Dedicated Volunteers Brave the Rain to Look for Bugs

Posted October 18, 2023

The Rouge River is lucky to have volunteers who value the river so much that they show up rain or shine! Last Saturday, around 65 volunteers donned rain gear and braved the cold pouring rain to sample 24 sites in 13 teams for the annual Fall Bug Hunt.  For the first time since the pandemic, attendees gathered at the Plymouth Cultural Center before heading out, enjoying fellowship and food and an introduction before going out with their team.

A big thank you to the 12 Rouge communities (Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Canton Township, Farmington, Livonia, Northville Township, Novi, Plymouth, Plymouth Township, Southfield, Troy, and Washtenaw County) who sponsor a total of 32 sites, with Canton and Birmingham having recently adopted their sites. The fall and spring bug hunts receive additional funding from the State of Michigan and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. 

The FOTR Monitoring Team will be following up by sampling additional sites, holding an identification night, compiling, mapping, and analyzing data. We will share the findings with volunteers, communities, and the state. This data collection would not be possible without you.

Make a resolution to sign up for the next monitoring event: the Winter Stonefly Search on January 20, 2024.