tour included Walled Lake, Meadowbrook Lake, Fish Hatchery Park, and the Western Wayne Conservation Association where participants were treated to a tractor ride to visit the Johnson Creek springs. Following the Headwaters Tour, a tour of the Main stem for the Middle 3 subwatershed was held, beginning in Dearborn Heights. It was entitled the Rouge Footwaters after Dr. Gelderloos surmised that, "if a river has a Headwaters, [he] must live in the Footwaters." The tour covered the CSO at Hines Drive and Telegraph, the Ford Field Restoration Project and then continued on to the heavily industrialized section from Michigan Avenue southwest to the mouth of the Rouge, ending at Ballenger Park in River Rouge where the group picnicked. A similar tour was conducted for the Main 3-4, but the focus this time was on the Rouge Gateway Project. In addition to the Footwaters sites, this tour included a stop at the Oxbow Restoration at Greenfield Village and a stop at Patton Park in Detroit. The PI team worked with the Rouge Program Office (RPO) representatives on the Rouge Watershed Riparian Workshop hosted by Dearborn Heights. The riparian workshop covered topics such as initiatives by Rouge River Citizen Groups, water quality sampling, riparian buffer zones and naturalizing streambanks and stewardship projects. The PI team worked with WC DOE representatives at three of the Lawn Care workshops hosted by Southfield, Wayne, and Westland. Three additional workshops were held in 2002. In Farmington Hills, FOTR worked with the Woodcreek Watershed Protection Committee, the Farmington Hills Beautification Committee, and the city of Farmington Hills to conduct a hands-on streambank stabilization project on Pebble Creek in Farmington Hills. The project was followed by a classroom workshop on riparian corridor management. The City of Westland hosted one of the first rain garden workshops in the Rouge, facilitated by two experts from Ann Arbor. The final workshop was a tour of the Inkster Wetlands. The Inkster wetlands project was designed in 1995 to demonstrate control of sources of non-point pollution and wildlife habitat restoration in and urban setting. Don Tilton of Tilton & Associates, and Joe Rathbun of the MDEQ facilitated this tour. In all, there were nearly 400 volunteers who attended one or more of these events, not including the partnering workshops. Bus tours and hands-on workshops are becoming increasingly popular public education activities within the Rouge River watershed.
Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling (BMS)The FOTR benthic monitoring program was designed to involve a large number of volunteers in sampling the headwaters creeks of the Rouge River for the small insects, snails, clams and worms that live in the streambed. These organisms vary in their sensitivities to water pollution so the type and number found can be used to assess the health of a creek site. Group sampling events, called Bug Hunts, are conducted in the spring and fall. Additionally, a winter stonefly search is held in January. In order to involve a large number of volunteers in the group sampling, there are two levels of volunteers: team leaders and inexperienced volunteers. Team leaders are trained to sample and identify macroinvertebrates. On sampling days, they lead a team of inexperienced volunteers. To maintain high standards, only the trained team leaders enter the water and collect samples. Inexperienced volunteers aid in picking and sorting the organisms from samples collected by the team leader. Results from the sampling are provided to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. In 2001 and 2002, participation in this program increased with every event. Thirty team leaders were trained at two Team Leader Training workshops hosted by Superior Township and Johnson Nature Center in Bloomfield Hills. The October 2001 fall bug hunt, hosted by the Middle 3 subwatershed, had 40 participants. The January 2002 stonefly search, hosted by Bueter’s Outdoors in Northville, had 37 volunteers. The April 2002 spring bug hunt, hosted by the U of M Dearborn Environmental Interpretive Center, had 54 volunteers. Following each fall and spring bug hunt, Bug Identification Days were held. These were hosted by U of M Dearborn Environmental Interpretive Center and were attended by a total of 28 volunteers. October 2001 Fall Bug Hunt
January 2002 Winter Stonefly Search Winter stoneflies were found at 8 of the 21 sites and included all 5 Johnson Creek sites; Fellows Creek in Plymouth Township, Fowler Creek in Superior Township, and Tonquish Creek in Plymouth. April 2002 Spring Bug Hunt
The BMS program at FOTR has grown steadily over the last year and a half. The PI team will continue to work with the MDEQ on quality control measures and encouraging participation among Rouge River stakeholders. |
Last Updated: 2/13/03 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. |