WYOMING, Mich. — The Buck Creek watershed, a critical natural resource spanning over 20 miles through two counties, is receiving much-needed attention through the efforts of the city of Wyoming and local organizations like the Friends of Buck Creek and the Grand Valley Metro Council.
This area is popular for its trails with walkable areas in Wyoming and Grandville, which see significant foot traffic and offer residents the chance to connect with nature.
Lemery Park, located within the Buck Creek watershed, has faced erosion due to runoff from rain.
In response, a federal grant through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is supporting the planting of native plants to combat erosion and maintain the area's natural beauty.
"Important for the city of Wyoming. You know, the service that we want to offer to our residents," said city engineer Grant Simons, who recognizes the importance of preserving areas like Buck Creek for community enjoyment."Especially in park areas where people are oftentimes coming to try and enjoy some nature."
Part of the grant, worth 257 thousand dollars, has enabled the city to purchase numerous native plants, contributing to the vibrancy and ecological stability of Buck Creek and many other surrounding natural areas.
"We were able to buy many native plants for the area, so a lot of these native flowers should help to attract pollinators to the area, as well as slow down the runoff that's coming off the baseball fields, as well as this trail, slow a lot of that water down," Simons added.
The initiative, carried out with L-GROW, or the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds, aims to help natural areas throughout West Michigan. In total, over a million dollars of federal, state, and local funding have been invested to plant 750 native trees, 50 native shrubs, and 38,400 native plants, part of which has benefited Buck Creek in particular.
The grant is addressing issues such as sediment overload and E. coli contamination by filtering stormwater runoff before it reaches the creek.
LGROW shared their concerns, stating, "Buck Creek, we know, faces issues like overloading of extra sediment and E coli. And so what these plants can do once they're established, they'll be able to filter off that storm water runoff before it reaches the creek."
The health of Buck Creek is vital, as it feeds into the Grand River and eventually the Great Lakes Basin. "Most of our drinking water in West Michigan comes from Lake Michigan, or it comes from local wells that are recharged by local waterways," said Cara Decker, Director of Environmental Programs, Grand Valley Metro Council. "So we want to make sure that the water that we're consuming is clean in the first place,"
Recently, the city hosted an annual cleanup of Buck Creek to ensure its continued beauty and availability for community enjoyment.
"We walk, we'll park her car there, and we'll walk to the end, almost towards Burlingame, we'll walk around, and then we walk back, and it's about two miles.” Said residents Mary and Paul Niles.
