October 17, 2005

Volunteer monitors from across the state are coming together on October 29, for the first annual conference of Michigan’s new Clean Water Corps volunteer monitoring program. The Michigan Clean Water Corps – or “MiCorps” – is a network of volunteer monitoring programs created by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to assist the Department of Environmental Quality in collecting and sharing water quality data to protect and manage Michigan’s lakes and streams.

“Michigan’s citizens care deeply about our water resources as evidenced by these volunteers who invest their time and energy into keeping watch over our rivers, lakes, and streams,” said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. “With the Clean Water Corps program, we are tapping into this energy and putting the data the volunteers collect to good use in supporting state programs that protect our waters.”

The conference, being held at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center on Higgins Lake, will introduce volunteer monitors to the new MiCorps program; provide hands-on training in monitoring methodologies and data management procedures; show how volunteers can use their data to support local water quality protection efforts; and help leaders recruit volunteers and raise funds for local programs. DEQ staff will review trends in water quality in Michigan’s lakes and rivers and discuss how the state uses volunteer water monitoring data.

The conference is open to all interested parties and is intended for volunteer monitoring program leaders, citizen volunteers, water resource professionals, and others interested in the health of Michigan’s rivers, lakes, and streams.

The conference program and registration form are available online at http://www.micorps.net/conference. The conference registration deadline is October 21.

MiCorps brings together volunteer monitors under a single umbrella and provides key services for volunteers, including a comprehensive Web site (www.micorps.net) containing monitoring methods and other information, an Internet-based platform for exchanging monitoring data, a directory of volunteer monitoring programs in Michigan, an e-mail list for sharing ideas, training workshops for volunteer monitors, the annual conference, and a newsletter to report on volunteer monitoring activities across the state.

For more information on the October 29, conference or the MiCorps, visit the MiCorps Web site, or contact Matt Doss or Ric Lawson at the Great Lakes Commission at 734-971-9135, or at mdoss@glc.org or rlawson@glc.org, respectively.

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 October 17, 2005, by Shirley Smith for Pat Watson