Come learn about river bugs with us

Some call them Benthic Macroinvertebrates, others call them River Critters, many just call them bugs, but one thing is certain; they tell us how healthy our rivers, lakes, and streams are.

It’s also a lot of fun finding them – but we need your help to do it!

Come out and learn how to be a citizen scientist.

It’s easy to VOLUNTEER!

SIGN UP HERE or email Jaime Welch.

Caddisfly in Casing

Water Penny

Crayfish

 Spring Water Training & Monitoring Lab information

Water Monitoring Training will be held on the date listed below. This training takes volunteers through the monitoring process and give an overview on how to identify what you find. Volunteers will be able to sign up for sites at the training.

Saturday April 10th
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
For-Mar Nature Preserve & Arboretum
2142 N. Genesee Road, Burton, Mi 48509

The Spring 2021 Monitoring Window will be from Saturday April 17th to Sunday May 2nd

Our Water Quality Labs will be held on the days and locations listed below.

Instead of labs, specimens collected can be dropped off for identification and tallying.

These animals that live in the stream have different levels of sensitivity to pollution. Some can live only in water with little or no pollution, but others can exist even with surprising levels of pollution. By collecting them and noting what types and how many of each type are living in the stream, we can get an idea of how healthy the river is. The more benthics we find that are sensitive, the higher the score, meaning the healthier the stream is. We track that information from season to season and year to year, and share it with both local and state agencies. Every Spring and Fall the FRWC monitors 34 different sites in and around Genesee and Lapeer county. Our monitoring process revolves around a specific 300 foot stretch at each stream so that we are consistent in monitoring the same area every time. As part of the process we spend 90 “wet net” minutes collecting at a site. This means that regardless of how many volunteers you have at a site, the total time spent collecting is 90 minutes. So if you have 2 volunteers collecting, you would each spend 45 minutes sampling all the available habitats within the 300 ft stretch.

Want to know how your stream is doing? Check out our Master Data Sheet for all the scores.

Mayfly Nymph

• Monitoring Assessment Login
• DEQ Monitoring Program Presentation
• Forms and procedures used for monitoring

• Volunteer Monitoring In Stream Procedure Guidelines
• Stream Assessment & Collection Standard Operating Procedure
• Laboratory Standard Operating Procedure
• FRWC Stream Assessment Form
• Macroinvertebrate Key
• FRWC Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan

Monitoring Sites Interactive Watershed MAPThis interactive map shows sites, scores, directions, and photos.

(The map is best viewed in Firefox or Google Chrome.  If using Internet Explorer, use the links on the side of the page.)

Monitoring Gilkey Creek

The restored Gilkey Creek easily holds high flows after a heavy rain. The FRWC has contracted with the Applewood Estate to conduct chemical and biological monitoring of the Gilkey Creek to assess the impact of stream restoration activities. We are pleased to note that no significant impact was found during the construction season, and the health of the creek continues to improve as the creek reestablishes in its new course. The reports on our work are below. 2010

Gilkey Creek at Kearsley Park

2010 GC Assessment Report 07-10 GC Report Appendix 2009 2009 GC Assessment Report 2009 GC Report Appendix2008 2007

Stream Profiling on the Gilkey Creek

The FRWC contracted with the UM-Flint Center for Applied Environmental Research to conduct stream profiling, an assessment of stream bank stability on the Gilkey Creek. Check back here soon to access copies of those reports.