Stormwater Projects
Stormwater Projects
Water quality protection within the Great Lakes directly affects our day-to-day lives. The Great Lakes account for approximately 94% of North America’s fresh water. In 2016, ReLeaf Michigan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, and Davey Resource Group received a U.S. Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration grant to employ community forestry as a local strategy to intercept stormwater, reduce runoff, and meaningfully improve water quality in the Grand Traverse Bay. Through this program, project partners have worked closely with the Villages of Bellaire, Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Northport using i-Tree Canopy, and the Township of Leelanau using i-Tree Landscape to complete this Tree Canopy Assessment, implement local community outreach, and support the villages in planting 250 trees in locations selected to maximize stormwater mitigation and improve water quality within the Grand Traverse Bay.
Trees have a direct relationship with a region’s water quality. In 2018, ReLeaf Michigan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds, an agency of the Grand Valley Metro Council and the Davey Resource Group, Inc. received a USDA Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant to assist four communities in the Lower Grand River Watershed. The grant provided funding to assess the urban tree canopy in each community and identify ways to increase this tree canopy to intercept stormwater, reduce runoff and improve water quality within the Lower Grand River watershed and the Great Lakes basin. The website describes the findings of the assessments and provides recommendations for each community.
In 2019, ReLeaf Michigan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the St. Joseph River Basin Commission and Davey Resource Group, Inc. received a USDA Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant to assist six communities in the St. Joseph River watershed. The grant provided funding to assess tree canopy in each community and identify ways to increase and improve tree canopy to intercept stormwater, reduce runoff, and improve water quality within the St. Joseph River watershed and the Great Lakes basin. Click below to view the web-based report describing the findings of the assessments and providing community forest management recommendations for each community.
In 2024, ReLeaf Michigan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the River Raisin Watershed Council and Davey Resource Group, Inc. received a USDA Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant to assist four communities in the River Raisin watershed. The grant provided funding to assess tree canopy in each community and identify ways to increase and improve tree canopy to intercept stormwater, reduce runoff, and improve water quality within the River Raisin watershed and the Great Lakes basin. Click below to view the web-based report describing the findings of the assessments and providing community forest management recommendations for each community.