Prairie Creek Initiative

Prairie Creek flows through Ionia and Montcalm Counties and is one of the closer cold water fisheries to Lansing.  The river supports a fall and spring migration of steelhead and a healthy trout population. Because the river primarily runs through private farmland, access to the river has been limited.  Through their considerable efforts, Jim Bedford, Bob Ceru, and Dan Oberst have met with riparian landowners to discuss conservation and restoration efforts along the river. The result of this partnership was the creation of a grant application to the Embrace a Stream Grant program. The grant was written in collaboration with Aaron Snell of Streamside Ecological Services and will focus on that portion of the Prairie Creek running through the Welch property. We were notified in late August that our Chapter was awarded the grant!

The Perrin Chapter will be responsible for project management and coordinating all activities.  Dan Oberst will be the project manager and will be working with Aaron Snell M.S., who works with TU chapters throughout Michigan on stream assessment and improvement, Kristin Thomas, M.S., Biologist for Michigan T.U., Jake Lemon, Eastern Angler Science Coordinator, and Melissa Eldridge, executive director of the Ionia Conservation District.

The project will focus on log jam removal, instillation of 20 instream habitat structures, tree and shrub plantings, and improvement of one mile of trail for angler access. There will be many volunteer opportunities in this initiative so plan on volunteering and you will learn more about this beautiful coldwater fishery.  Please watch for future announcements regarding this initiative.