"benthic macroinvertebrates"  They're out there - also known variously as stoneflies or mayflies - and every year about this time, groups of enviornment loving volunteers count them along streams in the Huron River and River Rouge watersheds.  These "bugs” or more appropriately, animals without a backbone that live in the streambed for all or part of their life cycle, can tell us about the health of our local streams.

You can join the Friends of the River Rouge, or the Huron River Watershed Council on Saturday, APRIL 26 as volunteers from each organization monitor the critters in our streambeds - offering strong indicators of stream quality.  There are MANY sites to be monitored, so sign up soon with either of these organizations which cover parts of Washtenaw County and beyond.

• Information on the Friends of the River Rouge Spring Bug Hunt 
• • Deadline for Registration: April 16
    
• Information on the Huron River Waterhsed Council River Round up
• • Deadline for Registration: April 14

"I've had a fantastic time doing this," says Planning & Enviornment's Dawn Fyrciak.  The abundance and diversity of the organisms found provides information on the health of the stream.  Results are disseminated to Rouge River & Huron River watershed communities, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, volunteers and others.