Spring is here, time to get out of the office and into the field.  It is going to be a very busy monitoring season.   All of the chapters that participated in the River Keepers Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program during our pilot year (2009) have decided to continue participating.  After having such a successful year we invited any interested MITU chapter to participate in River Keepers.  The response was great! Most of our 20 chapters have expressed an interest in getting involved.  This is wonderful news for Michigan’s coldwater streams; we will be able to collect really great data that we can use to further our conservation mission. The more we grow the more information we can collect to help us to conserve, protect, and restore coldwater streams in Michigan.

Here is the list of projects planned for 2010 that are pretty well set to go at this time (I am still working on figuring out projects for every chapter that’s expressed an interest in River Keepers).

If you see a project you are interested in volunteering for…or, it you would like to get your chapter involved in River Keepers…please contact me ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (616) 460-0477).

I will publish an updated projects list in the near future to keep you informed about River Keepers.

Water Temperature

• Schrems West Michigan (Rogue River Watershed)
• Pine River Area (Pine River Watershed)
• Ann Arbor Area (Mill Creek)
• William B. Mershon (Rifle River Watershed)
• Frank “Bob” Perrin Lansing  (Prairie Creek)
• Muskegon White River (White River)

River Habitat Mapping

• Headwaters (Pigeon River)
• Miller Van Winkle (Maple River)
• Schrems West Michigan (Rogue River Watershed)

MiCorps Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Sampling

• Kalamazoo Valley (Kalamazoo River Watershed)
• Mason-Griffith Founders (Upper Au Sable River)
• Copper Country (Pilgrim River)
• Schrems West Michigan (Rogue River Watershed)
• Paul H. Young (Upper Manistee)

In-Stream Flow Monitoring

• Frank “Bob” Perrin Lansing (Prairie Creek)
• Clinton Valley/Vanguard/Challenge/Paul H. Young (Paint Creek)

Fish Sampling

• Leon P. Martuch (Tittabawassee River Watershed)
• Pine River Area (Pine River Watershed)
• Clinton Valley/Vanguard/Challenge/Paul H. Young (Paint Creek)

For more information on the River Keepers Program please visit the River Keepers webpage http://www.michigantu.org/index.php/river-keepers-program.  We have recently updated the website and added links to the River Keepers volunteer manual for each type of data, the manual is very informative, go check it out!

Best Regards,

Kristin Thomas
Aquatic Ecologist
Michigan Trout Unlimited
616-460-0477

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