River Raisin Legacy Project

The River Raisin has had a long, rich cultural history. Native American tribes that first populated the area knew it as Nummasepee, or River of Sturgeon, and used it for hunting, fishing, and transportation. Later, the abundance of wild grapes along its banks led eighteenth-century French settlers to name it Le Riviere aux Raisins, which the English and Americans later anglicized into River Raisin. The eighteenth-century French settlement on its banks hosted one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812, and the events there in January 1813 galvanized a fledgling nation and became the genesis for the battle cry “Remember the Raisin!” Steeped in history and home to Michigan’s only port on Lake Erie, the River Raisin supported industry, commerce, and maritime activity, but over time this once vital waterway fell victim to neglect, contamination, and human-made demise. In 1987, the lower 2.6-mile section of the river was listed as one of 43 Areas of Concern by the United States and Canada under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Government agencies and local River Raisin Public Advisory Council volunteers partnered to remediate toxic polychlorinated biphenyls from sediment near the river’s mouth, where PCB contamination had prevented people from eating the fish and caused deformities in wildlife. The first sediment cleanup took place in 1997, and after the United States launched the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2010, additional efforts followed. Subsequent cleanups in 2012 and 2016 removed more than 140,000 cubic yards of toxic material from the river. Fishing, wildlife viewing, canoeing, and kayaking are now available to a degree not seen in our lifetime, and with support from local, state, and federal partners, the River Raisin is on a path to recovery as partners look forward to removing it from the Areas of Concern list after an environmental monitoring period.

Monroe, Michigan · United States