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A section of Traver Creek that runs through Leslie Park Golf Course in Ann Arbor will be reconstructed later this year to improve and restore many of its natural features. The City of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner are funding the project to address a section of the creek that has eroded over time.

Vision for reconstruction of Traver Creek

The project partners are holding a public event to discuss the draft design tonight, April 30 at 7:30 pm at the Leslie Science Center. The meeting is open to all.

The project will also reconstruct portions of ponds at either end of the creek section. Those ponds will be deepened to provide more rainwater storage capacity and be redesigned to provide sediment settling areas.

Eroded stream banks will be reshaped and repaired, and a new floodplain area will be created along a portion of the creek. This “two-stage” design provides streamside wetlands that slow flood waters down and filter out nutrients and pollutants. Additional wetland areas will also be recreated where there is evidence of their previous existence. The wetlands provide further stormwater filtration capacity as well as wildlife habitat. A secondary stream channel will also be re-established where it used to run prior to construction of the golf course. The whole project will be vegetated with native plant materials.

The project will begin following the end of the golf season and should be mostly completed by the spring start of the 2013 golf season. HRWC are monitoring the site before and after construction to measure its impact. Benefits should include runoff volume, phosphorus and sediment reductions to address problems identified in watershed management plans.

Volunteers Magda Herkoff and Mike Chisholm grab a bucket sample from Allens Creek for the Water Quality Monitoring Program

HRWC’s Water Quality Monitoring Program begins the 2012 season.

A sure sign of Spring is here — and early again this year! In a few weeks, a large group of volunteers will undergo training for HRWC’s Water Quality Monitoring Program. Volunteers will learn how to measure flow and scientifically sample the water from tributaries in Livingston, Washtenaw and Wayne Counties. Labs at the City of Brighton Waste Water Treatment Plant, City of Ann Arbor Water Treatment Plant and Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority will analyse the samples for key components such as phosphorus, sediments and bacteria.

We use this data to better understand where pollutants are coming from and to determine if HRWC, partner communities and individuals have been effective at reducing these pollutants. Last year’s results helped develop targeted plans to reduce pollution.  HRWC identified several key tributaries for needed stormwater projects.

Further, the results have been good. Phosphorus has decreased since 2003 (when the program began), and more so in tributaries where investments have been made to improve stormwater infrastructure and reduce pollutant sources. Water quality also appears to be improving and in good condition in Livingston County and some indicators are improving in the Lower Huron. Many problems such as altered hydrology persist, however. See the Water Quality Monitoring Program page for more detail on past results.

Please consider joining the effort!

Training will take place on two dates:

• March 22, at 6pm in Wayne, MI; and
• March 24, at 1pm in Ann Arbor.

Click here to register for the program and sign up for one of the training dates.

We look forward to seeing you at a training and in the water this Spring and Summer.

Information and “how-to”  for shoreline property owners.

There are a couple of opportunities for lakeshore residents this spring to learn about innovative practices to protect their shorelines now and in a changing future climate. One is a local workshop in Oakland County and the other is a statewide conference.

The local workshop on natural shorelines, Creation, Restoration, and Management of Natural Shoreline Landscapes on Michigan Inland Lakes is being held on Saturday, March 17, 2012, 9 am- 12:30 pm, at the Independence Oaks County Park, Wint Nature Center in Clarkston. See the workshop flyer for more information and to register by the March 9 deadline.

For those interested in more detailed technical information and broad-ranging discussion on a number of shoreline-related topics, the 2nd Annual “Shoreline and Shallows” Conference may be for you. The conference will be held in Lansing on Wednesday, March 7. Visit the Michigan Natural Shoreline Partnership’s website for more information on the conference. Register by March 1.

As I came back from a holiday of reflection, I have been wondering more and more, “who really is watching out for our water resources?” At first glance it seems like a simple question to answer, and, as a professional Watershed Planner, one would think that I should have a quick answer. However, the deeper one looks, the more complicated the answer becomes.

Who will protect this? Photo Credit: T. Nelson

We can start at the top with the federal government and look to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). True, they are responsible for implementing the Clean Water Act and a number of other water resource protection laws, but they really pass most of the responsibility down to the states. So, is the Michigan DEQ responsible? To some extent, yes. They report to EPA (and all of us) on the state of our waters, but they base that on limited data that they collect once every five years. And when it comes to acting on that data, the DEQ has a limited response unless there is a toxic contamination issue. They generally look to local agencies and organizations to develop plans and implement projects to address broader impairments like excessive nutrients, bacterial contamination, erratic flows, erosion, or aquatic wildlife and habitat degradation. They are leaving those problems to all of us to figure out at the local level.

