The Friends of the Jordan River Watershed Records makes a significant contribution to understanding late twentieth and early twenty-first century environmental advocacy within the state of Michigan, especially in the Lower Peninsula's northwest corner as it relates to conservation of freshwater systems. Further, FOJ's engagement with state and local government agencies illuminates the ways in which it has been able to increase the political and regulatory salience of environmental protection, despite and amidst the simultaneous rising influence of energy companies. The records will be useful for any researcher seeking to explore these dynamics and many others related to environmental justice.
The Friends of the Jordan River Watershed Records provides evidence of the organization's efforts to maintain the environmental and water quality of the Jordan River and its supporting water system. The collection is arranged into two series: Internal Business and External Business.
In December of 1990, thirty-three citizens in Michigan incorporated the Friends of the Jordan River Watershed (FOJ) as a non-profit organization with the stated mission to conserve the natural resources and protect the environmental quality of the Jordan River and its watershed, a land area covering roughly 125 square miles in Antrim, Charlevoix, and Otsego counties. FOJ has its beginnings in "Save the Jordan" steering committee established in 1957 to organize study of the Jordan River, its tributaries and the watershed. Organized efforts to maintain the natural resources of the Jordan River began as early as 1968 with a public campaign in Charlevoix County to "Save the Jordan." An early success of the campaign was the State of Michigan's designation of the Jordan River as "wild and scenic" under the state's Natural Rivers Act of 1970, the state's first river to achieve such a designation.
Because of the concern about development and energy extraction, researchers undertook measures to survey the watershed and its encompassing wildlife. These efforts led to several key reports and studies that guided the FOJ in its beginning stages of organization and incorporation. Over its two decades of existence, the organization has partnered with many local municipalities in the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan on projects or initiatives affecting water quality and the ecosystem.
In recent years, FOJ has focused its attention on a number of different issues, including legislative and executive efforts to combat the effects of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in the watershed area and educational outreach to K-12 schoolchildren in East Jordan. Responding to a lawsuit filed by two local municipalities (Antrim County and Star Township) and FOJ, in August of 2009 a judge in Michigan's 13th Circuit Court (Antrim County) issued an indefinite block against an energy company that sought to drill a deep-injection disposal well near the community of Alba, Michigan. The Alba well victory aligns with many of the other advocacy initiatives FOJ has pursued in its nearly twenty-five year history.
