Mud Busters - The Sequel
Huron River Watershed Council
Basin Program Funds:
Studies conducted during 1970 as part of the national Urban Runoff Program,
as well as recent testing conducted by the city of Ann Arbor as part of the
stormwater permitting requirements, revealed that urban and suburban construction
activities are a significant source of sediment to the Huron system.
Mill Creek has been identified as a significant source of sediment
that directly impacts the small mouth bass fishery along the main channel
of the Huron River at its confluence with the creek.
The Mud Buster program, initiated under a 1994 Great Lakes Basin Program grant,
included training citizen volunteers to recognize and report urban, agricultural,
roadway, and in-channel erosion control problems to local county enforcement
agents and establishing the Huron Valley Soil Erosion Control Agents Network.
The network fostered information exchange between the various soil erosion
agents and officers regarding innovative enforcement techniques and best management
The goals of this project, Mud Busters-The Sequel, is to continue
the 1994 program activities as well as produce an inventory that prioritizes
agricultural, in-stream channel, and road-related erosion hot spots within
the Mill Creek drainage of the Huron River watershed. The inventory provided
baseline data for pollution reduction planning and future fisheries restoration
planning for Mill Creek. Mill Creek is the Huron River's largest tributary
basin and has been long recognized as a significant source of sediment and
associated phosphorus to the main channel of the Huron River.
An inventory of agricultural, streambank, and road-related erosion was conducted
in the 144 square mile watershed of Mill Creek. Over 8 linear miles of streambanks
exhibiting severe soil erosion were identified, and agricultural fields bordering
the stream and lacking vegetative buffers were estimated to contribute 1,647
tons of lost soil annually.
The results of this analysis were compiled as Soil Erosion in the Mill Creek
Basin: An Assessment of Fields, Roads, and Creeks; Washtenaw County, Michigan
(1996) and are now begin used by the Natural Resources Conservation Service
and Huron River Watershed Council to facilitate streambank stabilization and
buffer strip plantings so that downstream fisheries can be restored.
Contact: Paul Rentschler, (734) 769-5123