Rouge Rundown – January 14, 2025: Bug Facts | Frogs are Calling –You | Rain Garden 101 & More

Whew! We can safely say that 2025 was a year of challenges. Forces beyond our imagination challenged us to think differently about everything – about the way nonprofits are viewed by the general public, about the ways we show up for your Rouge River, even about the ways we show up for ourselves. Throughout these ups and downs, the thing that remained constant was you, Friends. You showed us that your Rouge is more than “just a river” – it is a beacon. A call to hope and a reminder of what can happen when everyday citizens like you care about your piece of the world. There is so much good mixed in with the challenges of 2025 and I’m reminded that we’ve been in these situations before, and we came out the other side stronger, more resilient, and more determined to speak up for your Rouge River.

Join your Friends at this one-hour introductory presentation to learn about rain gardens and how you can build one in your own yard. Rain gardens reduce neighborhood flooding, basement backups, and pollution flowing into the Rouge River. Held in the auditorium at the Henry Ford Centennial Library, this workshop is free and open to the public. No supplies are necessary, but feel free to bring note-taking materials if you are planning on taking notes. 

Join your Friends in monitoring local amphibian populations by volunteering for the annual Frog & Toad Survey! Each volunteer will be assigned a quarter square mile survey block area that includes wetlands. On warm, damp evenings from March through July, volunteers will independently visit their assigned survey block after dark several times each month and listen for the callings of frogs and toads.

Volunteers will learn to identify the breeding calls of the seven frogs and one toad found in the watershed. All new surveyors must attend the training workshop on Saturday, February 21st, 2026, from 10 am – 12 pm at the Livonia Civic Center Library, 32777 Five Mile Rd, Livonia, MI 48154. Returning surveyor attendance is recommended, but not required. 

Thank you for making the 2025 Fall Bug Hunt a success! All of the wonderful participatory scientists make our monitoring events possible. 46 sites overall were sampled  and the event itself had 109 volunteer participants! The average Stream Quality Index (SQI) for sites was FAIR (29), and the average Water Quality Rating was FAIR (5.94). One site scored EXCELLENT; fourteen sites scored GOOD; twenty six sites scored FAIR; five sites scored POOR. Sites averaged 14 taxa, and 2 Ephemeroptera/Plecoptera/ Tricoptera. 

Funding for the event was provided by the communities of Beverly Hills, Farmington, Livonia, Northville Township, Novi, Plymouth, Plymouth Township, Southfield, Troy, Birmingham, Washtenaw County Water Resources, EGLE and the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Alliance of Rouge Communities, and the Michigan Clean Water Corps.