The Van Buren Conservation District will be testing the health of local waterways next month as volunteers collect insects on streams and rivers. On Sunday, May 1, they’ll collect macroinvertebrate on the Black River, the Paw Paw River, and various tributaries. The effort is a partnership between the Van Buren Conservation District and the Two Rivers Coalition. According the conservation district, collecting the insects is important because of what it tells biologists about the health of the streams. The variety of species of insects can indicate what water quality is doing to the food chain. The volunteers will meet at River Park in Lawrence at 9 a.m. May 1. From there, they’ll head out to the streams, with some donning chest-waders to pick up the bugs, and others looking through nets on the banks. The program is made possible through a grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and MiCorps, and the collections are done twice a year.
