Two Rivers Coalition

Missed the annual meeting?  Presentation slides can be found here.

Very Interesting!

6th TRC Annual Meeting - December 10, 2014, 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.

Van Buren Conference Center, Lawrence MI

Peter Bane is a native Illinoisan who grew up in the university city of Champaign-Urbana. A frequent speaker and conference presenter, he is the author of The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country, and has published Permaculture Activist magazine since 1990. Familiar with tropical and temperate systems in North America, Hawaii, and the Caribbean, Peter has taught more than 1500 students in 80+ courses spread widely across the US, Canada, and as far afield as Chile, Argentina and Trinidad-Tobago, for more than 20 years. He holds the Diploma of Permaculture Design for teaching, media, and community service from both the Permaculture Institute - USA (2014) and the British Academy Worknet (2005).

Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.

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Congratulations! Two Rivers Coalition and Van Buren Conservation District on being award the MiCorps Michigan Volunteer Stream Monitoring Grant for 2014.  The start-up grant was for $2,923 to establish a macroinvertebrate monitoring program along the middle section of the Paw Paw River watershed, which is a tributary to the St. Joseph River.  For more information go to Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) Program

Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program

One of the most exciting projects that Two Rivers Coalition {TRC} was involved in this year was the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program {VSMP}. TRC partnered with Van Buren Conservation District {VBCD} to apply for a start-up grant through the Michigan Clean Water Corps {MiCorps}. The goal of the program, which is funded by the Department of Environmental Quality {DEQ}, is to establish benthic macro-invertebrate sampling on streams throughout the state. Benthic macro-invertebrate sampling is just a fancy way to say catching insects that live in streams and recording the data. The presence {or absence} of certain families of insects is a surprisingly good indicator of water quality. This is because some insects {like stoneflies} will not tolerate degraded conditions. Stoneflies are considered sensitive and will only live in cold, clear, clean streams. Other insects {like the side-swimming scud} can live in almost any body of water.  Also, in keeping with the basic principle of biodiversity, the greater the variety of insect species in a river, the healthier the river eco-system is likely to be.

Read more...Volunteer Stream Monitoring Article PDF 

An important video for our times...

              (Please share it with this link: www.TwoRiversCoalition.org)

Welcome! Explore and discover the Black and          ..

Paw Paw River Watersheds with us.

Learn what you can do to help protect and improve the wonderful resources in these watersheds. Learn about the Two Rivers Coalition, Inc., a citizen based group working to protect the health of the Black River and Paw Paw River Watersheds through conservation, education, and advocacy.

Our goal is to be your source of information about the Black and Paw Paw River Watersheds here in Southwest Michigan.  We hope our web site will provide you with accurate and thought provoking information about these watersheds and the community we live in.  We believe that an informed and engaged community is the key to making this one of the best places to live and play. Please look around and let us know if there is information that you would like for us to include on our web site. Looking for a specific topic?  Try Search at the top of the page.

The Black and Paw Paw Rivers drain lands in Allegan, Berrien, Kalamazoo and Van Buren Counties.  The Black River flows into Lake Michigan at South Haven.  In Benton Harbor, the Paw Paw River flows into the St. Joseph River which then flows a short distance to Lake Michigan.  Some say that the St. Joseph River is actually the Great South Branch of the Paw Paw River.

          Click Map for larger image 

Where do you wash your car? It matters!

Check out our list of publications and reports regarding water quality issues here.