The bottom line is there is no water czar to manage our water resources. No single organization is responsible. If we are to restore the Huron River to what we want it to be, we have to work together. That’s what we try to do here at the Watershed Council — work with you and your local government and business representatives to plan and execute programs that identify problems and promote collaborative solutions to improve the river and its watershed a little bit at a time.

We can’t do it alone, though. There’s a lot to do as you can see from the variety of projects we’re involved in. As you think about what you accomplished in 2011 and what you want to do with 2012, consider working with us to continue to improve the Huron River and watershed. If you don’t, who will?

I just recently finished the final editing on 6 plans to address impairments to the watershed in Washtenaw and Livingston counties. The problems we addressed in those plans were the things we spend most of our time here at the Council trying to address, namely excessive nutrients, degraded aquatic habitat and periodic bacterial contamination. Each plan is written to address the problem locally and remedial activities are recommended that addressed specific potential problem sources based on extensive monitoring and modeling. One theme cut across all the plans, however: FLOW.

Over the many years we have inhabited this watershed, we have altered the natural stream flows a little bit at a time. We’ve directly changed hydrology by building dams and straightening out channels. We’ve also affected the streams indirectly by hardening the ground surfaces and forcing storm runoff to head quickly to the stream channels rather than working through the soil (groundwater). We now know that this led to channel and streambank erosion, added nutrients, diminished in-stream habitat and washed wastes and pollutants directly into our waterways.

August 9 storm flows for Fleming and Swift Run Creeks. Precipitation rate is shown in purple as measured down the right axis.

I recently looked at one large storm in August to see what the response was in two neighboring tributaries (see figure). Thanks to conservation of natural cover, Fleming Creek has much less hardened (impervious) surface than does highly paved Swift Run. Their different responses to a large storm (2.5 inches) is stark. Swift Run rises to peaks almost immediately following downpours, that initially, despite its watershed being 6 times smaller than Fleming’s, reach nearly the same height. Within hours, the flow in Swift returns to where it was before the storm, while 3 days later Fleming has yet to do the same. It’s easy to understand, then, why Fleming has much lower pollutant levels and much better populations of stream life.

This is why we encourage, within the recent plans and elsewhere, greater investment in “Green Infrastructure” across the watershed. Look for more to come on this in the near future and ask what your community is doing to improve its green assets, save money in infrastructure cost, and help us restore our streams.

Planting a Grow Zone in Lower Huron

At a Grow Zone Maintenance Workshop in Flat Rock

Have you worked with native Michigan plants or been involved in a project to plant a native garden? If so, you know the value of using native plants:  their deep, “thirsty” roots help retain water on your site and filter out the pollutants in runoff; they help stabilize soils and prevent erosion; and they are beautiful!

Working with native plants can initially be a challenge. Standard practices like mowing are not used and unwanted non-native weeds can find their way in to compete with the natives. Proper maintenance is needed to give your native garden, grow zone or rain garden the good start it needs to thrive.

The Alliance of Downriver Watersheds is hosting an informal workshop to provide some guidance with maintenance of native Grow Zones. Participants will receive basic instruction, tour the two Grow Zone areas in the park, identify problems and gain hands on experience with maintenance. Please come prepared to work outside and bring gardening basics: gloves, hand tools, etc.

Grow Zone Maintenance Workshop

Tuesday, September 27

1 – 3:30 PM

Huroc Park in Flat Rock

28700 Arsenal Rd

Flat Rock, MI 48134

(meet at the Gazebo)

The workshop is open to all. There is no need to register, but let us know if you plan to attend by emailing Ric Lawson at HRWC.

Visit the Alliance of Downriver Watersheds website for more information about Grow Zones and other projects to improve the water resources in downriver communities.

This workshop has been funded in part through the Michigan Nonpoint Source Program by the US EPA under assistance agreement C9975474.

A lot of my time over the past few months has been spent figuring out how we can eliminate some of the impairments (problems) to sections within our watershed. We know from our monitoring and sampling by DEQ that a number of sections in our watershed are impacted by phosphorus, unnatural flows and resulting erosion, or bacteria. These impaired sections appear on the states impaired waters list.

