VICTORIES FOR OUR RIVERS 2010
Celebrate River Lovers! LOOK what you have done in 2010 on the Maumee River!
The benthos community thanks you!
SAVE MAUMEE PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT 2010
YOU are NOT Powerless! ~ Voice visions & values more often and more loudly – SHOW UP for a meeting or an event in 2010!
TOTAL TRASH REMOVED FROM OUR WATERWAYS TO DATE: 8.5 TONS!!!!
TRULY, THANK YOU! This work could not be accomplished without YOU!
#1 – 5th Annual Save Maumee Earth Day, Sunday April 18th, 2010 we had 267 official count of volunteers that worked so hard! EVERYONE who works for Save Maumee Grassroots Organization and your rivers, do not receive any compensation of any kind. 100% of donations go to the expensive restoration technique materials. SEE PICS HERE:
YOU planted 3 acres worth of native riparian DNR approved seed underneath 1,000 sq ft. of erosion control mats and other barren areas to reduce erosion/sedimentation.
TREE PLANTING RECORD THIS YEAR! – 60 River Birch, 40 Burr Oak, 50 Red Oak, 20 Pin Oak, 20 Swamp Oak and over 1,000 Weeping Willow Poles and Corkscrew Willow Poles! Total tree count for this one day: 1,090 TREES
YOU planted over 300 native plant plugs (previously started seedlings)! These retain deep tap roots that hold them in place when the area floods. (after 5 years of growth) ALL these hearty plants are able to live through drought or flood due to their deep tap roots and are ideal for our riverbanks…it is even improving the areas plant diversity!
Our luxury item was planting 60 Raspberry Bushes & 8 Blackberry bushes
Fruit and berries on our rivers are disappearing for 3 reasons;
1. They are understory trees/bushes and need wet/shady conditions to thrive. (Raspberries like sun so they were placed appropriately)
2. Most of the forested corridors along the riverbanks in Allen County have been removed, which would provide the canopy for these trees to grow.
3. Rip Rap (large stones placed on both sides of the river and all foliage removed) to help with flooding issues downtown, but this causes the river water to run very fast downstream, pulling out all foliage on the stream banks because of the flashiness (water rising and receding very quickly.) It makes it difficult for diversity to thrive.
Another Fun Fact: According to Forest Policy Research Org., 2008 – Trees can intercept and hold around 2 – 2.5 millimeters of rainwater- even a modest size rain event in which 10mm of rain might fall, that is still one-quarter of the rain. Water that reached the soil below the tree is returned to the atmosphere over a period of several days. And thus has a significantly different impact on the timeline of future rain events. So studies have shown that land-atmosphere interactions play a significant role in future climate projections; in addition to helping to prevent erosion that leads to suspended sediment that chokes flora and fauna in your waterways. Keep the trees and dirt in their place.
SEE MORE ABOUT EARTH DAY 2010 ACCOMPLISHMENTS HERE:
#2 A Girl Scout Troop from Fort Wayne planted 15 flats of plants and about 20 trees Saturday May 29th on the St. Mary’s River by the Old Fort where some erosion is occurring. These pre-grown plants are from OUR greenhouse that weren’t big enough to plant for Earth Day – Thank you to Julie Burkholder-Tutwiler!
Oh Yeah ~ Quit buying single use water bottles- you only use once and throw away ~ STOP IT ~ Plastic is made from petroleum based products and is a long story. Please consider watching “TAPPED” or “FLOW” – documentaries on your water and the exploitation that is happening – We gave out 300 REUSABLE water bottles donated by the U.S. Air Force and ACRES Land Trust to volunteers!
#3 Indiana needs an Upper-Maumee Watershed Management Plan for our State! The Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership is working toward hiring a watershed coordinator and then the plan will begin to form. A watershed management plan is simply a list of priorities and measurable steps that will be taken toward improvement. The Maumee is considered a low priority stream because it crosses political boundaries; City of Ft. Wayne, Allen County and State of Indiana…downstream seems to be somebody else’s problem? Historically it has been surrounded by industry, landfills, CSO’s, brownfields and a Super-Fund Site. We are asking for people who have a skill that are interested in participating in a steering committee group to address 11 situations with proposed solutions. Biologist, teacher, lawyer, accountant, writers, scientists, surveyor, doctor, zoning experts or dedicated citizens NEED to apply! We truly want to help improve our water and it will take us all. PleaseEmail Nicole Grinley or check out www.uppermaumeewatershed.com
#4 TUESDAY June 1st 7:30AM – 8:30AM – YES IN THE MORNING
BP Protest – Fort Wayne News Coverage
BP Gas Station on Anthony Blvd. & Wayne St.
We want BP to clean up their mess NOW, it is effecting our food supply, they were outside of legal parameters for drilling, problems were present up to 6 weeks before the explosion….so we showed up to tell BP we were disgusted about the largest oil spill that has the potential to affect us, our children, our oceans, our beaches, our fresh water & inlets, our land, our resources, our money, our animals, our air, and our plant life.
Watch this… BP DID know problems existed previous to the “spill”
The reason we staged a protest? A woman called, she said the city was going to charge her $75 for a protest. I told her it was under your Constitutional Rights to protest on public property and you are protected under the 1st & 14th Amendments. Abby told her, “You deal with the press, I will deal with the cops.” Cops showed, and told us, “The owner said that you are not allowed on his property.”
#5 Save Maumee’s Canoe Clean-Up, Can YOU Clean-Up – Saturday September 18th 11AM – 4PM FORT WAYNE OUTFITTERS & BIKE DEPOT LOCATION – Cass Street behind The Bean – – Free canoe rental for participants for the day with a photo I.D.! It will be too late in the season for plantings…but never too late in the season for garbage removal and free paddling! Free Canoes with I.D. from Earth Adventure on Main Street & Ft. Wayne Outfitters – first come, first serve
#6 Save Maumee Seed Harvest at Fox Island: – Saturday October 24th 1 PM – 4PM at Fox Island SEE INFO ABOUT HARVEST HERE:
#7 June 5, 2010 – Help Walk for the Wetlands : Saturday from 9-11am
#8 June 10, 2010 see National Serv-All’s Conservation Efforts from 8:00am to 10:00am at Eagle Marsh
#9 July 24th – Upper Maumee Large Scale Clean-Up from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Defiance, Ohio – about 25 people in two states worked to clean up the Maumee! Organized by the Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership. Two launching spots; Fort Wayne & Defiance, OH!
#10 September 4th – Maumee Bay Tour – about 45 people took a bus to Toledo, Ohio’s Maumee Bay and found out about the sediment load being deposited and removed from your waterway through a boat tour on
The Sandpiper!
#11 September 25th – Scenic River Canoe Tour and Water Monitoring in Antwerp, OH – Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership.
The benthos community thanks you! Invest in Natural Capital!
100% donations from you go only to best management practices for naturalization of riparian areas – this is what grassroots organizing is all about! ALL VOLUNTEERS~ All money came from Grateful Groove Fundraiser, Alysen Wade Lexicon Event, The Wilderness Band Fundraiser, Earth Day 2009, Canoe Clean-Up 2009, Sports & Spirits Bar & Grill and raised a whopping $27 dollars at the FREE event! Namaste to many small monetary donors! Save Maumee did not raise as much money as last year but we are very proud to supply you with these effective erosion control techniques for OUR riverbanks!