Community Engagement and Planning for Watershed Resilience

Grand Rapids Urban Waters Federal Partnership

A group of people pose for a photo outside. Flowers are in the foreground and an awning is in the background.

For ten years, partners in the Grand River/Grand Rapids region have worked together to restore the river and engage the community in the watershed. Read on to find out more about the Grand River, Grand Rapids, and the Urban Waters Federal Partnership.

The Grand River

The Grand River—traditionally known as the Owashtanong (“far flowing river”) in Anishinabek)—is the longest river in Michigan. It originates from natural springs in Hillsdale County, flows over 250 miles through several cities, and empties into Lake Michigan. For 2000 years, the river and adjacent lands have been used by native tribes. The People of the Three Fires—an alliance of the Ottawa (Odawa), Chippewa (Ojibwa), and Potawatomi (Bodewadi)—remain present and connected to the area despite the history of colonization and displacement. ( Grand River Equity Framework, 2023 )

The Watershed is separated into the upper, middle and lower Grand sections. Flowing through the City of Grand Rapids, the Lower Grand Watershed is the most urban section of the river. Explore the interactive map below to see the different sections of the watershed and subwatersheds of the Lower Grand River, many of which have existing  "Friends" groups .

Find My Watershed - Google My Maps

An aerial photo of the Grand River, showing trees on the sides of the rivers as well as bridges, roads, and other development.
An aerial photo of the Grand River, showing trees on the sides of the rivers as well as bridges, roads, and other development.

Grand Rapids

Present-day Grand Rapids, with a population approaching 200,000, was also one of the largest historical gathering places of the Ottawa. Colonizers moved into the area in the early 1800s and began trading with tribes. A trading post was established in 1826 and the city of Grand Rapids was officially incorporated in 1850. The namesake rapids in the heart of the city, of which there are no pictures, were removed in the mid-late 1800s and replaced with dams that level out the nearly 18 foot drop, keep the water levels consistent through the year, divert water into canals for industrial purposes, and facilitate timber transportation.

Before the river was changed by the work of man, the rapids had a nearly uniform descent for about a mile...sufficient to give a decided turbulent and wild appearance to the waters, and to make a noise that broke the stillness of the forest and echoed from the neighboring hills. ~Charles A. Whittemore~ 1895

A longitudinal profile of the Grand River from the upper reach, through Grand Rapids, and to Lake Michigan
A longitudinal profile of the Grand River from the upper reach, through Grand Rapids, and to Lake Michigan

Today, there are five dams on the Grand River in the Grand Rapids area that impede sediment transport and fish migration for native sturgeon to spawn. These low head dams are dangerous due to the recirculation of water at the base of the dams that can trap river users.

The History of the Grand Rapids Dams

a photo of a river with a small dam
a photo of a river with a small dam

Ecology of the Grand River

The Grand River supports a diversity of aquatic and terrestrial species that are important from a recreational, environmental and economical perspective. The Grand River is home to endangered snuffbox mussels, state threatened sturgeon, and river redhorse. Many tributaries, and creeks flowing into the Grand River are designated trout streams.

Urban Waters Federal Partners

In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) piloted the  Urban Waters Federal Partnership  (UWFP) Program around the United States. The Grand River/Grand Rapids area became one of the UWFP locations in 2013.

 The Urban Waters Partnership reconnects urban communities, particularly those that are overburdened or economically distressed, with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies. The Partnership also collaborates with community-led revitalization efforts to improve our Nation's water systems and promote their economic, environmental and social benefits.

Logo with words in shades of blue: Urban Waters Federal Partnership

Since 2011, the program has expanded to 21 locations nationwide. The program’s accomplishments and milestones are summarized in EPA's  Urban Waters Program Progress Report , which celebrates its first decade.

Grand River/Grand Rapids Federal Partnership

The focus of  Grand River/Grand Rapids UWFP  has been on the restoration of the rapids in the Grand River as it flows through downtown Grand Rapids. The Partnership location also seeks to accelerate and coordinate projects that are critical to improving water quality and public health, restoring forest resources, and fostering community stewardship in the urban portion of the watershed.

The Partnership is comprised of federal; non-federal state, tribal, and local entities; and nonprofit partners.

