Michigan Waterways Stewards’s founder, Michael Stout, was born and raised in West Michigan. Living not far from Lake Michigan, and with the multi-generational family cottage on the shore of Lake Huron, he had a great affinity for our Great Lakes and fresh water.
An MSU graduate, Stout's career took him all over the country. He moved back to Michigan in 2022. He moved from the Twin Cities where he had picked up long-distance, solo-kayaking, for recreation and sport, and grand adventure. Over seven years Stout logged nearly 6,500 miles. He paddled many of the most scenic rivers and lakes across the Upper Midwest, competed in extreme races across the country, solo paddled across Lake Michigan a record seven times, and was the first to journey across Lake Superior without the assist of a chase boat or outrigger. When Stout moved back to Michigan his training grounds became our capital city’s Grand and Red Cedar rivers. He was surprised by their terrible conditions. They were covered and lined with litter, trash, and other unwanted debris. Several area's were choked with river-wide obstructions making them difficult, dangerous, and at times impossible to navigate. A long stretch of the Grand River in North Lansing, downriver from the Brenke Fish Ladder, was where the conditions were the worst. The area of greatest concern was below an old-style railroad bridge spanning the Grand River. The culmination of years of pooled litter and trash, and woody debris, made for unsightly, unhealthy, river conditions. It was difficult to imagine that such conditions existed 50 years after the declaration of the Clean Water Act, would be found here in our state's capital city, not far from the campus of Michigan State University, and the year Governor Whitmer declared as the Year Of Clean Water. |
It was difficult to imagine that such conditions existed here in our capital city.
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Michigan Waterways Stewards
We are a federally tax-exempt Michigan nonprofit corporation. EIN: 92-1772858
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