Kalamazoo River group briefs Battle Creek sustainability panel on cleanup, youth programs and phosphorus controls

Doug Mclofflin, executive director of the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, told the Sustainable Battle Creek Committee on Dec. 22 that decades-long cleanup of the Kalamazoo River and new community programs are underway and invited local partners to expand youth and recreation activities in 2026.

Mclofflin described the watershed as “essentially that area...where, when it rains and hits the land, it's going to make its way...into a creek,” and said the council's work spans more than 2,000 square miles of watershed and serves roughly 400,000 residents. He explained the council’s history as a public advisory group for the Kalamazoo River Area of Concern — where legacy contamination, especially polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) tied to historic paper manufacturing, remains a focus of restoration work.

“The river is part of something bigger, the Great Lakes basin system,” Mclofflin said, noting that restoration and pollution-control work downstream ultimately…