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CLINTON RIVER CRITTERS. Above, local farmer Gene DeHondt holds up a crawfish that Rochester Community Schools students found in the Clinton River Watershed located on his property. Below top, students examine petri dishes containing the various bugs they found by sifting through muck samples. Below bottom, the variety of bugs found by the students indicated the river is clean.

(Observer photos by Chris Gray)

Rochester students help
check water's health

Teacher hopes Romeo
can join them in spring

by CHRIS GRAY
Observer Staff Writer

      After a successful examination of the Clinton River Watershed in Bruce Township, Rochester students are hoping Romeo kids can help them with a second survey.
       Instead of simply reading about it in their textbooks, eighth-grade science students from the Rochester Community School district visited a local Bruce Township farm to determine the status of the watershed.
       The hope is that they will come back with some colleagues from Romeo Community Schools and compare the fall sampling with a spring sampling.

Sheryle DeHondt, science teacher at Reuther Middle School and former Romeo substitute teacher, said the project came about because it is important for students to learn about how water travels and the various wildlife that depend on it in Michigan.
       "These kids are the stewards of the Great Lakes, they need to understand how this all works," she said. "The premise, though, is that they'll be testing in their own backyards."
       She said there are watershed locations in the Rochester area that they've tested, but she wanted to get a sampling from a community that is more focused on agriculture. To do so, she contacted her brother-in-law Gene DeHondt, who owns a farm at 34 Mile Road and McKay. With his permission, the class headed out the morning of Oct. 29 to test the waters.

"Romeo opens its arms, it welcomes people," said Sheryle. "It's a very education-oriented community, they're very vested in their schools and youth."
       Once there, students suited up in waders and headed into the water with leaf nets. They would take samples of the river's bottom and dump them into a basin, where another group of students waited armed with spoons to try and find various types of wildlife.
       "Look what I found," said student Kyle Spates, holding up a small crawfish.
       Students also tested out the river's depth and velocity, the latter of which was done by stretching out a tape measure and timing how fast a ball floated with the current for 10 feet.
       "It was pretty cool," said student Seth Birchmeier. "It was nice getting out of class and coming out here."
       Others took samples of the water itself to measure temperature as well as starting the tests for chloroform.
       Jeremy Geist, a member of the Clinton River Watershed Council, was on site to help identify the various wildlife the students found. It was slightly ironic, though, as Geist is a former student of DeHondt.
       "The testing that the students do is an educational tool, but it gives us data suggesting the condition of the area, and given the diversity of the bugs they've found, it gives me the impression that it is clean," he said.
       He said one indicator was the presence of mayflies, which cannot thrive unless the waters are clean.
       DeHondt said she hopes that by the time spring rolls around she can get in touch with some Romeo classes to make it a community study.
       "Romeo and Rochester do share students, and this would help get rid of the invisible division lines since students will see how we're all connected by these waters," she said. "I think it would be neat if we all worked together to accomplish the same thing."