Calling All Bug Hunters

DEARBORN (WWJ) - Have some fun and help Friends of the Rouge assess the health of the Rouge River by joining a team of volunteers to search for critters in the stream bed.

Volunteers are needed for the annual Spring Bug Hunt on Saturday April 30. Interested volunteers must pre-register by April 15. Children are welcome when accompanied by a participating adult.

The event begins at 9:00 am at the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Environmental Interpretive Center (4901 Evergreen Road). 

Volunteers are assigned to teams of 4-8 people who each travel to two sites in the headwaters of the Rouge River Watershed where they look for living things in samples collected from the river. Please note, personal transportation is necessary.

The abundance and diversity of the organisms found at each site provides information on the health of the stream.

Results are given to Rouge River watershed communities, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, volunteers and others.

The Spring Bug Hunt is part of a long-term monitoring program that was created in 1998 to train local residents to collect information about the health of Rouge streams. It is coordinated by Friends of the Rouge and supported by the Erb Family Foundation.

For more information or to sign up, visit www.therouge.org, email monitoring@therouge.org or call 313-792-9621.