Tag Archives: Friends of Buck Creek

“Garden Guru” Alysia Babcock to teach modern conservation, natural beauty with native plants Sept. 16

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Environment, Kent County, LANDSCAPING & GARDEN CENTERS, Upcoming Events, West Michigan, , , , ,
Native plants flourish in Andrea Belden’s urban garden (Courtesy, Andrea Belden)

By Deborah Reed

deborah@wktv.org

Native plants not only beautify yards and natural habitats, they increase safe havens for pollinators and decrease effects of climate change.

A trillium flower flourishes in its natural habitat (Courtesy, www.pxhere.com, Nicholas A. Tonelli)

Friends of Buck Creek and Alysia Babcock, “The Garden Guru,” are hosting a free public event to teach the “hows” and “whys” of inhabiting land without damaging it.

“Gardens with native plants provide habitat for many organisms such as pollinators, birds, and small animals,” states Babcock on The Garden Guru Kzoo website. “These pocket gardens are safe havens that help reverse the effects of climate change. We need pollinators for our food crops, birds to distribute seeds, and small animals to keep garden pests at bay resulting in healthy viable plants.”

At 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, Babcock will give an hour-long presentation titled “Cleaning Our Watershed and Beautifying Your Property with Native Plants” at Grandville Kent District Library. This presentation will teach how to beautify personal properties while cleaning stormwater and providing food and shelter for pollinators.

“I have always been an advocate for nature and find nature’s beauty everyday,” said Babcock on her website.

Native plants and flowers provide a natural habitat for many organisms (Courtesy, www.pxhere.com)

An Advanced Master Gardener, Conservation Steward and Master Naturalist, Babcock also has a Master’s Degree in Education, and is part of a newly formed Strike Team with the Rockford Sustainability Committee. Babcock is also the owner of The Garden Guru Kzoo LLC, a company dedicated to designing and implementing garden makeovers that specialize in native plants.

“I’d say [that] using native perennials in a landscape is a win-win-win-win,” said Martha Stout Vermeulen, founder and former President of Friends of Buck Creek-Michigan (FOBC). “Less money, less work, more beauty, healthier habitat.”

Vermeulen went on to explain that in the first year, native plants “sleep,” growing deep, water-cleansing roots. The second year they “creep,” beginning to beautify, and the third year they “leap” to their full glory.

Daisies come in several shapes, sizes, and colors (Courtesy, www.pxhere.com)

“Since caterpillars are a primary food source for our dwindling bird population, nibbled leaves mean the garden is doing its job,” said Vermeulen.

Native plants will be available for purchase after Babcock’s presentation.

Parking is available on the south side of the KDL Grandville Branch. The building is wheelchair accessible.

For more information or questions, contact Martha Stout Vermeulen at seasister8@gmail.com.

Volunteers will gather at Lemery Park in Wyoming on Aug. 19 for annual Buck Creek Clean Up

2-row, Citizen Journalism, City of Wyoming, Environment, Non-Profits, Upcoming Events, West Michigan, , , ,
Volunteers with trash pulled from Buck Creek 2021 (Courtesy, Martha Stout Vermeulen)

By Deborah Reed

deborah@wktv.org

Volunteers of all ages are welcome to meet at Lemery Park in Wyoming at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19 to help remove trash from Buck Creek during the family-friendly 10th Annual Buck Creek Clean Up event.

Event team leaders will assist in finding sites that meet volunteer needs and will provide necessary information.

Breakfast will be provided for volunteers by Marge’s Donut Den and Steenstra’s Royal Dutch Bakery, along with Littlefoot Coffee Roasters. Volunteers are also invited to a post-clean up lunch at Wedgewood Park, compliments of Grandville Mayor Steve Maas.

“It has been said that an individual’s effort is a single drop, but when a community gives effort, it is a tsunami,” said Martha Stout Vermeulen, Founder and former President of Friends of Buck Creek-Michigan (FOBC).

Trash lines a portion of Buck Creek near an EJ manufacturing facility (Courtesy, Martha Stout Vermeulen)

FOBC began as a grassroots group of concerned citizens that has evolved into a nonprofit watershed organization with hundreds of followers on Facebook and Instagram. FOBC’s focus is to inspire, initiate, promote, and engage in activities that improve and enhance both the environmental quality and the beauty of Buck Creek.

Over the past decade, Friends of Buck Creek-Michigan (FOBC) and Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited (SWMTU) have partnered to remove trash from the Buck Creek watershed in Grandville by organizing the annual Buck Creek Clean Up. On Aug. 19, current FOBC President Becky Dykhuis will extend the clean up into Kentwood and Byron Township.

Volunteer numbers have grown steadily since the event’s inception, with several tons of trash removed from the rare urban trout stream’s waters. Tires, shopping carts, microwaves, 55 gallon drums, and scary-looking dolls are only a few items removed from the creek.

The most frequent, and toxic, trash recovered is plastic and styrofoam.

A portion of Buck Creek after clean up near an EJ manufacturing facility (Courtesy, Martha Stout Vermeulen)

Vermeulen says she has observed several benefits resulting from the annual clean up, and a definite reduction in trash in areas that have been frequently cleaned.

