Willow Creek is a 5 mile long Ingham County Drain, originally dug in the late 1800s, now this watercourse providing a source of natural beauty and a habitat for a variety of wildlife. Willow Creek runs through central Michigan.  With a watershed of nearly 5800 acres. However, stream bank erosion has threatened willow creek, its biological integrity, its water quality, and its appearance.
 
To improve and preserve Willow Creek the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality awarded the Ingham County Drain Commissioner, Patrick E. Lindemann, a section 319 non-point source pollution grant. The engineering consultants of Fishbeck Thompson Carr & Huber and the Ingham County Drain Commissioner's Office organized the efforts of local agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, many volunteers and other consultants to implement the grant. Through their combined expertise, hard work and labor, they applied soil bioengineering techniques as an alternative to more conventional "hard engineering" solutions. Using live materials they created a lush vegetative cover to the eroding stream bank.