Community Science Projects

Unleash your inner curiosity and explore the environment with us! We implement Community Science projects year-round with hundreds of volunteers to monitor watershed health, educate the public, and advance community priorities. Our projects range from collecting water quality data and counting butterflies, to snapping photos and removing invasive plants. Let’s do some good work together! Sign up to join one of our Community Science projects.

Butterfly Monitoring

Butterflies are excellent indicators of environmental conditions. Friends of the St. Clair River partners with Michigan Butterfly Network, Monarch Watch and other organizations to provide education, assess local butterfly populations, and improve butterfly habitat all around the St. Clair River watershed. Reach out to melissa@scriver.org to join our butterfly citizen science mailing list.

Join our butterfly citizen science mailing list

Invasive Species Monitoring

Invasive species are not native to our area and cause harm to human health, the environment, or the economy. We work closely with the Lake St. Clair Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA) to educate our community and collaboratively protect, manage and restore ecosystems. Join Friends of the St. Clair River for an event, workday or program to learn more about how we monitor and manage invasive species in local ecosystems.

St. Clair County experienced a severe outbreak of Spongy Moth caterpillars recently. Friends of the St. Clair River is collecting information and performing Spongy Moth egg mass surveys locally to determine next year's impacts. Please report issues with this pest to St. Clair County.

Learn more about Spongy Moths

MI Paddle Stewards

Friends of the St. Clair River is a hub of the MI Paddle Stewards program, which is administered by Michigan Sea Grant with funding from the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program. Through the program, we enlist recreational paddlers to help identify and map invasive species along Michigan’s water trails to help battle aquatic invasive species. You can be a part of this program while doing what you love! Sign up for a training, then use an app on your phone to report invasive species from your regular paddle routes. In minutes you can make a big difference. If you have questions or need more information, contact Lynnea McFadden, Director of Programs and Services at Friends of the St. Clair River. 

Chronolog Time-Lapse Photography

Chronolog is used by organizations worldwide to create crowd-sourced photography time lapse videos that monitor changes in the environment and engage communities in science. Friends of the St. Clair River uses Chronolog to monitor changes at three shoreline projects in St. Clair County.

Visit our Chronolog Stations
 

Your River Photo Builds Research
Signs encourage visitors to capture photos and share them to be part of a much larger project.