Who are Members of the Plaster Creek Watershed Working Group?
Since the spring of 2004, representatives from the West Michigan Environmental Action Coalition (WMEAC), Calvin College, and the Christian Reformed Church have been meeting to discuss a plan to address the problems and the potential of Plaster Creek. This group has evolved into the Plaster Creek Working Group (PCWG).
Calvin College , the initiator of the PCWG, has multiple interests in the Plaster Creek watershed. The campus sits on a divide, with part of the campus draining into Plaster Creek. Thus many of the college's planning decisions involve water runoff into the creek. In addition, the college has a great deal of interest in the watershed due to the large number of its staff, faculty, and alums who live in the watershed. Fifty percent of the approximately 700 faculty and staff live in the watershed and over 3200 Calvin alumni. Calvin College has five major programs that involve aspects of the watershed:
- The Calvin Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP) involves faculty who dedicate regular lab sessions or course projects to collecting data that contribute to an overall assessment of the environment of the campus and surroundings areas. CEAP is increasingly focused on the Plaster Creek watershed.
- The science education program at Calvin is extremely strong and involved in community K-12 science education on many levels to help the teachers develop a coherent science curriculum for their schools that is inquiry-based, infused with technology, and aligned with state standards. There is also a strong teacher development component to assist in the development of inquiry-based teaching skills in the teachers. A new direction on the part of Calvin College science education is to use the Plaster Creek watershed as the context for community K-12 science education initiatives in conjunction with high schools in the watershed.
- The Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies Department, as part of its strategic plan, has made the decision to increasingly focus on watershed issues.
- Calvin College has a long history of community involvement. Recently the Office of Community Engagement has been created within the Provost's Office to serve as a catalyst for Calvin's efforts in engaged scholarship and to bring oversight to the College's growing numbers of programs and projects with community agencies, schools and organizations. In 2001 Calvin received a $400,000 grant from HUD to establish a Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) in a Grand Rapids neighborhood to begin focused work in the areas of education, health, business development and housing. The Community Outreach Partnership Center is situated within the Plaster Creek Watershed and one of the catalysts for considering work in the Plaster Creek watershed.
- The Calvin College Ecosystem Preserve provides educational programs to over 3500 elementary school aged children each year. Calvin's Ecosystem Preserve has been awarded two grants to design a watersheds unit for children in 3 rd -5 th grades to complement other outdoor education programs at its new Bunker Interpretive Center. An interactive display about watersheds is being developed that will be in the central hall of the Bunker Interpretive Center. The display will help visitors understand how they are each connected to a local watershed.
The West Michigan Environmental Action Council was founded in 1968 as the first large environmental council in Michigan, representing such diverse associations as churches, parent teacher groups, businesses, men's clubs, student groups, women's groups, labor associations and conservation organizations. Its work ranges from its Adopt-A-Stream program to involvement in mass transit, to being an important player in the development of the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council.
The Christian Reformed Church national headquarters is found close to the banks of Plaster Creek and the Christian Reformed Recreation Center which includes a golf course and ball fields also lie within the watershed. The CRC publication division was involved in the Adopt-A-Stream program in the 1990s for the portion of Plaster Creek nearest its headquarters. But the interest of the CRC in the creek goes beyond this. The Plaster Creek watershed is home to 40 percent of Christian Reformed Church households in the Grand Rapids area (i.e., 2,400 households. The Grand Rapids East Classis of the Christian Reformed Church has been particularly active in the PCWG. It has many churches and members within the watershed and is one of the few institutions that bridges the social divides of the watershed, crossing socio-economic boundaries as well as political boundaries.