The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced $97,681 in funding for stream cleanup and monitoring through the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) program.
EGLE awarded the funding as 26 grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations through the MiCorps Volunteer Stream Cleanup Program and the MiCorps Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program.
The Volunteer Stream Cleanup Program provides grants to local units of government to clean and improve Michigan waterways. Local governments often partner with nonprofits or other volunteer groups for the cleanups, which include removal of trash and other manmade debris from streams and stream banks. The cleanup grant program began in 1998 and is funded by fees from the sale of Michigan’s specialty water quality protection license plates.
The local governments that EGLE selected to receive cleanup funding in 2023 are:
- Benzie Conservation District, $1,098
- Branch Conservation District, $1,350
- City of Ann Arbor, $4,580
- City of Cheboygan, $4,999
- City of Flint, $3,731
- City of Lansing, $4,944
- Grand Traverse Conservation District, $2,867
- Muskegon Conservation District, $3,633
- Newaygo Conservation District, $5,000
- Van Buren Conservation District, $2,877
- Joseph Conservation District, $1,865
The MiCorps Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program provides grants to enable local governments and nonprofits to conduct volunteer-based water quality and stream habitat monitoring through benthic macroinvertebrate surveys and habitat assessments.
Three types of monitoring grants are available: startup grants get groups started with learning and planning, implementation grants fund the first two years of official monitoring, and maintenance grants help groups that are already monitoring replace equipment and continue their program.
The organizations selected to receive funding in 2023 are:
Startup grant:
- Wexford Conservation District, $4,990.
Implementation grants:
- Gogebic Conservation District; Black River Watershed Stream Monitoring, $19,490.
- Muskegon Conservation District; Mona Lake Watershed Monitoring Program, $14,009.
Maintenance grants:
- Berrien Conservation District, $1,981.
- Friends of the Rouge, $2,000.
- Friends of the Shiawassee River, $2,000.
- Grass River Natural Area, Inc., $1,254.
- Kalamazoo Nature Center, $2,000.
- Manistee Conservation District, $2,000.
- Muskegon River Watershed Assembly, $1,999.
- Joseph Conservation District, $1,976.
- The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, $1,999.
- Tip of the Mitt, $2,000.
- Two Forks Conservancy, $1,039.
- Van Buren Conservation District, $2,000.
