Michigan Volunteer Stream Monitoring Grant Awards for 2011

Michigan Volunteer Stream Monitoring Grant Awards for 2011The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) are pleased to announce that nine organizations have been chosen to receive volunteer water quality monitoring grants (four full grants and five start-up grants) under the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) Program.The MiCorps Program was established by former Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to involve and assist the state’s volunteer water quality organizations with water quality assessments, protection, and stewardship of Michigan’s lakes and rivers. These volunteer-dependent monitoring groups further expand the existing network of committed citizens who are working hard to monitor water quality in Michigan.The grants, awarded through the DEQ’s MiCorps Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program, provide training and support for volunteers to help them collect quality data on the state’s water resources. Full grants provide two years of support for existing volunteer programs to monitor macro-invertebrate communities and habitat characteristics in wadeable streams and rivers. Start-up grants provide one year of support for organizations seeking to develop volunteer monitoring programs to assist with designing a monitoring strategy as a first step toward the development of a full proposal for the following year’s Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program.The data collected through these volunteer water quality monitoring programs are used to support local activities and the DEQ’s efforts to protect and manage the state’s water resources.The nine organizations sharing nearly $46,000 in grant funds to support their volunteer monitoring work beginning in 2011 are:

Full Grants:

• Cannon Township – $13,556.81 to study macroinvertebrate health on Bear Creek at five monitoring sites.
  
• Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council - $9,351.66 to monitor eight sites on the Maple and Sturgeon rivers, including macro-invertebrate and habitat assessments.
  
• Gogebic Conservation District - $8,975 to collect data on habitat and macro-invertebrates in the Black River and its tributaries in Presque Isle Watershed for tracking water quality changes over time.
  
• Clinton River Watershed Council - $1,350 to add six new sites to the existing stream monitoring program on the Clinton River.
  
• Start-Up Grants:
  
• Kalamazoo Nature Center - $3,000, Kalamazoo River Basin.
  
• Mason-Lake Conservation District - $2,988, Hamlin Lake and the Big Sable River Basin streams.
  
• Macatawa Area Coordinating Council - $2,980.48, Macatawa Watershed.
  
• Lake Leelanau Lake Association - $2,500, Lake Leelanau area streams.
  
• Cass River Greenway Committee - $1,033, Cass River.
  

The DEQ established the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program in 1998 and contracted with the GLC to administer it as part of MiCorps in the fall of 2004. For additional information about the Michigan Volunteer Stream Monitoring grants, please visit the MiCorps Web site at www.micorps.net or contact Dr. Paul Steen of the Huron River Watershed Council at 734-769-5123 or by e-mail at psteen@hrwc.org.

Interested in becoming a volunteer monitor?
Please visit http://www.micorps.net or contact Paul Steen for more information!
The Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) was created through a executive order by former Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to assist the Department of Environmental Quality in collecting and  sharing water quality data for use in water resources management and protection programs.

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