Kimberly Creek

Kimberly Creek is a small stream east of Indian River in the middle of Cheboygan County. In response to a large amount of agriculture in its watershed, banks stripped of vegetation for residential development, and a section of the creek flowing through a mining quarry, the Watershed Council added it to the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program in 2005 to document any effects of these potentially large water quality impacts. What did we find? The waters of Kimberly Creek are pristine and it has excellent water quality. In fact, one of the highest macroinvertebrate scores ever collected by the program was taken downstream of the quarry.

This gives us even more reason to protect this remarkable natural treasure. Sedimentation and nutrient pollution from the activities in the watershed could have the opportunity to negatively impact the creek and its water quality. By using Best Management Practices (BMP’s) and sensible riverbank development, it is up to all of us to protect the health of this amazing creek.