General Info

The Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve was created in 1995 by a group of local citizens concerned about unchecked logging and property division activities. These folks worked hard and within a year obtained their 501 ( c ) and officially became an organization. Our mission is to preserve and protect Yellow Dog River and surrounding watersheds for the benefit of present and future generations through grassroots organizing. We have been doing our work in Big Bay and have offices in the Huron Mountain Realty Building at 303 Bensinger Drive. We welcome the public to stop in and take a look at our resources. Currently, we have one full time and two part time staff members who dedicate many hours and resources to succeed in our mission. Seven citizens are voted in by our 254 members to the Board of Directors who meet monthly to make decisions and to hear about the work being done. The Board meets every third Wednesday and the meetings are open to the public. Our work focuses on many watershed issues ranging from water monitoring to education to litigation. Please check out our programs pages to learn more about all of the good things we do. If you like what you see, please consider donating or becoming a member! Executive Director: As of November 2008, Emily has been moved from Program Administrator to Executive Director. She will be fulfilling her role by working with the Board to best complete our work. Along with that, she will work with the finance committee to ensure this organization has the capacity to protect the river. She will continue to work directly with the programs such as education, outreach, water science, land conservation, and all others. Emily looks forward to helping YDWP in any way she can. Yellow Dog RIVERKEEPER : Chauncey Moran became part of the WATERKEEPER Alliance in the fall of 2008. Since then, he has continued his role in being the primary contact for water quality and violation issues. Chauncey has spent many years working with our group and has been a founding member. He started a Volunteer Monitoring Program that has supplied our group with baseline water quality data for the past six years. If you have witnessed violations in the watershed, call Chauncey at 906-345-9223. Yellow Dog Riverkeeper Sulfide Mining Campaign Director: Cynthia Pryor joined the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, Inc in 1995 during its formative years first as a volunteer and then as an eight hour a week paid staff. In 2000 she became Chair of the Board of Directors and resigned in 2003 to become the Executive Director. In November of 2008, Cynthia resigned and moved to become the Sulfide Mining Campaign Director. Cynthia, and her husband Bob, have lived off the grid in the Huron Mountains for the past 15 years and cherish the region. Although most of her time now is working full time for the preserve in support of the opposition to sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains and in Michigan, she takes time for cross-country skiing, birding, hiking, sailing and the Big Bay game of tennis! Preserve Coordinator: Wendy Johnson has been the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve's primary office person since 1998. Since the birth of her two children, she chose to work at YDWP from home, creating newsletters, hosting fundraising events, keeping up the books, and anything else that needs to be done. She really enjoys working for the Preserve they are a great bunch of honest, down-to-earth folks. We have a lot on our plate with the sulfide mining issue and any help from folks like you is greatly appreciated and needed! Please check out the rest of our website for volunteering or donating opportunities. You can reach Wendy through YDWP's e-mail at ydwp yellowdogwatershed.org or if you need immediate assistance, please call ( 906 ) 361-5179. Education and Outreach Intern: Zachery Luhellier will be the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve's Environmental Education and Outreach Intern for the summer of 2009. The internship was funded by the Emerick Fam