The early iterations of the Grand Rapids Partnership included River Steering Committees, heavily focused on the Grand River Restoration Project. Matt Chapman, Project Manager of Grand Rapids Whitewater, and Wendy Ogilvie, director of Environmental Programs at Grand Valley Metro Council (GVMC), voluntarily led the effort since 2013. In 2022, the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds (LGROW) secured funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and United States Forest Service (USFS) to hire a full-time Urban Waters Ambassador— Robert Cloy II —who joins a nation-wide cohort of other Urban Waters Ambassadors.

Circle diagram showing percentage of federal vs non-federal partners in the Grand River UWFP

word cloud depicting Grand Rapids Urban Waters Partners with black, blue, and green text

The Partnership secured funding through the UWFP from federal agencies for different partners to implement projects throughout the watershed and convened a West Michigan Partner Network Meeting that created a draft work plan for the Ambassador to follow.

As outlined in the work plan, the Partnership is focusing on six initiatives to protect, restore and revitalize urban water sources in the Lower Grand River Watershed. These initiatives are:

  • improving water quality and habitats through implementation of Best Management Practices, 
  • providing education and outreach on activation and stewardship of the Lower Grand River Watershed, 
  • monitoring the health of the watershed, 
  • planning for climate resilience and adaptation, 
  • promoting environmental justice, and 
  • advocating for policy and regulations.
A group of students sitting on a sidewalk near a river listening to an instructor who is standing.

As the Partnership has grown, it has evolved into a comprehensive and ever-expanding network of partners with projects that support both upstream and downstream communities throughout the watershed. Moving forward, the intention is to grow the Partnership and connect community members with their waterway.

One of the ways in which the Partnership is expanding is on the topic of watershed resilience planning and community engagement.

People sitting around a table and looking at a map on the wall

Watershed Resilience Plan

Seeing a need to add a climate change dimension to the 2011  Lower Grand River Watershed Management Plan , the Lower Grand Organization of Watersheds (LGROW) began the development of  The Lower Grand River Watershed Resilience Plan . The resilience plan fills the need for a holistic, watershed-based approach to developing climate change resilience.

The Watershed Resilience Plan will create individual Action Plans to provide subwatersheds with information on how changes in precipitation, rising temperatures, and extreme weather will likely impact our subwatersheds. They will also provide resources for different levels of decision making and guidance on disaster preparedness. Local problems require local responses and solutions, and the watershed scale is sufficiently limited in scope to allow for coordinated and cooperative action.

The plan intends to offer accessible, understandable, and enabling support, guidance, and ideas that can encourage and direct the efforts of these groups and their communities going forward.

Community engagement is an important and essential part of the process to identify impacts and solutions. LGROW worked with the EPA to use the new Equitable Resilience Builder Tool to develop community workshops.

Aerial photo of the City of Grand Rapids

Equitable Resilience Builder

EPA’s Office of Research and Development and the UWFP Program have been working to develop the  Equitable Resilience Builder  (ERB), a support tool for community resilience planning. This tool includes instructions and activities to prioritize resilience indicators, community engagement techniques, equity assessment, root cause analysis and action planning.  Guiding principles of the ERB are:

  • focusing on building relationships and trust within communities,
  • using local data and knowledge,
  • recognizing trauma,
  • facilitating action,
  • providing accessibility for under-resourced communities, and
  • adapting to different users and planning contexts.  

EPA's  Understanding and Mitigating Environmental Health Disparities and Risks Research  led to the development of the ERB; the official 1.0 version of the Equitable Resilience Builder Tool website will be launched in October 2023.

a room with multiple tables and people sitting around them listening to the presenter at the front

Community Engagement

In June 2022, the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds (LGROW) and their partners held three workshops for communities in (1) Indian Mill and Mill Creeks, (2) Plaster Creek, and (3) Buck Creek subwatersheds. The workshops included considerations of how to build equity into LGROW’s Watershed Resilience Plan. LGROW partnered with EPA to hold the three workshops using the ERB tool in order to gather feedback from community partners on how to build equity into the Watershed Resilience Plan.

