Rouge Rundown – January 24, 2024 New Job Opportunities | Stoneflies | Froggy Calls | Spring Plants & More!
January 24, 2024 ROUGE RUNDOWN
Stonefly Searchers Brave the Cold for the Bugs
It wasn’t the coldest day on record for the annual Stonefly Search (that record goes to 2011) but it was ONE of the coldest, at 8 degrees F with a cold wind. Yet the cold did not deter the 94 amazing Friends who volunteered to search for these tiny sensitive insects! 14 intrepid teams sampled 27 sites for Stoneflies!
Team leaders came armed with pick axes to break through the ice and tables and chairs to make it more comfortable for their volunteer pickers. Preliminary results show stonefly nymphs at 12 of 25 sites. A full report is forthcoming. Thank you to the Alliance of Rouge Communities and Washtenaw County Water Resources Commission for sponsoring the event. Thank you to all of the amazing Friends, Members, Supporters who make this possible. And hats off to all of the volunteers for braving the cold.
Are you looking for a new position in 2024 and a way to make a real difference for a better world? Friends of the Rouge is hiring for multiple positions including: Landscape Architect, Field Coordinator, and Development Coordinator. Click the button below – your new role awaits!
Do you own a business, attend a house of worship, work for a non-profit or know of a community site that could benefit from a rain garden in Detroit, Dearborn or River Rouge?
Applicants from zip codes 48217, 48120, 48126, and 48218 are encourage to receive training, materials, and professional support to build a beautiful, large-scale rain garden with help from your community volunteers! Rain gardens are a great asset to any property. These gardens manage stormwater, provide habitat for butterflies, create a beautiful living ecosystem in your yard! Apply by Feb. 29, 2024.
The Rouge Store is now OPEN for pre-orders of native plants, rain barrels, composters and more for pick-up in Spring 2024! Select your native plant kit now – and be ready for gardening come spring. You can also hire our expert landscapers to help you build your new yard vision! Do more in 2024 for your Rouge River.
You are invited to take part in the annual Frog & Toad Survey! Volunteer surveyors are trained to listen for and distinguish the breeding calls of the seven frogs and one toad found in your Rouge River Watershed. Surveyors choose a quarter square mile area within the watershed to survey independently or with a friend on warm spring nights starting in Spring. New and veteran surveyors are welcome to
join the in-person training workshop March 2nd at the Livonia Civic Center.
A recent social media post from the Dearborn Historical Museum has created a lot of buzz around the photo of men with a mountain of buffalo skulls. Did the Rouge have a part to play in the American Bison’s population decline? Learn more about this fascinating history and how it literally changed the flow of the Lower Rouge River in 1888. As Carl Sagan is quoted: “You have to know the past to understand the present.”