“Getting citizens up close and personal with Buck Creek reveals problems that a disposable society creates, and increases awareness to reduce and reuse,” said Vermeulen. “Indeed, it takes a community to love a creek!”

Volunteers can register at: Volunteer – Buck Creek Clean Up.

A full schedule of the event can be found at: Facebook Buck Creek Clean Up.

If you are interested in being a sponsor of this year’s clean up, email mibuckcreek@gmail.com.

More information can be found at: mibuckcreek.org.

Keeping it clean: You wouldn’t believe what is in the river

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, City of Wyoming, ,

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By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

If anyone understands the need to eliminate plastic it would be Martha Vermeulen.

As one of the organizers of the Friends of the Buck Creek Annual Clean Up, which took place in August, Vermeulen and the team have pulled out lots of plastic along with styrofoam and tires out of the river. 

“We estimate we pull about a half ton of trash out of the creek every year,” Vermeulen said. 

Unfortunately, plastic, styrofoam, and tires are not the only items the volunteers have found. In the past there have been a dryer, partial dishwasher, drums of mysterious liquids, and tennis balls.

“Lots of balls seem to make it in the river,” Vermeulen said. “This year’s most unusual item was a volunteer thought there was a body in the water as it was floating face down. It turned out to be a doll.”

First started by Trout Unlimited, the clean up has been taking place about seven years. The group primarily focuses on the Buck Creek in the Grandville and Wyoming area, selecting about seven sites along the river with a mix of brand new and repeat locations.

And while every year it can seem frustrating on the amount of trash removed, the positive is the number of people who come out each year to help with the clean up.

“We had more than 100 people come out this year,” Vermeulen said. “The better benefit is having people come out and see what is in the river. What our throwaway society does to our watershed.


“Hopefully they begin to reuse things more. Maybe they say this is the year I get that water filter and refill a stainless water bottle.”

The Buck Creek, which is one of the few cold water creeks that runs through a municipality, empties into the Grand River, which the West Michigan Environmental Action Council’s 16th Annual Mayor’s Grand River Cleanup is set for Saturday, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event starts at the 6th Street Park in Grand Rapids. Refreshments before the event and a light lunch after with a beverage garden (must be 21 or old with ID) will be hosted by Founders Brewery and Cascade Blonde. 

Three communities come together for annual clean up of Buck Creek

3-bottom, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, , , , , , ,

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

Tires — 22 to be exact — along mental signage and other trash was just some of the items Martha Stout Vermeulen remembers pulling from the Buck Creek during the first clean up.

 

Now in its fourth year, the Buck Creek Clean Up is an annual event when residents of Grandville, Wyoming, and Kentwood roll up their sleeves — with a few donning waiters — and spend a Saturday morning, Aug. 5, cleaning up a portion of Buck Creek which travels through the three cities as it makes its way to the Grand River.

 

The event starts at 8 a.m. at Wyoming’s Lemry Park, 4050 Byron Center Ave. SW, with a light breakfast provided by Biggby Coffee, and Marge’s Donut Den, and orientation that includes free t-shirts. Participants will head out in teams to look for trash and other foreign objects along a variety of Buck Creek locations.

 

“Last year, from the communities of Wyoming and Grandvile we pulled 80 bags of trash,” said Vermeulen, who serves as the president of the Friends of Buck Creek. The Friends of Buck Creek and Schrems Trout Unlimited host the annual clean up.

 

Buck Creek, which is about 20 miles long starting in Allegan County, is a cold water stream which holds a viable trout population, all of which is rare to find in an urban setting. For that reason, Schrems Trout Unlimited, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds have highlighted Buck Creek as a threatened stream in need of protection. Two years ago, Schrems Trout Unlimited was awarded a $25,000 grant to assess the water quality in the Buck Creek watershed.

 

“It was warming,” Vermeulen said. “There was just ignorance as to what was going. There was a lot of fertilizers draining into the creek and other pollutants.”

 

The area focused on through the clean up efforts has improved with Vermeulen noting that there is trout in that portion of the creek where in other sections the water has become too warm for any fish.

 

But Vermeulen, who comes from an environmentally-conscious family and lives near Buck Creek, said the greater success has been helping people really care about their environment and their resources so much that they help to protect it.

 

“Recently, there was a Grandville school teacher who has students go to Buck Creek and do some testing and discussions,”Vermeulen said. “They then built a rain garden for the school parking lot.”

 

Vermeulen added there is all kinds of things people can do throughout the year to help the creek from adding trees to help shade it to construction a rain garden, which helps to absorb rain runoff that may carry pesticides and fertilizers applied to lawns and other plants.

 

There is also helping to pitch and care for Buck Creek by removing trash and other items that should not be in the creek.

 

For more information on the Buck Creek Clean Up, visit swmtu.org. For Friends of the Buck Creek, find the group on Facebook or email Vermeulen at erma00@sbcglobal.net. The clean up is from 8 – 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, starting at Charles Lemery Park, 4050 Byron Center Ave. SW. For those who volunteer on Saturday, lunch will be provided at Grandville’s Osgood Brewing.