Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve » water quality

River Monitoring Day

elimywhit — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:51:34 +0000

In early celebration of World Wide Water Monitoring Day, the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve is hosting a training session for individuals who want to learn more about river ecosystems and assist in our water monitoring program. We will provide information, tools, refreshments, and a free river monitoring T-shirt on September 11, 2010 to those who participate in this fun day of learning on the river. We will meet at the Yellow Dog River bridge across County Road 550 at 10am and carpool to our monitoring station upstream. From there, we will get into the stream and learn how to collect water quality information, so tall boots or waders are needed for those who want to get in the river. For the less adventurous, we will show participants how to record the information using a system developed by the MiCorps monitoring program.

Volunteers make our program successful. We need people who are excited about taking part in the solution and who love to learn more about their natural surroundings. Our Water Quality Protection Program is largely based on river monitoring and helps us understand the health of the ecosystem. This training is open to the public and is free, although donations are always helpful. If you are interested in learning and attending this training, please rsvp by September 9, 2010 by sending an email to Emily@yellowdogwatershed.org or call the YDWP office at 906-345-9223. Space will be limited to sign up soon!

Who: YOU! and the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve

What: A Day of Fun and Learning How to Monitor a River

Where: The lovely Yellow Dog River

When: September 11, 2010 at 10am

Why: The river needs you!

How: We will show you!

Yellow Dog Riverkeeper teaches children along Salmon-Trout River

Woodland Road permit withdrawn

elimywhit — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:32:58 +0000

The permit application for the Woodland Road project was withdrawn from review according to a letter sent to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment on May 7. The letter was sent from the Woodland Road, LLC which was planning to build a road connecting the Yellow Dog Plains to M-28 near Humboldt Township. The Woodland Road, LLC is comprised of Kennecott Minerals, John Jilbert Properties, A. Lindberg and Sons, and the Michigan Forest Products Council.

The group submitted the application earlier this year but was met with challenging opinions from local citizens, federal agencies, state biologists, and environmental groups like the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve. During public hearings regarding this permit application, many individuals spoke out about the potential negative consequences of building a 22 mile haul road through a remote and wild section forest land. Issues ranged from the impacts on wetlands to habitat destruction/fragmentation and more. The majority of the concerns from federal agencies included a lack of analysis regarding alternative routes and wetland mitigation. To address the concerns, the group withdrew their permit right as the 90 day decision period was closing.

As a group that has reviewed the application, submitted comments, and attended the public hearings, YDWP commends the U.S. EPA for taking a closer look and not simply rubber stamping this project. If such oversight was used during the permit review for the mining plan, we might be in an entirely different situation.

Below is the document that was sent to the MDNRE from Woodland Road, LLC.

Memo to MDNRE

WMAN grant approved

elimywhit — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:25:02 +0000

Western Mining Action Network and Indigenous Environmental Network approved a $3000 grant from YDWP to assist in funding our water chemistry program. This money will go directly to the analysis of water samples in the Yellow Dog and Salmon-Trout River watersheds for low level micro-analysis. “We want to have the best baseline information regarding current water quality conditions as a preventitive measure against degradation in any form,” said Emily Whittaker, Executive Director of YDWP. WMAN has long supported the mission of our group and helps others facing a prospective mining plan in their community. YDWP thanks WMAN very much for their support!