PROGRAM OVERVIEW

In September 2008, we started our Stream Leaders Program with seven monitoring locations. We hope to add to the number of locations we monitor if we have more volunteers to help us. Let us know if you have a perfect location in mind!

Stream Monitoring helps us understand the health of the streams, creeks, and rivers that feed the St. Clair River.

It involves the collection of “bugs, ” (or macroinvertebrates,) that live on the bottom of the stream. Macroinvertebrates provide us with lots of information about our streams and creeks. Many of these macroinvertebrates are in the larval stage of the bugs we see flying around in the summer, like fish flies, stone flies and caddis flies Pollution-sensitive species, like mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly larvae, prefer cool fast-flowing streams with high oxygen content. Pollution-tolerant species, such as leeches, aquatic worms and water striders, tolerate higher amounts of nutrients and bacteria. Depending on the types of “bugs” we find we can Monitoring Volunteers tell if the waterway is in “poor”, “fair”, “good” or “excellent” condition.

MONITORING LOCATIONS 1 Silver Creek - Jeddo Rd. between Cribbons and Gibbons, Grant Twp.  Silver Creek map 2 Burtch Creek – State Rd. south of Jeddo Rd. Burtchville Twp. Burtch Creek map 3 Bunce Creek - St. James Rd., off of Ravenswood, Marysville Bunce Creek map 4 Cuttle Creek - Marysville Golf Course, off of River Road, Marysville Cuttle Creek map 5 Beaubien Creek, Starville Road, Cottreville Township Beaubien Creek map 6 Meldrum Creek, Short Cut Road, Ira Twp Park Meldrum Creek map 7 Stock Creek, Lapeer Road, Port Huron Township Hall Stocks Creek map