May 5, 2005

Four volunteer organizations have been chosen to receive the first water quality monitoring grants to be awarded by the recently established Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps). MiCorps was established by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to more fully utilize the state’s volunteer water quality monitoring organizations.

The grants, awarded through MiCorps’ Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program, will support efforts to obtain reliable data on water quality in the state of Michigan. Such data is critical to the Department of Environmental Quality’s efforts to protect and manage the state’s water resources.

Groups selected to receive funding and their projects are the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly (Muskegon River Water Monitoring Program); Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council (Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program); Watershed Center, Grand Traverse Bay (Grand Traverse Stream Search); and Lake Superior State University (Citizen Volunteer Stream Monitoring for the St. Mary’s River and its Sault Sainte Marie Watershed).

“The DEQ is pleased to partner with these organizations to help us achieve our goal of protecting Michigan’s environment and public health,” said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. “MiCorps allows citizens across the state to work together and share ideas on how we can best keep the waters of Michigan clean for generations to come.”

The goal of the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program is to provide funding, training, and support to monitoring groups to ensure that they are collecting reliable, high-quality data. MiCorps provides training and support to the grantees, and the resulting data will be used by the DEQ as a screening tool and as supplemental data for water resources management programs.

The Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program was established by the DEQ in 1998 and placed under MiCorps administration this year. Through 1994, it awarded nearly $250,000 in monitoring grants to 31 volunteer organizations. This year, it awarded $38,561 in grants to the 4 recipients, which were selected from a pool of 16 applicants. Applications for 2006 MiCorps grants program will be accepted this fall.

Other recent MiCorps actions include the development of a Web site to facilitate the exchange of data and information among monitoring groups, and publishing the first issue of MiCorps Monitor, a semiannual newsletter on volunteer monitoring issues specific to Michigan.

For more information, visit the MiCorps Web site at www.micorps.net.

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

Revised May 5, 2005 by Pat Watson