About
Plaster Creek Stewards is an initiative of Calvin University faculty, staff, and students working with local schools, churches, and community partners to restore the health and beauty of the watershed.
Based out of an academic institution, we focus on education and research; but as citizens of this place we know that we can’t stop there, so we are also working directly to restore the watershed.
Our story
Plaster Creek in Kent County, Michigan faces many of the problems that are now commonplace for urban waterways in the United States. But because Plaster Creek is a sub-watershed of the Lake Michigan basin, it contributes to the health of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater resource in the world. Therefore, what happens in the Plaster Creek Watershed has far-reaching effects.
The Plaster Creek Watershed is also an integrator, connecting farmers, commercial and industrial interests, and suburban and urban residents to issues of common concern within this shared space. Part of the Calvin University campus, along with more than half the homes of faculty and staff, sits within the Plaster Creek Watershed, making it another member of the watershed community.
The state of Plaster Creek
Over the years, the land in and around the Plaster Creek Watershed has been logged, farmed, and developed. It supports residential areas, industries, parking lots, railroads, highways, and 9 different local governments. The pollutants found in the stream come from a variety of sources: sediment from runoff and from in-stream erosion, excess nutrients from fertilizers, E. coli bacteria from pet waste, agricultural runoff, and possible septic system failures. But there is one pollutant that triggers all the others: stormwater. When it rains, the water flows over our roads, fields, lawns, rooftops and parking lots, picking up dirt, fertilizer, oil, heat, and debris as it goes. It then flows through storm drains that empty directly into Plaster Creek, bringing these pollutants with it.
As a result, Plaster Creek has become one of the most polluted waterways in West Michigan. Sedimentation, heat, and chemicals make the water uninhabitable for many aquatic plants and animals; flooding and bacteria make the water unsafe for swimming, fishing, and other recreation.
The development of Plaster Creek Stewards
In 2004, faculty at Calvin University began service-learning projects for students, collecting data on the state of the watershed and organizing stream clean-ups in collaboration with other community partners. By 2008 Calvin joined with a group of concerned organizations, meeting regularly to discuss steps that could be taken to improve the watershed. A staff member of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approached the university specifically for help to reach the faith community in West Michigan. Calvin responded by organizing a three-day summer workshop for local churches focusing on a theological foundation for creation care, the basics of watershed ecology, and practical strategies for watershed restoration. From this first summer workshop, Plaster Creek Stewards began.
Calvin University is the initiator of the Plaster Creek Stewards group. The Calvin Biology Department, the Office of Community Engagement, the Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP), Science Education Program, the Education Department, and the Geology, Geography, and Environment Department are particularly involved in work on Plaster Creek.
Our three pillars
Research
We conduct research through Calvin University faculty, staff, and students to inform our education and restoration practices.
Education
By partnering with local communities, schools, organizations, we equip watershed residents to protect and care for the creek.
Restoration
Plaster Creek Stewards works with community partners to restore not only Plaster Creek, but the myriad relationships within its watershed.
Recognizing success
Since 2010, Plaster Creek Stewards has not measured a change in the water quality of Plaster Creek. People still cannot safely fish out of or even touch the water. This can start to look like failure until you put the project in a larger historical framework. Plaster Creek began flowing over 10,000 years ago and has become degraded only in the last 150 years. It is a lot to expect to see immediate changes to nonpoint source pollution when it results from the lifestyles and land uses of thousands of people throughout the 58 square-mile watershed; however, there are many hopeful signs of improvement in the three focus areas.
We are studying specific problems in the Plaster Creek watershed as a foundation for developing remediation and restoration plans.
- E. coli research is helping pinpoint sources of bacterial contamination.
- Flow level research pinpoints the areas of heaviest input of stormwater and determines the best places to act to slow stormwater and allow it to soak in.
- College students continue to study the creek and locate new areas of concern for restoration work.
- More people know about and care about Plaster Creek and its impact on downstream neighbors.
- Over 1,500 people learn about Plaster Creek at education events annually, and this number grows each year.
- 60 college students annually research Plaster Creek as part of their college experience.
- We continuously recruit new community partners, including local schools, faith communities, businesses, a local golf course, homeowners, local governments, and nonprofit organizations.
- 11+ schools are actively involved in education and restoration activities.
- 15+ faith communities participate in education and restoration activities.
The evidence speaks for itself. We have achieved:
- 3 large-scale bioswales that treat and slow stormwater from large parking lots
- Numerous rain gardens across the watershed including:
- 78 engineered curb-cut rain gardens that redirect polluted stormwater from urban streets to be filtered and cooled
- Consultation and installation of rain gardens and native landscaping for homeowners
- 1 large savanna prairie restoration project
- Thousands of native plants and trees planted
- 2 large scale floodplain restorations to slow and filter stormwater in the headwaters of Plaster Creek
- 500+ species of Michigan native plants collected locally, preserving biodiversity in the watershed
- 20 Green Team high school students are trained in green infrastructure practices each summer (seed collecting, plant growing, rain garden installation and native landscaping maintenance)
In addition to these hopeful signs of improvement, we are seeing a growing interest among West Michigan residents to learn what they can do to care for their particular area. Everyone contributes to the problem, but everyone can also be part of the solution. As momentum continues to build, we cultivate the hope that one day the walleye will return, and the creek’s name can be changed back to ‘Kee-No-Shay.’