Participants for these workshops were recruited from community members with the help of local organizations. LGROW is also collecting information online via an  interactive map  as well as a  public discussion board .

a room with multiple tables and people sitting around them listening to the presenter at the front

While participants spent a portion of time describing priorities that were ecologically related such as major hazards including flooding, water quality, heat, and lack of access to natural resources, they also identified the ways that hazards can cause a chain of “cascading impacts,” often resulting in health impacts.  

A poster-sized sticky note with words and arrows

Workshop participants in the Buck Creek subwatershed created a cascading impacts diagram. Photo: LGROW

Workshop participants also discussed the importance of prioritizing the needs—like affordable housing, living wage jobs, and educational and extra-curricular opportunities—of those most impacted including children, communities of color, older adults, and low-income communities.

Participants emphasized that racial identities are intersectional, interconnected, and in many ways inseparable with the other disproportionately-impacted identities.

groups of people making notes on maps and posters on the wall

Community members gather for a workshop in the Plaster Creek Watershed. Photo: LGROW

Workshop participants identified the following priority actions and tactics related to equitable resilience building:

  • Improve physical accessibility to ensure that more people in the watershed benefit from its natural areas
  • Involve youth in active ways to increase their engagement, knowledge, and skills 
  • Communicate information that relates to community needs through trusted community information providers 
  • Decrease extreme heat impacts on people, communities, and ecosystems that are disproportionately impacted 
  • Prioritize resources to populations particularly impacted by hazards, disasters, and threats 
three people talking about notes on a poster on a wall

Workshop participants share feedback and suggestions for each subwatershed. Photo: LGROW

LGROW is working to incorporate the feedback from community members gained from the workshops. Staff has also met with representatives from each subwatershed group to get feedback on the workshops and answer any questions that came out of the process.

LGROW will continue to be in touch with each group as drafts of the Action Plans are completed to gain additional input and reflect that community views are accurately represented.   

Watershed maps of Buck Creek, Indian Mill, Mill Creek, and Plaster Creek were used in the workshops. Participants marked locations and made notes on the maps. Photos: LGROW

Lessons Learned

Using the ERB toolkit for community engagement was an asset for the Grand Rapids UWFP and the goals to include community voices in equitable watershed planning. Beyond the Grand Rapids region, lessons were learned to make watershed resilience actions more equitable and transferable to a broader audience. 

  1. Gather community perspectives when and where community members may be, rather than waiting for community members to bring their issues to authorities or service institutions.  
  2. Prioritize community needs including safe and affordable housing, living wage jobs, educational and extra-curricular opportunities for youth, connection to basic resources, community safety, and access to clean and trusted drinking water through watershed planning and other actions. Engage social service organizations and agencies to determine opportunities for connecting shared goals among the above needs. 
  3. Utilize trusted messengers: service organizations, faith leaders, firefighters, teachers.  
  4. Use different communication channels to reach different communities.  
  5. Make communication two-way to understand what assets, needs, and wants exist in communities.  
  6. Offer incentives (such as honorariums, travel stipends, childcare, etc.) that may help overcome accessibility issues and barriers to action.   
  7. Audit all resource allocations – grant programs, services, etc. – to determine current beneficiaries. Compare these beneficiaries using tools like the  MiEJScreen  (an interactive mapping tool that identifies Michigan communities that may be disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards) and reorient resources to target individuals and communities with greater needs.  
  8. Intentionally choose historically underserved communities as priority beneficiaries. This may include examination of municipal and institutional programming to determine resource allocation in and for historically underserved communities.  
  9. Think larger by considering historical factors (such as institutional racism) and existing conditions for disproportionate impacts on underserved communities, as well as utilizing longer-term timelines to assess the equitability of project outcomes.  
  10. Consider community assets when engaging with underserved communities. Build actions upon the human, social, and physical capital that exists within local communities.  

The Grand River/Grand Rapids UWFP will integrate these recommendations into the work plan to share with partners and guide our next steps of the ongoing work. This work plan will help the subwatershed groups implement their action plans, create more resilience in their watershed, and connect and engage with the Partnership.

Community members gather for a workshop in the Plaster Creek Watershed. Photo: LGROW

Workshop participants share feedback and suggestions for each subwatershed. Photo: LGROW

Workshop participants in the Buck Creek subwatershed created a cascading impacts diagram. Photo: LGROW