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 affects Lake Michigan. He reviewed past incidents that shaped the council’s agenda, including the July 2010 NBridge oil spill and the river’s dual designation as an Area of Concern and a Superfund site; he said more than a billion dollars has gone into cleanup and restoration efforts to date.

Mclofflin emphasized phosphorus as a continuing water-quality challenge and summarized the Lake Allegan–Kalamazoo River total maximum daily load (TMDL) program aimed at reducing phosphorus inputs. He said municipal and industrial wastewater dischargers, including the city of Battle Creek, are directly engaged by the TMDL program and also provide funding for outreach to reduce nonpoint sources such as agricultural and urban runoff.

The presentation highlighted community-facing programs the council runs or supports, including Canoe the Kazoo and Crazy for the Kazoo paddling events, and a pilot Kalamazoo River Youth Experience that pairs indoor learning with supervised paddling. Mclofflin said private funding and TMDL-related funds are available for the youth program and that the council will begin outreach in early January to recruit local nonprofit partners and develop a schedule for 2026.

“We have funding in place...it's then just a matter of figuring out who we can work with and implementing the program,” Mclofflin told the committee.

Committee members thanked the presenter and asked questions about climate impacts and runoff. Mclofflin agreed that increasing precipitation in the Great Lakes region will make stormwater management and land practices — such as rain gardens and deeper-rooted vegetation — more important to reduce the “flashiness” of river flows and protect water quality.

Patty, a City of Battle Creek environmental department staff member who introduced the council, and other committee members flagged local opportunities, including ongoing discussions about restoring the Battle Creek concrete channel while maintaining flood control. Commissioner Jessica Locass, who joined the meeting, said she will participate going forward.

The committee took two routine votes at the start of the meeting: it approved the minutes from the previous meeting on a motion moved by Chris Martin and seconded by Bob Gilbert, and adopted a proposed 2026 meeting schedule on a motion moved by Patty and supported by Bessie Plug; both measures passed by unanimous voice approval.

Doug Mclofflin left contact information with the committee and said the watershed council will follow up with staff and interested nonprofits about the youth program and upstream program expansion. The committee adjourned at 2:34 p.m.

Why this matters: The watershed council’s work addresses contaminants that have persisted for decades, coordinates restoration funded through federal and state mechanisms, and links technical cleanup to community outreach and youth engagement — steps local officials say they want to expand in Battle Creek in 2026.