Effects of Development on the Thornapple

The Thornapple is now suffering visibly from the increasing pressures of development in the watershed.

• People use the river for a dump site, and leave all kinds of waste on the banks and in the water.
  
• Removal of the native trees and shrubs from banks by landowners is a growing problem.
  
• Creation of vast "naked" malls and housing developments, that destroy small wetlands in the watershed and expose the banks of tributaries, is leading to increased volume of runoff.
  
• The drains for parking lots, roads, and bridges, with runoff loaded with gas, oil, and salt, empty directly into tributaries and into the river.
  
• Sediment created by developers is not properly controlled.
  
• Landowners create huge "greensward" lawns out of areas that were once forested, with resulting rainfall and fertilizer runoff.

The further downstream one goes, the more evident is the resulting flooding, erosion, and sedimentation.

The goal of the developers is economic benefit, not to damage the Thornapple River. The developers and landowners are ignorant of their effect on the watershed. Ultimately, we all live downstream; Thus all need to work on balancing the interests of the developers and the interests of the watershed.

It is said that a developer is a person who wants to build a house on the river, and an environmentalist is a person who owns a house on the river. I am, by that definition, an environmentalist. My vision is to turn developers, public officials, and landowners into knowledgeable ecologists, working to preserve the health and beauty of the watershed.

Riverhouse

The earth is an ecological system of which we are a part.

Whether we are aware of it of not, the stewardship of earth is our responsibility.

It is primarily our ignorance that causes watersheds to be degraded. Links to the knowledge we need are to be found at this site.

LinkExchange Member

Riverhouse home.
On-line field guides.
Watershed chatroom.
Thornapple River Environmental Issues.