April 1, 2008

The Department of Environmental Quality and the Great Lakes Commission announced today that four organizations have been chosen to receive volunteer water quality monitoring grants to be awarded under the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) program.

The MiCorps program was established by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to involve and assist the state's volunteer water quality organizations in water quality assessments, protection, and stewardship of lakes and rivers.

The four volunteer organizations sharing nearly $50,000 in grant funds to support their monitoring work beginning in 2008 are:

- Marguerite Gahagan Nature Preserve - Monitoring the Upper Au Sable
  River watershed in Roscommon, Crawford, Otsego, and Oscoda
  Counties.

- Huron Pines - Monitoring the Pine River and Van Etten Creek in Alcona
  and Iosco Counties.

- Friends of the St. Clair River - Monitoring tributaries of the St. Clair
  River in St. Clair County.

- The Nature Conservancy in partnership with the Livingston County
  Drain Commissioner's Office - Monitoring the Shiawassee River
  watershed in Shiawassee and Livingston Counties.

The grants, awarded through the MiCorps' Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program, provide training and support for the volunteer groups to help them collect quality data on the state's water resources. The data is used to support the DEQ's efforts to protect and manage the state's water resources.

"Volunteer groups are absolutely critical to ensuring that - at a very basic level - we monitor water quality appropriately and work together to protect one of our state's greatest natural resources," said Lt. Governor John D. Cherry Jr., Chairman of the Great Lakes Commission. "Water quality is an issue that is easily taken for granted - these grants help to ensure that our stewardship of Michigan's water continued to be a top priority for all of us."

"These volunteers will join an expanding network of committed citizens who are working hard to monitor water quality in Michigan to help protect our state's valuable resources," added Jo Latimore, MiCorps Program Manager at the Huron River Watershed Council, which administers the program along with the GLC in partnership with the DEQ. "We are proud of our volunteers who continue to inspire us with their enthusiasm and dedication."

Much of the work involves monitoring stream-dwelling populations of insects, worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and other creatures, some of which are highly sensitive to changes in water quality and provide food for fish and other organisms. The volunteers will also assess the quality of local stream habitat.

The DEQ established the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program in 1998 and contracted with the GLC to administer it as part of the MiCorps in the fall of 2004. Through this year, nearly $450,000 in monitoring grants has been awarded for volunteer stream monitoring.

For more information, visit the MiCorps Web site at www.micorps.net or contact Matt Doss of the GLC at mdoss@glc.org, or Jack Wuycheck of the DEQ at 517 335-3176 or by e-mail at wuycheckj@michigan.gov.

Editor's note: DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

"Protecting Michigan's Environment, Ensuring Michigan's Future"

Revised April 1, 2008 by Pat Watson