Rouge Rundown – June 3, 2026: Frog Nature Walks | Native Planting | In Memory & More

Hey Friend, because your Rouge River love is amazing, this event is for YOU! You are warmly invited for a fun-filled free volunteer and member appreciation event, awards ceremony, and general meeting.

Date: Wednesday, June 10
Time: 6:00-8:00 PM
Where: the beautiful Warrendale Park Picnic Shelter in Dearborn Heights, MI 48127
What: 6:00 PM – light picnic dinner and interactive River tents with FOTR staff
6:30 PM – awards and appreciation-fest

Come as you are! This family-friendly event honors your amazing impact for a better hometown Rouge River.

This event is free – kindly register so that we may grill enough for all.

Your monitoring team hosted a Frog and Toad walk at Colonial Park in Inkster on May 21st.  Attendees learned about the restoration work done at the park, as well as the frogs and one toad that live in the watershed.  Your next Frog and Toad walk will be on Wednesday, June 3rd at Nankin Lake, and registration is now open.  We will also host a walk in partnership with MetroSwaps in Dearborn on Thursday, June 11th. Registration for the walk in Dearborn will open on June 5th. 

Are you free this Friday? Join your friends at Fort Street Bridge Park to complete the next phase of this project! On Friday, June 5th, from 10 AM – 1 PM, volunteers will be planting perennials for a garden that is being installed at the park. Over 1,000 perennial plants will be planted in total at this site. 

This park site that commemorates the Ford Hunger March of 1932 transforms the Rouge River corridor to support wildlife habitat and provide recreational opportunities to Detroit residents.

All tools and proper planting instructions will be provided! Click the button to register!

Interested in starting your own rain garden? Learn the basics at the Rain Gardens 101 workshop! 

Offered both in June and July, the Rain Gardens 101 presentation will cover the basics of rain gardens and how you can build one in your own yard. Located 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. 

Click the links below to sign up for either the June 20th or July 18th workshop!

On May 27, Lauren and Sam welcomed partners from the Huron River Watershed Council, Clinton River Watershed Council, Friends of the Detroit River, Friends of the St. Clair River, Michigan State University and MSU Extension to the Rouge River watershed to understand different perspectives on urban wetlands regionally. Meeting at Colonial Park in Inkster, Wayne County Parks naturalists Matt and Brandon, and Landscape Designer John Gundry, walked around the park with the group to show off the restoration work that created new and revamped existing wetlands. For the past few months, FOTR has participated in a planning grant awarded to MSU and MSU Extension to form a collaborative group focusing on community perspectives and needs for informal urban wetlands education. The collaborative will travel to visit urban wetlands regionally over the remainder of the project to diversify understandings of urban wetlands around SE Michigan while planning for a 2-day community input session.

A big welcome to FOTR’s newest interns, Aaron Coon and Lucas Carlock! They have both started their summer internships in the last few weeks and are both very excited to be working with staff, volunteers, and partners around the watershed. They will both be out assisting staff to collect water quality and fish community data throughout the watershed, work with volunteers to plant and maintain rain gardens, and learn more about how environmental nonprofits operate.