Successful Cleanup On The Red Cedar River!

Americorps • September 4, 2020

MUCC’s On the Water (OTW) hosted a successful cleanup of the Red Cedar River this past Saturday at McCormick Park in Williamston. OTW partnered with the Ingham Conservation District, Friends of the Red Cedar and River Town Adventures to bring a total of 27 volunteers out to remove trash from the river.

The volunteers split up into three work teams to cover as much of the area as possible. The first group paddled fromMcCormick Park, in kayaks generously donated by Paul Brogan and Rivertown Adventures, to remove trash from the section of the Red Cedar upstream. Another group of volunteers hiked around McCormick Park, Williamston Community Township Park and Red Cedar Roadside Park to pick up trash left behind, that on a windy day would be likely to be blown right into the river. Some volunteers at McCormick Park even brought along a fishing magnet to help remove metallic debris that had gathered near the Putnam Street Bridge. The third group of volunteers went over to the log jam behind the Red Cedar Used Auto Sales dealership and went into the river with waders to remove the trash that had gathered on the log jam. In total, a little over 225 lbs of trash were removed from the Red Cedar River on Saturday.

Aside from removing trash from the river on Saturday, this event was also able to highlight the efforts of the Ingham Conservation District and the City of Williamston in their participation in the “Smart Management of Microplastic Pollution in the Great Lakes” project by Wayne State University. This project is a three-year innovative approach “aimed at reducing microplastic pollution in communities surrounding the Great Lakes.” The City of Williamston is one of two pilot communities in this effort and to learn more about Microplastics and how they can harm an ecosystem follow this link.

I grew up in East Lansing Michigan, and the adventures I had on the Red Cedar River are the foundation of my passion for the outdoors and conservation. While this past Saturday may have been the event day for this Red Cedar Cleanup, every day is a good day to get outside and clean-up trash. Every day is a good day for Conservation.

Recent Posts

May 2025 NRC Recap

By Justin Tomei • May 8, 2025
The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) met for their May meeting today at Lansing Community College West Campus. The commission voted to return antlered opportunities to the Independence and Liberty hunts at the May Natural Resources Commission meeting. The amendment to restore this opportunity passed after Commissioner Walters withdrew his amendment from April to only partially restore antlered opportunity during these hunts. MUCC testified for the complete restoration of antlered opportunity during these two hunts, per a member passed policy from our 2025 Annual Convention. The commission also voted on, and ultimately accepted, a proposal to allow archery antlerless take in the high snowfall zone in the Upper Peninsula. Additionally, the commission also chose to leave on the table and postpone indefinitely the order to reopen the illegally partially closed coyote season. This prevents the order from dying after today's meeting and makes it eligible for action at a later date. This amendment will remain postponed until the June meeting at the earliest.  MUCC has created the Coyote Coalition to assist in unifying the voice of conservationists in support of Proposal G. To join the Coyote Coalition, visit https://www.mucc.org/coyotecoalition . The commission did adopt proposed fall turkey regulations unanimously. The June commission meeting is Thursday, June 12 in Bay City. To ensure our natural resources remain protected and managed thoughtfully and our outdoor heritage defended, join Michigan United Conservation Clubs today: http://bit.ly/JoinMUCC .

On The Ground: Volunteers at the Annual Jack Pine Planting Day

By Olivia Triltsch • May 8, 2025
In total, volunteers improved about 6 acres of habitat and planted around 6,000 trees in this stand to continue regeneration.

On the Ground Junior: Spring Event Recap

By Katelyn Helsel • May 7, 2025
Our student volunteers have been hard at work improving wildlife habitat on public lands! MUCC’s On the Ground Junior (OTG Jr.) program, a subset of the On the Ground program, is a fully funded field trip program that brings grade-school classrooms into the outdoors to improve fish and wildlife habitat in their local communities. Through activities like native plantings, brush pile building, and invasive species removal, students gain hands-on experience with conservation and positively impact the world around them. Students also participate in educational activities like predator-prey tag to teach them about population dynamics and other natural resources concepts. So far this spring season, MUCC welcomed 69 students, teachers, and chaperones who participated in multiple OTG Jr projects with more on the way! In total, they improved over 12 acres of wildlife habitat. Read on for a recap of each OTG Jr project and see what all our awesome student volunteers have been up to. 
More Posts