The Friends of the Shiawassee River are asking for those wanting to be scientists or curious about the health of the river. They are asking those type of people to check their calendars and RSVP on the Friends of the Shiawassee River website and join the group out at the river. Volunteers need to be adults or middle school age students or older.
Those wanting to join the group at one of the Stream Tour Monitoring sites for a bi-annual river critter collection will be provided training and all the equipment needed to get their job done. Volunteers may bring their own waders, but please come dressed in clothing you intend to get dirty and wet. Spring Stream Team sampling dates include: May 1 at 10 a.m. at the Durand Shia-town dam; May 5 at noon at the Byron Sesquicentennial Park with Byron Middle School; May 6 at 2 p.m. at DeVries Nature Conservancy; May 7 at 10 a.m. at the Corunna dam, May 7 at 10 a.m. at the Owosso South State drain; May 7 at 1:30 p.m. at Chesaning Showboat Park; May 7 at 2 p.m. at Holly with Holly Middle School; May 9 at 5:30 p.m. in downtown Owosso; and May 11 at noon in St. Charles with the St. Charles Middle School.
The Friends of the Shiawassee River adopted a mission to, “Care, Share, and Enjoy the river.” We care by maintaining and improving the health of the river; Share, by enhancing the community’s appreciation and knowledge of the river; and Enjoy, by increasing recreational access and responsible use of the river. In the 1970’s, Jim Miner organized some of the first volunteer river clean-up events in Owosso. These events inspired a generation of river stewards, and ultimately the formation of the Friends.
Information collected at these sites gives the communities an appraisal of the watershed’s health. To learn more about the water quality monitoring in the Shiawassee River, guests may go to www.shiawasseeriver.org/river_critter_sampling or join one of the Stream teams by going to www.shiawasseeriver.org/calendar to RSVP. Also, interested persons may contact Sarah Baker, Stream Team Coordinator at sbaker@shiawasseeriver.org.
