The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Great Lakes Commission have chosen six organizations to receive volunteer water quality monitoring grants as part of the Michigan Clean Water Corps program. The six organizations will share nearly $50,000 in grant funding. Grants were awarded to the following organizations:
1. Jackson County Conservation District : Monitoring is to involve 16 sites in the Upper Grand River and tributaries including Cahaogen Creek, Huntoon Creek, Portage River, and Sandstone Creek.
2. Superior Watershed Partnership: Six sites are to be monitored within the Millecoquins River Watershed.
3. Muskegon County Conservation District: Monitoring is to involve eight sites within the Duck Creek Watershed.
4. Clinton River Watershed Council: Three additional sites within the North Branch Clinton River watershed will be monitored.
5. Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited/Kalamazoo Valley Chapter: Initially six sites within the Spring Brook and Dickinson Creek watersheds will be monitored along with the development of a more extensive monitoring plan that can potentially receive full funding in the near future.
6. Branch County Conservation District: The grant funding will be used to develop a Coldwater River Watershed volunteer-based monitoring plan that can potentially receive full funding in the near future.
Funding awarded through the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program is to be used to provide training and support for volunteers to collect quality data on the state’s water resources. As evinced by the programs that were selected, much of the funding will go to collect information on the state of Michigan trout streams.