Partner Highlight: Friends of the Rouge with Herman Jenkins, Trails Manager

When Herman Jenkins started at Friends of the Rouge four years ago, he approached his work as a developer, someone who understood how to create spaces that welcomed people, and made them feel at home. “I work well with and am interested in team building and building relationships,” says Herman. Looking after the Rouge River and the communities that it runs through is indeed about building community.

                  The Lower Rouge Water Trail, part of the Rouge River Greenway Master Plan, is a 27 mile water trail that connects greenways from Canton to River Rouge. Herman sees this project as a “creative endeavor” which is why he “fell in love with the project - its scope, focus, and the ambitiousness of it. It’s legacy work. My  kids will have a different relationship with the river than I did. The Rouge River was not a place to go when I was a kid.”

Connecting with Detroit Bird Alliance

As the Trails Manager, Herman coordinates fundraising and efforts for the built environment such as the accessibility of boat launches. He is also the point person for the Detroit Bird Alliance(DBA)’s popular, cross-hobby Birding and Paddling field trips. He has also connected with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) birders, and has become a birder himself. “It’s so satisfying to spot a bird! Over 22 species were spotted at the Birding and Paddling event. I was blown away.” The Birding and Paddling event has grown in popularity every year. It is twice yearly during spring and fall migration on Nankin and Newburgh Lake, two lakes that the Rouge River feeds into.

Connecting with the Natural Environment

While Herman has learned a great deal about the role the Rouge River plays in the natural world of southeast Michigan, he still draws on his past experiences. “The built environment is where I started, but here I have created relationships with communities who have been walled off from the Rouge by industry. They don’t even know that there is a river there, let alone that they can use it.”

DBA’s partnership with Friends of the Rouge is one example of how conservation organizations, working together, can make measurable, healthy differences not just in the lives of the people who live nearby, but in the fish, trees, and birds who call southeast Michigan home.

Map from Friends of the Rouge Strategic Plan

Herman Jenkins