By Jeff Kart
This story originally appeared on Mr. Great Lakes and is republished here with permission.
Worms. Image: Jeff Kart
1 — Spring stream sampling is getting underway in Gladwin and Clare counties.
Volunteers for the Little Forks Conservancy of Midland will be out on Saturday, May 13, conducting sampling to determine the water quality of the Cedar River.
Teams will sample six sites in the river in Gladwin and Clare Counties.
Little Forks Conservancy began monitoring the water quality of the Cedar River in fall of 2015.
The conservancy says the project provides an opportunity for citizen scientists to learn about the importance of using macroinvertebrates to monitor the health of a watershed.
These macroinvertebrates include aquatic insects, crustaceans and worms.
The conservancy says volunteers are helping create a more complete picture of the health of the Cedar River with each monitoring event.
2 — DTE Energy has opened a Discovery Center in Bad Axe.
The 3,000 square-foot space is available for use by local community groups and equipped with state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities and renewable energy education videos.
The Discovery Center is attached to the Huron Renewable Energy Center, a formerly abandoned retail store that DTE renovated and opened in 2016.
DTE says it wants to create to create a place where students and local residents can learn about renewable energy, especially wind power, because Huron County leads the state in wind energy development.
The Discovery Center’s educational videos focus on how renewable energy is contributing to Michigan’s economy, why Michigan is attractive for future wind park development, how renewable energy is supporting the state’s clean energy future, and how wind parks work in tandem with farming.
DTE’s newest wind project in Huron County, Pinnebog Wind Park, was commissioned at the end of December.