Rouge Rundown10.30.2024

Bring your Heart to Heart of the Rouge!

Join us for our biennial fundraiser Heart of the Rouge: Our Ruby Anniversary — celebrating 40 years of protecting and restoring your hometown River.

When: Thursday, August 13th; 6pm-9pm
Where: Sorensen Rec Area of Rouge Park
Tickets: $100 member | $140 nonmember

Jack Nissen, host of FOX 2 Detroit’s Brother Nature, will be on hand to guide you through the evening as our emcee!

Spend an evening in Rouge Park with interactive river experiences, great food, drink tickets, live music, and a silent auction featuring local art and unforgettable experiences.

Let’s honor the past and invest in a brighter future for the Rouge.

Volunteer at Fort St Bridge Park

Join your Friends to finish planting at Fort Street Bridge Park! On Friday, August 21st and Friday, August 28th, from 10 am to 2 pm, volunteers will be planting perennials to complete the park’s beautiful landscape. If you are available for either of those days, please join in!

Tasks may include digging, spreading mulch, and planting. Snacks and tools will be provided.

Join the Planting!

Industrial Paddle Trip

Join your Friends for the first Industrial Paddle Trip of the Year on August 22nd at 9:30 AM! We will launch from the new universally accessible kayak launch at Fort Street Bridge Park in Detroit and paddle downstream to Belanger Park on the Detroit River. Experience one of a kind views, including the Gordie Howe Bridge.

There is a $50 boat rental fee that includes shuttle service. There is a $15 service charge if you are bringing your own boat. Participants bringing their own boat, must have a dual bulkhead kayak.

See you on the River!

Kinder-GARDEN in Plymouth

New to all things gardening?

Volunteers will be out in the PARC rain gardens on Saturday, August 29th to learn some great gardening tips, proper weeding techniques, and the importance of planting native. The workday will be spent sprucing up the gardens, discovering native flowers, going on a weed hunt, and most importantly, spending time with your Friends!

All ages and gardening experience are welcome. Sign up at the link.

Join the Fun!

Have You Seen a Beaver?

After being absent for over 100 years, beavers are making a comeback in the Rouge River. Since 2010, the population is slowly growing, a testament to significant water quality improvement as beavers require clean water and quality habitat.

Like us, beavers have an outsized impact on their environment. What people may not know is that the work of beavers can be incredibly beneficial to the watershed as they create wetlands which increase biodiversity and their somewhat porous dams trap sediment and attenuate flooding. In Great Britain they are introducing beavers to help fight climate change. Engineers in Iowa are using beavers to set up a mitigation bank.

After the tragic trapping and killing of a family of beavers in Ann Arbor, the Washtenaw County adopted the state’s first Beaver Management Plan. Oakland University is trying out the first beaver flow device with the assistance of Beaver Leavers, and a new Michigan Beaver Working Group has formed.

If you are aware of any active beavers, please report it to your FOTR Monitoring Team as we work to track where these animals are and what their impact is. We will continue to monitor this and work to promote non lethal solutions to any beaver human conflict as we welcome our old friend the amik (beaver in Algonquin).

Fall Native Plant Market: Pre-Sales Now Open!

Did you know that Fall is a fantastic time to plant Michigan native Plants?

Pre-order beautiful native plants and more NOW for Fall! Save the date for the pick-up and same day Fall Native Plant Market with local vendors selling a variety of native plants on Saturday October 3 at Keep Growing Detroit Farm. Find what’s right for your yard today!

ORDER DEADLINES:
Order your pick-up native plant flats by Wednesday, September 2.

Shop Now!

Is it a Snake or a Worm?

Jumping Worms Presentation

Watershed Ecologist Sally Petrella was watering her tomatoes when a worm suddenly writhed like a snake out of the soil and zoomed into her garden clog (at which point she screamed). Digging a little deeper she discovered hundreds of these worms. Unlike earthworms, jumping worms thrash when disturbed as seen in the video below. The serpentine movement, an hourglass shaped clitellum and the ability to regenerate from the head section if split in two are some of their distinguishing characteristics.

Jumping Worm Video

Jumping worms, like all of our earthworms, harm the environment by consuming the duff layer. They alter the soil structure, reduce seed germination, and facilitate invasive plant species as well as the transfer of nutrients into our streams. They reproduce and grow very quickly. The worms do not overwinter in Michigan but their tiny egg cocoons can, making them difficult to eradicate. Place any you find into a sealed plastic bag and freeze, then dispose of them. If you find them, please report them to MISIN.

Please help prevent the spread of these worms by minimizing any activity that involves moving soil like plant swaps and dispose of any leftover bait as these worms often show up at bait shops. Choosing bare root trees and washing the roots can help. If you find them in your area, do not move soil or plants and disinfect tools. For more information, view the presentation by Oakland University Professor Scott Tiegs.

Celebrating FOTR Interns

Last week, FOTR celebrated our interns, Aaron, Julia, and Lucas. These incredible individuals have been hard at work monitoring for e.coli and invasive species, installing rain gardens, supporting educational programs, surveying for fish, and paddling the Rouge. If you are as inspired by these amazing young people as we are, then please consider supporting the next generation of conservationists. Your gift helps fund their salary, training, supervision, field equipment, and program participation. Their dedication strengthens our work and expands our impact. Your generosity makes it possible.

To read more about one of their experience’s at Friends of the Rouge, click the button below!

Aaron, Julia, and Lucas, we appreciate you and can’t wait to see what you do next!

Letter from an Intern