Welcome
to the Bean!
The Bean/Tiffin Watershed Coalition is a group of residents,
farmers, lake and stream property owners, USDA-NRCS, Conservation Districts,
local government representatives, non-profit organizations --
all concerned with protection of the streams and lakes of the Bean Creek Watershed
in the Lake Erie basin. A largely agricultural watershed, the Bean has a history
of water quality problems in several stream stretches, including erosion and
sedimentation, pathogen contamination from failed septic systems, and in the
last four years, bacterial contamination from intensive livestock operations.
Recent data from Department of Environmental Quality monitoring indicate high
levels of "agricultural effluent entering waters of the state,"
with Chloride, for instance, found at some sites "at a level greater
than that typically found in strong untreated municipal wastewaters."
(See more details)
Bean Creek has its headwaters near Devil's Lake in lower Michigan.
The stream flows south through Michigan to the Tiffin River in Ohio, which
joins the Maumee River, entering Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio.
The Bean Creek Watershed (sometimes called the Upper Tiffin) includes three
small towns, Addison in the north, Hudson
halfway downstream, and Morenci at the Ohio border.
The Bean's main tributaries are St. Joseph Creek, an excellent-quality stream in its headwaters, with numerous mussel species; Lime Creek, which has stretches listed as impaired -- Michigan 303(d) list; and Silver Creek.
2008 -- Earth Day, Earth Week at Riverside Natural Area, Morenci. New signs at the road and in the park, donated by the City of Morenci and by the Green Earth Club of Morenci High School (GECKOs) were dedicated during a sunny afternoon, April 24. Students from the High School Math & Science Club conducted a stream search for macroinvertebrates; GECKOs cleaned up the stream and the park. Volunteers with the Bean/Tiffin Watershed Coalition constructed a bench beside Bean Creek.
See more photos from the stream search and cleanup, April 24, 2008
Mussel survey of Bean Creek watershed, summer 2004, finds 17 species of
freshwater mussels, including 3 species of special concern -- slippershell,
round pigtoe, and rainbow mussel.
Best sites were in St. Joseph Creek and the
main stream of the Bean near Morenci; and poorest sites were in Silver
Creek, where no live mussels were found.
Volunteers with Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan
(ECCSCM) coordinated this survey conducted by
aquatic zoologists with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, MSU. "Writing
on the Bean" project, 2003-2004, funded by an EPA
Environmental Education grant -- The Watershed Coalition worked with
8th graders in a stream search for aquatic insects. Students wrote short
pieces about their findings, with selections published in local papers,
and all the writings published on this site. See photos and writings from
Addison (Oct.3, 2003), Hudson
(Sept. 26, 2003), Morenci (April 30, 2004).
The grant also funded a map of Bean
Creek and its public parks, highlighting native species found there.
Copies of the map and stream search equipment were donated to all participating
schools. |
Bean Creek Watershed in Michigan
Watershed Facts (from USDA-NRCS)
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