The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has published their 2013 Michigan State of the Great Lakes Report. This informative report demonstrates what is going well and what still needs work in our communities to protect our greatest resource. Enjoy!
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Earlier this month, a team of dedicated volunteers removed some huge debris from the Cass River. Have a look at what they found! Thank you to these great volunteers. Carter, Alexa and Conner Van Hine, children of Mike and Sharon Van Hine of Frankenmuth, took time Saturday, August 10, to clean up a feeder creek of the Cass River in Memorial Park. The family and their friends enjoy playing by the creek that cuts through the park and when they saw all the litter in and around the stream, they were appalled by it, especially with all the available trash cans in the park. The threesome donned gloves and went to work, on their mom's suggestion, and spruced up the area. The Cass River Greenway offers their thanks and presented the three youth with Cass River Clean Up t-shirts." The annual Cass River Cleanup was once again a big success! Fifty willing volunteers showed up to remove everything from beer cans to old tires from the Cass River, clearing six miles of junk and debris. The Tuscola County Advertiser was on hand to provide a detailed report on the day's activities, found HERE. See our photos below and see just how much was accomplished!
Betty Goyings of the Cass River Greenway Committee accepted the Presidential Award from Bob Ramsey, KMB President Friday October 19, 2012 in Dearborn, MI. The Cass River Greenway’s entry which was titled the Annual Cass River Clean-up Project showed photos of cleanups over the past 4 years and was submitted in booklet form. Below is information contained in the booklet regarding the project. The Cass River Greenway, organized in 2007, is an effort by a group of local volunteers, assisted by professional resources and municipal leaders, working to enhance recreational opportunities and environmental well-being of the Cass River corridor. On June 30, 2012, we held our 4th annual river cleanup, cleaning approximately 5 miles of the Cass River from Vassar to Tuscola. These four cleanup events have been very successful, both in terms of volunteer support and removal of significant amount of trash from the river. Each year, we have scoured a different section of the river, approximately 5 miles for each event. We have now cleaned the river from Vassar to Bridgeport (approximately 20 miles. We intend to continue annual cleanup events, moving upstream from Vassar to Caro and Cass City (another 20 miles). The 2012 event drew approximately 40 volunteers in addition to 20 Cass River Greenway Committee members (who are also volunteers). Each of our four cleanup events has drawn nearly the same number of volunteers. The significance is that as we move to different parts of the river, many volunteers come from that section of the river we are working on, including property owners who readily make their property available to access the river and to help remove trash. All volunteers are happy o help because they see that they are making a difference and are enthused under sometimes difficult conditions, such as walking the river on a hot, humid morning, pulling canoes that are overloaded with trash. This community involvement has enabled the Cass River Greenway to raise awareness of our committee’s goals and increase the engagement of local residents in our cause. In the end, everyone is made more aware of the river and its beauty, and many will consequently use it more in the future. There are no paid personnel in our cleanup events. Community support for our river cleanup events has been outstanding. Each year, we have submitted a grant request to the DEQ/Great Lakes Commission’s Michigan’s Volunteer River, Stream and Creek Cleanup Program for minor funding needs. The grant requestor for each cleanup event was the respective County Conservation District in which the cleanup took place (Saginaw or Tuscola County). We have received outstanding support from community businesses such as McDonalds Restaurants and Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn for breakfasts, Grasel Graphics for T-shirts, Frankenmuth Rive Tours and Boy Scouts for canoes, Star of the West Milling Company for trucks to haul trash, local municipalities to host the kickoff breakfasts and local disposal services for dumpster and recycling services. As a result of this local community support, the need for state funding has been very minimal. We believe our cleanup efforts are the first organized efforts to clean up the Cass River and it definitely fills a need that is very much supported and appreciated by the communities along the Cass River. It makes our river more beautiful and