GREATS ANNUAL GRAND RIVER CLEANUP FOR

2026 HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO DEAD

WHITETAIL DEER IN AND NEAR THE GRAND RIVER.  

We discovered seven dead Whitetail Deer, in the Grand River, near or in log jams, between I-94 and Parnall Road. 

We have heard other reports of dead deer at the Cascades Golf Course, Browns Lake, Vandercook Lake, Lime Lake, Vandercook Lake and Williams Lake. 

The deer are getting bit by a midge that sometimes is caring the Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD), a virus that causes the deer to bleed internally, have a high fever and seek water to cool off, where they soon die.  They claim the EDH will not hurt people, and it is safe to eat deer that have the virus.  The danger is the rotting deer carcasses can give off bacteria, e-coli, parasites, giardia, and can cause serious infections.

For the safety of our participants, who usually get very wet picking up the trash at a river cleanup, the Great Board has unanimously voted to cancel the Grand River Cleanup in 2026.

Since the proposed October Paddle is also on the Grand River, further downstream, we are attempting to locate another river, that does not contain the dead deer.  If we locate such a river, we will list it here on our website, on Facebook and by email notifications to our members.