August

Did you know that the Great Lakes are the biggest freshwater source in the world? Lake Erie is the most productive for fishing of all the Great Lakes. Your support helps make our streams clean, clear and healthy so they can support this complex ecosystem. By donating to PCS, you help us reach our goals of restoring rivers that lead to Lake Erie beaches that promote fishable and swimmable conditions for generations.
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Currents: August 2012

August

Have you registered yet? The 16th Annual Clean Your Streams event registration is live and we are getting ready for our largest, most productive Clean Your Streams event ever! With 10 kickoff locations, new picnic surprises, t-shirts and much more, this year's 16th Annual Clean Your Streams promises to be the best yet! You are invited to help PCS and its partners clean up miles of stream banks all over the lower Maumee River watershed. In the last fifteen years, our volunteers have removed 87 tons of trash from local stream banks. This year, check-in at the kickoff sites will begin at 8:00am. All volunteers must attend the orientation starting at 8:30am to receive instructions and site cleanup location assignments. An Appreciation Picnic will be held after the clean-up for all volunteers with friendly Challenge Competitions, door prizes, lunch and much more!

 

For the 16th Annual Clean Your Streams event, there are ten kickoff locations around the metro-Toledo area. They include the following: The University of Toledo Law School, Monroe St. United Methodist Church, Olander Park Open Air Shelter, Friendship Park/Lake Township Administration Building, Oregon Municipal Building, Washington Township Hall, Teamsters Local #20 Hall, Sidecut Metropark Maumee Rotary Shelter House, International Park Gazebo and Carter Park, Bowling Green. We will be working in the Swan Creek, Duck Creek, Otter Creek, Ottawa River, Toussaint River and the Maumee River Watersheds to remove all types of garbage from stream banks. Individuals and group organizations are welcome to participate. Groups are encouraged to wear t-shirts to support your organization and join the competition!

 

Don't know where to register? Do you want more information about the 16th Annual Clean Your Streams? Visit the Clean Your Streams web page! Also, we would like to thank our many donors who are donating funding and services to this important event. Without these amazing organizations, we wouldn't be able to hold this cleanup event. To check out who these great businesses and organizations are, check out the bottom of our Clean Your Streams page. We hope to see everyone in the streams at the 16th Annual Clean Your Streams event!

Do you support clean streams? Are you ready to do a little more? Can't attend CYS Day but still want to help? Create your own fundraising page with FirstGiving and help us put on the 16th Annual Clean Your Streams! On FirstGiving, you can tell your personal Clean Your Streams stories and share with your friends and family on your own mini-web page. All funds that you help raise will go directly to the 16th Annual Clean Your Streams. Check out our 16th Annual Clean Your Streams FirstGiving page to get started. You can also create a team page and fundraise as an organization! It doesn't get any easier! So with minimal effort on your part, we all receive maximum benefits! The top fundraiser will receive the FirstGiving Challenge Award, which is announced at the Appreciation Picnic. Want to support us but not create a full web page? Feel free to donate directly right now! Thank you in advance for your support!

After carefully considering several bid proposal packages, PCS has awarded the Camp Miakonda Restoration Project to a local firm: Geo. Gradel Co. who has chosen Ecological Restoration to work alongside them as a subcontractor. With an expected ground-breaking next month, camp will be seeing several phases of construction throughout September and October. Gradel has decided to tackle the project in multiple facets, dividing the work around the key components of the project such as the Lake Sawyer portion, Ottawa River work, and associated northern wetlands restoration efforts. Work will continue next year on a smaller scale with native plantings, monitoring, and adaptation.

Ecological outcomes for the project include stabilization of the Ottawa River stream bank, resulting in increased sediment control, safe in-stream fish habitat, reinforcing a connected floodplain within this unique ecosystem, increased habitat diversity and wildlife usage of the property. Much of Lake Sawyer will be deeper, resulting is increased fish wintering as well, while parts of the Lake will be converted to a healthy wetlands. The efforts at camp will bring great changes to Boy Scout programs as well. The project will return active, multi-purpose use out of the lake and wetlands. Ecological programming will be renewed to reflect the increase in wildlife diversity. A number of new paths and trails will be constructed with the intention of creating new access points for fishing as well as hosting new educational signage. We are still discovering the other ways this project will further enhance this historic Boy Scout property!

Potential opportunities are still being developed for Scouters and other interested parties. Current volunteers can look forward to willow harvesting, helping to develop a working bird and bat box program, and other upcoming projects. For future developments, keep checking our Camp Miakonda Project page.

Our partner, Bob Neubert, at the Lucas County Engineer's Office, and the Boy Scouts took on a large task. As part of the Citizenship of the World Badge, 59 Boy Scouts from 14 troops volunteered to stencil on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 for multiple hours in Sylvania Township. They painted 580 Storm Drains with the phrase "Drains are for Rain, Flows to Waterway" to remind everyone that anything that goes down a storm drain flows to the nearest waterway untreated. The Scouts visited 546 homes with informational flyers reminding everyone to be aware of what goes down a storm drain. This was a huge feat! Thank you so much for your dedication and hard work for our waterways, boys! To learn more about Storm Drain Stenciling and how you can get involved for next spring, please visit our Storm Drain Stenciling page.

Partners for Clean Streams has recently joined the Northwest Ohio Community Shares, which is a partnership of local non-profit organizations that provide additional choices for charitable giving, serving agencies that build a community that works for everyone. Founded in 1997, Northwest Ohio Community Shares is Northwest Ohio's only workplace giving option for local 

non-profit agencies focused on social justice, animal rights, the arts and the environment, which increases unrestricted funding and community exposure for these smaller non-profit organizations.

They do this through fundraising drives, events, and combined charitable campaigns in the workplace. We will be listed in upcoming campaign updates and events so please carefully review your workplace giving materials or write us in. If your workplace doesn't participate in a campaign yet, Northwest Ohio Community Shares can help set one up. To learn more, visit the Northwest Ohio Community Shares webpage or on their Facebook page.

Check out our new E-news blasts! We are changing the format, the name and we are working to integrate our E-news blasts with our website, making it easier for you to read and engage in. We are also including some other new features like quick links. The name "Currents" comes from the old Maumee RAP newsletter that was published years ago. Because we do so much for the Maumee RAP, we thought this would be appropriate.  Please pardon any ripples in the "Currents" while we figure out the mechanics. Do you like it? Please let us know!

Partners for Clean Streams Inc. is striving for abundant open space and a high quality natural environment; adequate floodwater storage capacities and flourishing wildlife; stakeholders who take local ownership in their resources; and rivers, streams and lakes that are clean, clear and safe