Thanks to stimulus funds provided through the DEQ, we have been working with our community partners to evaluate six sections of our watershed for current impairment status and recommend activities to eliminate the impairments. Our evaluation included new analysis of pollutant loading based on data collected through our water quality monitoring program. In several cases, the analysis indicated that past actions have already resulted in pollutant reduction to achieve water quality standards. In others, it suggests that we still have some work to do.

Practices recommended include adding infiltration with projects like rain gardens.

The six plans are now being reviewed by DEQ. You are welcome to review and comment as well. Plans for Livingston County can be found on theLivingston Watershed Advisory Group page, and plans for Washtenaw County can be found on the Middle Huron Stormwater Advisory Group page.

Now that the plans are complete, I am turning my focus toward developing the partnerships and finding funding sources needed to implement the activities we are recommending. All part of the work of a watershed planner here at HRWC.

Honey Creek project area showing DEQ sampling sites. HRWC also monitors at station #4.

HRWC, partnering with Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner and Scio Township, will soon launch a new project to better understand the source(s) of bacterial contamination in Honey Creek and develop a plan to reduce or eliminate the problem. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality recently announced that they will be awarding HRWC a grant of nearly $75,000 to do the work. Major elements of the project include:

• Monitoring starting in Spring 2012 at locations throughout Honey Creekshed;
• Bacterial Source Tracking to determine animal or human sources of bacteria;
• Development of a plan to reduce or eliminate the sources; and
• A local workshop to get input on the plan and educate residents about the problem.

An article describing the project and providing further background can be found on annarbor.com.

Middle Huron tributary phosphorus concentrations through 2010

The 2010  Water Quality Monitoring Program results show that phosphorus concentrations have decreased by 28% in Ann Arbor tributaries compared with a 17% drop in tributaries outside the city. The total phosphorus load being delivered to Ford Lake is now near the target levels established by the Michigan DEQ in 1995. Also, phosphorus concentrations in the Chain of Lakes watershed are at or below target levels there as well.

The results are not all positive, however. Phosphorus concentrations in 2010 were higher, on average, than the previous two years, though still less than pre-2006 levels. Further, bacteria levels and conductivity (a measure of ion balance) remain high in urban tributaries. Tributary peak flows were  also high following rain storms. This suggests that, while tremendous progress has been made there is more work that needs to be done.

The monitoring results were released over the last two weeks at local and national events. The results of water quality sampling and analysis were presented for discussion to the Middle Huron Partners and Stormwater Advisory Group at their June meeting. Results from sampling in the Huron Chain of Lakes were previously presented to the Livingston Watershed Advisory Group. Both sets of results were also discussed along with progress by the above groups at the 2011 River Rally in Charleston, SC.  HRWC and partner initiatives generated much discussion as the programs are viewed as models that can be replicated elsewhere in the country.

The monitoring program is sponsored by the Middle Huron Partners and SAG, the Livingston WAG and by a grant from the Michigan Storm Water Program.

Volunteers Magda Herkoff and Mike Chisholm grab a bucket sample from Allens Creek for the Middle Huron Monitoring Program

One of the sure signs of Spring is here — and early this year! On Saturday, over 30 volunteers will get trained to participate in HRWC’s Water Quality Monitoring Program. The volunteers will learn how to measure the flow and scientifically sample the water from tributaries in Livingston and Washtenaw Counties. Samples are then analysed by labs at the City of Ann Arbor Water Treatment Plant and City of Brighton Waste Water Treatment Plant for key components such as phosphorus, sediments and bacteria. We use this data to better understand where pollutants are coming from and how effective actions by HRWC, partner communities and individuals have been at reducing these pollutants.

So far, the results have been good. Several key tributaries were identified for needed stormwater projects. Phosphorus has decreased since 2003 (when the program began), and more so in tributaries where investments have been made to improve stormwater infrastructure and reduce pollutant sources. New results are just coming in  for Livingston sites (most sites just started getting sampled last year), and monitoring in 2010 should help identify issues in that part of the watershed.

If you are planning to join Saturday’s training, please be aware that the location has been moved to Green Oak Township Hall. If you have not yet registered for the program, please do so before attending the training. We look forward to seeing you at the training Saturday and in the water this Spring and Summer.