SusCom Joins Annual Rogue River Cleanup Event
Written by Kathy Breznau
The River Bank Clean-Up Crew
Smiles are the order of the day as the teams assemble for the Annual Rogue River Cleanup: a river bank clean-up crew, an invasive plant removal work gang and brave adventurers. The teams sent off to learn about the river’s populations of macroinvertebrates that are the foundation for a river ecosystem by filtering water and as food source in the chain of life.
Invasive Plant Removal
SusCom’s team removed 12 jam-packed yard waste bags (yay!) of non-native, invasive garlic mustard and dames rocket along the dog park trail as part of our ongoing maintenance of the environmental restoration project we started there in 2023.
The success of this project is evidenced by the large number of native wildflowers that are now visibly blooming & thriving in the area, such as the elegant bloodroot.
Making Way for Native Wildflowers!
Bloodroot, also known as puccoon and bloodwort, is a member of the poppy family, native to the Eastern United States and Canada. It blooms for just a few days and is one of the first flowers in early spring. It spreads through its root system and by seeds. Pollinators are bees and flies but it also self-pollinates when conditions are too cold for insect pollination. It prefers moist soils so look for it along Rockford’s creeks and river. This picture was taken along the Rum Creek path in early May.
Check out images from this workday, below! These images were provided by participants —thank you to all who participated and helped with this cleanup effort.
The sponsors for this workday were:
Rogue River Watershed Partners
Rockford Sustainability Committee (us!)
LGrow (Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds)
Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited
.