Summer 2016

Growing Together Tour

Wednesday, August 3, 2016
8:00am – 2:00pm
Outdoor Discovery Center Macatawa Greenway
(4214 56th Street, Holland, MI 49423)

Free lunch is included. MAEAP Phase 1 certification is available.

The MACC is hosting a tour of on-farm best management practices that were recently installed in the Macatawa Watershed. Participants will learn about cover crops, interseeding technology and storm water storage methods. The tour will include practices funded by the MACC’s current Great Lakes Commission grant and Project Clarity. The tour will also discuss practices that will be installed under the MACC’s new Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant that was awarded this spring. Bus transportation is included and the tour will include walking through farm fields. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by July 25 to Kelly Goward at 616-395-2688 or kgoward@the-macc.org

Limited spaces are still availalbe but your RSVP is needed no later than noon on August 2. To register contact the MACC at 616-395-2688 or email Aaron Spicer at aspicer@the-macc.org

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Fall River Cleanup

Help clean the Macatawa River!

September 24, 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Teams will set out on foot or in boats to collect trash around the banks of the Macatawa River! Anyone under 16 years old must be with an adult. All boats, paddles and life vests will be provided. A limited number of seats are available in boats. Volunteers will be coordinated for clean-up at the River Avenue Bridge parking lot off of 1st Street
(19 N River Ave, Holland, MI 49423)

Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register contact Outdoor Discovery Center at 616-393-9453 or email odc@outdoordiscovery.org

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All Drains Lead to the Ocean

The characters in the Pixar film Finding Nemo are absolutely right—all drains, storm water and sanitary, do indeed lead to the ocean! Some drains have a more interesting journey to get there, via a wastewater treatment plant, but they get there nonetheless. Even from the Macatawa Watershed.

Lake Macatawa flows into Lake Michigan which is connected to Lake Huron via the Straights of Mackinac. Lake Huron flows through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River and finally makes it to Lake Erie. Lake Erie is connected to Lake Ontario through Niagara Falls. From Lake Ontario, water continues its journey through the Saint Lawrence River before finally making it to the Atlantic Ocean. This is quite a journey that can take over 90 years to complete!

So why does this even matter to those of us living in the Macatawa Watershed today? Because the impacts of how we treat our water resources now will be felt for generations to come. Pollution that enters storm drains accidentally or intentionally can have long-term negative impacts on water quality. Even some items that leave our homes in the sanitary sewer that are not removed at the wastewater treatment plant and can harm water quality, such as micro-plastics and pharmaceuticals. The water quality impacts we see now in the Great Lakes are the result of the actions of generations that came before us, way back to the original settlers of the Great Lakes Basin. An ancient Indian proverb sums it up well: “Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

Okay, but things are so messed up now, what I can possibly do about it? Excellent question; we’re glad you asked! Every journey, whether you’re travelling or trying to change the world, starts with one step. That one step leads to another and then another. Maybe somewhere along the journey other people see what you are doing, ask questions and join you because they want to help too. Here are some simple steps that you take on your journey to leaving the Earth a little better for our children:

• Never flush unused medications down the toilet. The waste water treatment plant cannot remove these chemicals. Dispose of them at drug take backs or collection sites. The Holland Board of Public Works hosts at least one collection day each year, plus many local pharmacies will accept and properly dispose of unused medication.
• Always cleanup grass clippings and excess fertilizer if they end up on the driveway or street, especially if you have storm drains on your street. The next rain will wash all of that into Lake Macatawa where it will add more nutrients to a system that already has too many.
• Wash your car in the lawn or at a commercial car wash, especially if you have storm drains on your street. Keep all that dirty car wash water out of Lake Macatawa!

For more information about these and other actions you can take, visit our Watershed page.

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Sediment Reductions for Agricultural Practices Flourishing

By Aaron Spicer, Agricultural Technician (and Farmer)

The MACC was awarded a Great Lakes Commission – Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant in 2013. Work on the grant has been on-going and will come to a close in September 2016. Over the course of the grant, ten farmers with land in the Upper Macatawa, Peters Creek and North Branch subwatersheds implemented a variety of best management practices to reduce sediment and phosphorus movement into Lake Macatawa. The table below provides a summary of the practices that were implemented and how much sediment and phosphorus were saved as a result.

In addition to the Great Lakes Commission grant, the MACC was awarded a new grant in May 2016 from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative program and practices are beginning to be implemented. Furthermore, farmers in the watershed have received financial assistance from Project Clarity for seeding cover crops, applying gypsum, building two-stage ditches and grassed waterways, and addressing other on-farm water quality issues.

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Project Clarity Update

Contributed by Dan Callam, Outdoor Discovery Center Macatawa Greenway

Staff from ODCMG and AWRI installing a sediment deposition pin in one of the wetlands to track how much sediment accumulates over time. On the ladder is Dan Callam, ODCMG and author of this article.

After the Outdoor Discovery Center Macatawa Greenway (ODCMG) constructed the Haworth and Middle Macatawa wetland restorations last year in support of Project Clarity, ODCMG staff and our partners are still spending a lot of time at these sites and around the watershed. Staff from GVSU’s Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI) and Niswander Environmental has been monitoring conditions within the wetlands as well as adjacent streams. AWRI staff has been monitoring differences in water quality upstream and downstream of these restoration sites following precipitation events. They look at a broad number of water quality indicators to assess the health of the streams.  Additionally, they monitor Lake Macatawa for water quality quarterly and sample for fish population annually. Niswander Environmental have been monitoring the water levels within our new wetlands, as well as monitoring plant growth. When invasive species pop up, Niswander and ODCMG staff treat these plants before they can spread and outcompete native plants.

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