Hello Friends,
Thank you to all of you who came to the 1st Annual St. Joseph River
Watershed Council Meeting on March 26th! We have received a lot of positive
feedback and our membership is growing. We will continue to work on
establishing the Council at our next board meeting on April 24th at 1PM in
the Three Rivers Public Library.
I'm pleased to inform you that the FotSJR was awarded $2500 for the "Growing
Greener in Southwest Michigan" initiative from the Heart of Cook Foundation.
We will be working with the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission (SWMPC)
to host 3 design workshops (one in each county - Berrien, Cass and Van Buren
counties) to gather public input on a Green Infrastructure (GI) vision. The
money will also be used to host an implementation workshop for local
officials (and others) where they can learn what local municipalities can do
in terms of planning, zoning, parks and recreation efforts to begin
implementing the GI vision. To learn more about Growing Greener visit:
http://www.swmpc.org/growgreen.asp
This project will be a great first step toward implementing Goal 5
(specifically objectives A and B) of the St. Joseph River Watershed Mgt Plan
for about 1/4 of the watershed. I am excited about partnering with the
SWMPC on this initiative. This partnership will allow us to see the value
of the "Growing Greener" visioning process and learn how to replicate it
throughout the entire watershed. To learn more about the St. Joseph River
Watershed Mgt Plan visit: http://www.stjoeriver.net/
Are you a County Commissioner or Soil & Water Conservation District
employee? If so, we need you on the St. Joseph River Watershed Council!
Please sign and return the Partnership Agreement distributed at the meeting.
If you need a copy, or have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
Do you care about protecting and restoring water quality throughout the St.
Joseph River Watershed? If so, you should be a member of the Friends of the
St. Joe! Please join us in protecting and restoring the St. Joe River and
all of the lakes & streams that are a part of it. To learn more about the
Friends of the St. Joe visit our website, which has a new and improved look!
http://www.fotsjr.org/
Sincerely,
Matt Meersman
President
Friends of the St. Joe River
269-925-1137 x22
574-289-1101
When you check the Chapter Chair-person site you will notice that several areas are currently "OPEN". This means that we are in need of a person for that area to organize annual clean ups. This involves getting together a group of friends, neighbors and/or members of your community to conduct an annual clean up. Please contact us by email or by phone: 269-729-5174, and we will help you get started.
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