Rouge Rundown – August 27, 2025: Native Garden Planting | Fall Paddling Trips | Fish Surveys & More

Come plant some beautiful native gardens in front of the Canton Township Administration Building! The Michigan native plants used in these gardens will add colorful blooms and create food and habitat for native wildlife. There will be three days of planting fun. You are invited to join for any day or all of them!

When: October 3 and 4 from 9 AM – Noon and Sunday October 5 from 1 – 4 PM
Where: 1150 Canton Ctr Rd, Canton

All ages and gardening experience welcome! Gloves, tools, and water will be provided.

If you have a smart phone and don’t mind getting out along the river once a week, please consider adopting one of these lovely new gages.  Adoption involves visiting the gage weekly to check on it and more frequently if it rains. If it does rain, you take a photo of the gage showing the water level and answer a few questions. As the flooding goes down, you visit a few times to take more photos. This is part of a program to better understand flooding in the area.

Gages still needing adoption are: Valley Woods in Southfield, Bell Creek in Livonia (2), Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Sines Drain in Canton and 4 sites in Canton near Lilley Road.

Gages still needing adoption are: Valley Woods in Southfield, Bell Creek in Livonia (2), Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Sines Drain in Canton and 4 sites in Canton near Lilley Road.

Your FOTR Monitoring Team wrapped up the twenty fish monitoring sites on Aug. 21. As we plan for the future of the fish sampling program, we worked to diversify the skills of the fish team with an identification class provided by Bob Muller and took turns at identifying and guiding the team in the sampling. 

The Monitoring Team and all the FOTR programs benefitted from intern Katie Arnold who began with the organization in the fall of Nov. 2024 and was able to stay on until the end of this month. Pictured here, she embraced all field work including learning how to hold this non native carp that was caught during a fish survey.  We will miss Katie and greatly appreciated her willingness to tackle any task given to her.

Add a pop of year-round color to your native garden with this beautiful limited edition garden tile! All created locally by Pewabic pottery studio to celebrate the Southeast Michigan watershed collaboration: the Rain Catchers Collective. This 4×6 tile is the perfect way to bring a little joy to your outdoor space, while showing your support for our clean water mission! 

Hurry! Only a small batch is available. Buy yours today while supplies last. 

With fall just around the corner, children are gearing up to return to school. A new academic year signifies a fresh beginning, filled with a sense of optimism. It also brings the excitement of gathering back-to-school supplies!

Your Friends Team is feeling hopeful about plans for your River. Just like the kids, we also require some essential supplies to create magic for compassionate individuals like you who take action.

Explore our “back-to-school” wish list, which includes links to items that are greatly needed.

We couldn’t protect your River without your special support. Thank you for making a significant impact!