Volunteers Needed for Bug Count on the Rouge River
Friends of the Rouge River is looking for volunteers to participate in an annual insect survey on the river.
The non-profit Friends of the Rouge is looking for volunteers to survey insect life in the Rouge River. The organization has been counting bugs in the area for more than a dozen years to track water conditions. Sally Petrella is the Volunteer Monitoring Program Manager for Friends of the Rouge. She says quantity and diversity of insect life are signs of a healthy river.
“If we find 50, we’re doing pretty well, but it’s also, it’s a good site if you find certain types. If you find a whole lot of caddisflies and mayflies and stone flies, and a few of all of the other things, that’s a really good site.”
Petrella says finding insects like leeches and worms is a bad thing, since they can tolerate pretty high levels of pollution. She says volunteers must register by October 2nd to participate in the survey on October 17th.
Interested individuals can register online or contact Sally at spetrella@therouge.org
