The City of Grand Rapids – Environmental Services Department announced it has been selected as a Fan Favorite nominee in the “See the BIG picture” contest sponsored by Hach Company, the industry leader in nutrient monitoring.
The City of Grand Rapids – Environmental Services Department will compete against nine other municipal wastewater treatment facilities across the U.S. for $40,000 in nutrient monitoring equipment from Hach. The facility receiving the most votes on the “See the BIG Picture” contest website (www.hachbigpicture.com/vote) will be named the Fan Favorite.
Voting begins on September 19th and ends on November 13, 2011. Voting is open to the general public, and individuals may cast up to 10 votes.
The recipient of the Fan Favorite prize will be announced on November 15, 2011.
The Environmental Services Department lacks reliable, portable field equipment to perform field testing on Plaster Creek (which is a tributary to the Grand River). Plaster Creek joins the Grand River just upstream of the Wastewater Treatment Plants effluent location.
The Plaster Creek Watershed drain totals 57 square miles and it’s sub watershed management units are 92.2 miles long. The MDEQ has included most of Plaster Creek, a 12-mile stretch on the 2002 Section 303(d) non-attainment list due to elevated levels of Escherichia Coli (E. coli) and poor fish and macro-invertebrate communities (due to excessive sediment loading). In 1992 Grand Valley State University study indicated large difference between dry and wet weather sampling results. Field sampling equipment would give us a better feel for trends and possibly sources of sediment loading. We would be able to immediately perform field testing after/during wet weather events and respond to any emergencies (spills, possible illicit discharges, etc.) that might occur. We currently collect samples and bring them back to the lab for analysis – this wastes time, resources and does not attain the responsiveness we need in times of emergencies.
The “See the BIG picture” contest was designed to help municipal wastewater treatment plants understand the benefits of increasing nutrient monitoring. In addition to the Fan Favorite prize, Hach will award $100,000 in equipment to recipients of the grand prize for Municipal and Industrial facilities at WEFTEC 2011 on October 18, 2011.
About Hach Company
For more than 60 years, Hach Company (www.hach.com) has developed innovative solutions to test the quality of water, other liquids and air. Manufactured and distributed worldwide, Hach systems are designed to simplify analysis by offering sophisticated on-line instrumentation, accurate portable laboratory equipment, high-quality prepared reagents, complete easy-to-follow methods, and life-time technical support.
Environmental author Jeff Alexander has an interesting article about the state funding for conservation efforts in Michigan.
Here’s a brief excerpt. You can read the full article at Bridge Magazine.
While the visually stunning Pure Michigan advertising campaign has bolstered the state’s battered image and attracted millions of tourists, who have pumped billons of dollars into an ailing economy, state lawmakers have gutted programs designed to protect the natural resources that the advertising campaign promotes.
The divergent trends has some conservation leaders worried that the state is jeopardizing the ecological health of lakes, beaches and natural areas that are pillars of the Pure Michigan campaign — and of Michigan.
Do you want to know what the water quality of the Rogue River and its streams are?
Then come and join us in collecting stream insects.
Stream insects are a good measure of water quality since many are pollutant sensitive and can be rapidly identified. Volunteers will be assigned a monitoring group and will work together to collect insects at stream sites. Each group will come back to the township hall and identify the insects they have collected. The end result will be a “Stream Quality Score”, which will be used to determine the quality of your stream site.
Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Algoma Township Hall, 10531 Algoma Ave, Rockford, Michigan 49341
Lunch will be provided for all volunteers. Please bring waders if you have them.
Please contact Nichol De Mol at ndemol@tu.org or 231-557-6362 if you would like to attend.
Event in partnership with the Michigan Trout Unlimited River Keepers Program.
The month of September is filled with opportunities to assist Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited with our Grand Rapids Community Foundation Grant. The opportunities include work on the Cedar Creek and electrofishing various cold water systems in Kent County.
We need two to three volunteers to assist Aaron Snell with electroshocking per event. If anyone is interested in helping, please send me a few dates that you are available between now and mid-September. Aaron’s schedule is flexible so he can accommodate as many volunteers as possible. The watersheds include but are not limited to Ball Creek, Bear Creek, Butternut Creek, Cherry Creek, Coopers Creek, Duck Creek, Duke Creek, Indian Mill Creek, Mill Creek, Nash Creek, Spring Creek and Walter Creek. If you’ve never been electrofishing, it is a lot of fun….and very humbling as an angler!!
For those interested in getting their hands dirty to do some hands on work that promotes healthy trout habitat, this is your chance. The main focus for restoration this summer is Cedar Creek, in downtown Cedar Springs. SWMTU has already used in-kind excavating and tractor work from some city employees to clear out trash, debris and dead black willow logs that jammed the stream, flooded downtown and impaired habitat. We also removed several tons of broken concrete.
