The Upper Rabbit River Watershed, located in rural Allegan, Barry, and Ottawa Counties encompasses 91,210 acres of agricultural, urban and forested land. The Upper Rabbit River Watershed is approximately 60 percent agricultural land. The Rabbit River originates east of Wayland, MI, in Leighton Township, and flows westerly to join the Kalamazoo River at New Richmond, which then flows on to Lake Michigan. The Rabbit River is a State Designated Trout Stream, as are several of its tributaries. Very few rivers in southwestern Michigan are designated trout streams, making the Rabbit River a unique resource in our area.
Shawn McKenney
Project Manager
Rabbit/Gun River Watershed Projects
Allegan Conservation District
1668 Lincoln Road
Allegan, MI 49010
Ph 269-673-8965 ext. 3
Ph 269-673-9671
The Land Use Planning Project has been a great success in the Rabbit River Watershed. The Project has cost-shared the development of numerous model ordinances which are available to all townships to adopt with funding from the Project.
The Project has funded the adoption of three Lake Funnel Ordinances with Leighton, Hopkins and Monterey Townships. The City of Wayland has adopted a Water Overlay Ordinance and Monterey, Leighton and Hopkins Township are soon to follow. The Project is continuing to work with all seven townships to amend master plans and zoning ordinances to protect water quality. We hope to continue the Land Use Planning Project with other watersheds in the near future including the Gun River and Black River Watersheds.
You can view our model ordinances in the Land Use Download Section.
For more information on model ordinances and land use planning workshops please call the Allegan Conservation District.
Watershed Planning Links
Low Impact Development Information
Watershed Planning
EPA Model Ordinances