Restoration Project 

Lawrence Technological University Wetland Habitat Restoration

In 2021 the Alliance of Rouge Communities (ARC) received grant funding from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to design and implement habitat restoration at the Evans Branch of the Rouge River located at Lawrence Technological University (LTU) in Southfield within the Rouge River Watershed.

The Rouge River watershed is a designated as an Area of Concern (AOC) under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) and has three Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) associated with fish and wildlife habitat: Degraded Fish and Wildlife Populations, Degradation of Benthos, Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat. The Rouge River Advisory Council (RRAC), the Public Advisory Council (PAC) for the Rouge AOC, finalized a list of projects that need to be completed in order to remove the habitat BUIs in March 2016. As part of that list, creation/restoration of wetlands on Lawrence Technological University’s (LTU) campus in Southfield, Michigan was considered as having significant impact on the removal of the BUIs.

The LTU Wetland project is located on LTU’s campus in Southfield, Michigan. The watershed area upstream of the project location is defined as the Rummell Drain that becomes Evan’s Creek on the LTU campus after exiting a box culvert under Northwestern Highway. The project plan proposes to create a 1.0-acre wetland adjacent to the creek in the disconnected floodplain. The floodplain wetland will contain a diversity of wetland plants, providing habitat for wading birds, waterfowl, amphibians, reptiles, and aquatic insects. Small mammals and birds will benefit by the increased habitat diversity and cover.