The next goal is to install some fieldstone riprap along a 100 foot section in Veterans Park, install some cross vanes and other habitat features throughout the city portion of the creek and plant some 12′ trees along the southern bank for shade. We also have to create a false bank to narrow a wide stretch. It should be fun work, and since it’s public land we can all fish it next year to evaluate it. A neighbor reported a 19 inch brown taken from near this area last opener.
Friday, September 2 (right before Labor Day weekend) Josh could use three to four volunteers at the Pigeon River to work on some habitat work we are doing in conjunction with the Drain Commissioner and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. There are several sites to work on here, most notably a large erosion site which we plan to re-grade, riprap, cover with topsoil, re-seed and cover with straw mats. There is also some timber work to complete as well. SWMTU installed some timber habitat there in 2008, and Dr. Neil McDonald from GVSU electroshocked a 20.75″ brown from it that Fall, so the work we do there has recruited fish. Please respond if the morning or afternoon is better for that day. Josh has the whole day open.
Friday, September 9th and Saturday the 10th Cedar Creek restoration work days. Josh could use at least five volunteers for each day of work, and we could potentially work both of these days. The location is in downtown Cedar Springs on City property where Cedar Creek crosses Northland Drive. We have to install a false bank, some riprap, and other habitat features. Josh has each day open, so he can work with volunteers’ time schedules. Usually Saturdays we work from 9 am to 1 pm or so, lunch is provided. Friday we can schedule per people’s time schedules.
Friday, September 16th Install habitat features in Cedar Springs. Josh would like at least five volunteers for this day as well. This will be work that has an immediate impact and, as mentioned earlier, we can all fish it at a later date. Josh encourages volunteer feedback for times on this day as well.
Tuesday, September 30th River cleanup day in downtown Cedar Springs, from 10 am to 12 pm hosted by Chris Burns, City Manager of Cedar Springs. The emphasis is to remove bottles and other small trash from the riparian corridor. She could use some help that day for just a few hours.
Please contact Marc Montpetit if you are interested in assisting with these volunteer opportunities at montpetitmc@290signs.com
Many reaches of the Coldwater River contain high-quality aquatic habitat and healthy fish populations. Thirty-two species of fish, including three species of trout, are known to inhabit the river. Deep pools, clean riffles and large woody debris are prevalent. The stream is very productive and the macroinvertebrate community is excellent.
However, the reach of river adjacent the Dolan Property, which is owned by Schrems, has been historically dredged and consists of a straight, incised, wide channel with uniformly shallow water and little to no woody debris or other cover for fish. Streambank erosion is present to varying degrees throughout the reach. Aquatic habitat is severely limited and the reach is barely meeting its coldwater designation. With exception of the lack of quality physical habitat, all other stream attributes including water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels and the macroinvertebrate community are conducive to supporting trout populations.
Along with its partner, the Coldwater River Watershed Council, Schrems identified the Dolan Property as a high priority for improvement and began seeking project funds in the fall of 2009. Successful in the effort, Schrems received a $20,000 grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and $40,750 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to supplement approximately $66,250 of local cash, materials and in-kind match to improve aquatic habitat on the Dolan Property. The project is located in Sections 34 and 35 of Bowne Township, in southeast Kent County, Michigan
Severe limitations to a healthy trout population in the project area (approximately 2,800 feet of stream) were lack of deep water, woody debris and overhead cover. Based upon this understanding, log structures were designed to emulate naturally occurring river debris and provide additional habitat. Unlike natural log jams or randomly placed logs, the structures were designed in an orientation to reduce bank erosion and navigational hazards. Significant base flow in the Coldwater will ensure that the logs remain submerged, thereby preventing decomposition of the wood. Logs of suitable tree species and desired dimension were available on the Dolan property.
Here are the preliminary numbers for 2011: We conducted two shocking runs; the first we captured 47 browns and two rainbows. The second run we caught 40 browns, seven of which were marked the first pass. This gives a population estimate of 246 fish (+/- 49) in 1,000 feet of stream, or about 1,300 per mile. Largest fish was 13″, though we caught a few up to 15″ outside of our structured sampling site. The good news is that we had 32 trout under six inches, that are likely wild…even a handful of 2-3″ fish that would have been spawned last fall.
Compare this to 2010, before the habitat improvements: 28 browns on Run 1 and 16 on Run 2, for an estimate of 98 fish per 1,000 feet.
Additional monitoring will include macroinvertebrates, physical habitat and morphology (channel shape). Monitoring will continue for the next four years.
Note: Data provived by Aaron Snell, Streamside Ecological Services, Inc.