safer for fishing and boating. Trash collected over the four years have included approximately 200 automotive, truck and tractor tires (all being recycled), tires with rims attached, parts of cars, a dog house, cast iron stove, road construction barrels and cones, metal tanks, a television, shopping cart, wooden pallets, wine keg, aluminum lawn chairs, and lots of plastic, can and bottle products. A billfold containing a driver’s license and credit cards was returned to its owner this year. Over the four years of cleaning the Cass River, approximately 130 cubic yards of trash has been removed from the river. Following this year’s cleanup event, knowing there was additional trash piled on the banks of the river because the canoes were already overloaded, a volunteer from Vassar and a few of his friends picked up the remaining trash (an additional 9 tires and a bed spring). They are also making plans to remove a fuel tank which is still in the river. At the end of the day….it’s not about the trash, it’s about communities coming together, it’s about commitment and fellowship it’s about the flowers and trees, the fish and wildlife…. it’s about enjoying and being grateful by taking care of this wonderful gift…. Our Beautiful Cass River. There were a lot of “tired” volunteers following the 4th annual June 30, 2012 Cass river cleanup as approximately 60 volunteers (led by the Cass River Greenway Committee) collected over 90 discarded tires along a five mile stretch of the river from Vassar downstream to the Village of Tuscola. Volunteers were in the water from 9am until noon with the entire effort completed by 2pm. Volunteers met at the Tuscola Township Hall pavilion where McDonald’s of Frankenmuth and the Bavarian Inn Restaurant teamed to feed volunteers breakfast. The volunteers were then divided into 6 teams each covering about one mile from Vassar to the Tuscola Canoe Launch site. Property owners along the river were super helpful as they gave volunteers access to the river as well as help clear rubbish and assist with canoes. A total of 16 canoes were used as “floating barges” to transport the discarded rubbish. It took a lot of hard work by very dedicated volunteers to get the trash out of the river, load and unload the canoes, get the trash into trucks and trailers but well worth it. Many felt that stretch of the river has not been cleaned in many years…possibly since the flooding of 1986. Since our first cleanup four years ago, over 130 cubic yards of trash has been removed from the river. Canoes were donated by Frankenmuth Coach owner John Hoornstra, the City of Vassar and the Frankenmuth Boy Scout Troop #255 with leader Mike Kazyak. Over 90 tires, some with rims were transported to the Frankenmuth Department of Public Works for recycling. Many other items including a wine keg, metal shopping cart, four-cylinder engine block, TV and numerous bottles and cans were also removed. Republic Services donated a large blue dumpster, Star of the West donated trucks, Steve Grasel of Grasel Graphics donated t-shirts and the owners of the C & K Corner Store, Charles and Anita Davenport not only got wet and dirty but donated ice cream cones to all volunteers. 2013 plans are to keep going up river, likely from Vassar to M-46 bridge. Peter Haake, Chairman of this years event has volunteered to head up the 2013 event. He can be reached at phaake@tds.net. This year’s event was sponsored by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Cass River Greenway Committee, Tuscola Conservation District, Tuscola Township, McDonald’s Restaurants in Frankenmuth and Vassar, Bavarian Inn Restaurant, Grasel Graphics, Republic Services, C&K Corner Store in Tuscola and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Cass River Greenway Committee (CRGC) is continuing its ambitious slate of making the Cass River cleaner and more user friendly. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new launch was held on Tuesday, May 15 in the Village of Tuscola. The new launch is located just south of the Tuscola Township Hall, 8561 Van Cleve Road and has an ample-sized gravel parking lot and a new restroom facility. “We want to make everyone aware that this new dock is open, along with our new floating dock in Frankenmuth – we are glad to have these two new launches for the water trail”, CRGC President Bob Zeilinger said. Joining Zeilinger for the ribbon cutting was Tuscola Township Supervisor Tod Fackler, Clerk Mary Lou Blasius, Treasurer Shirley Olson, Trustee David Bushong and Frankenmuth Parks and Recreation Director Daren Kaschinske. Funding from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and the Saginaw Bay WIN made the new launch possible. 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:
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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