Beavers in the Rouge River in Dearborn!

Why a sighting of this dam-building creature is good news for the river.

On July 15, 2012, Rick Simek of the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Environmental Interpretive Center snapped a photo of a beaver in the Rouge River in Dearborn. Big deal, right? But what might seem like a normal occurrence could actually be a sign of the increasing water and habitat quality of the Rouge watershed. According to a piece written by Simek in the EIC's spring newsletter, beaver trapping led to the local extinction of the species in Metro Detroit in the 1830s, with "no traces of the species left by 1877." Though several other reports of beaver sightings and markings had been reported in recent years in the Rouge and other nearby rivers, Simek's photo is proof of the beaver's return to Dearborn more than a century later. And …

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Jessica Carreras

2:55 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013

Funny you should say that, Greg - Rick asked (and answered) the same question in his post in the EIC newsletter. It is hard to tell (I wouldn't know the difference except for the tail), but the original post explains how Rick figured it out.   more ›

Inner Dearborn

Inner Dearborn: Communal Garden Brings Joy of Growing to Many

Gardeners at the shared space find that it's as much about tending to their plots as it is about tending to their community.

She waited six years for the well-turned patch of land on the edge of the University of Michigan-Dearborn Community Organic Garden.  One warm Sunday morning, a busy mom of three tended a newly planted vegetable garden while her three-year-old daughter Alyssa sat busily occupied with her sparkly toy ponies on a blanket spread nearby. Other gardeners began to arrive, hoping to beat the heat. The young woman was clearly excited about the opportunity to expand her garden beyond her home’s shady borders.  The busy young mother explained that the adjoining plot, which is circled by a fence which could have been fashioned with parts from a satellite dish, was nurtured by a good-natured gentleman who made his living in Alaska, but returned to …

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