The roughly three-square-mile watershed encompasses much of the new commercial development for the City of Houghton and Portage Township.  That commercial development is shown in the following photograph and brings thousands of people into the watershed each day.    Included below are the general demographics for the area, the major economic activites in the region, and a brief description of water use in the watershed.

Moyle, Inc. (2006)

Houghton County, in which both the City of Houghton and Portage Township are located, occupies 1,011.7 sq. miles and has a population density of 35.3 per square mile.  Over the last three decades, the county's population has been relatively steady, growing only by 3.9%. The estimated population of Houghton County in 2004 was 35,568, a decrease of about one percent from the 2000 census. Of the total population, 19.8% are under 18 years old and 14.9% over 65years old.  In total, there are 18,287 housing units in the county.  According to the 2000 census, 0.9% of the population is African-American and 0.7% Hispanic. The average household size is 2.39 persons compared to an average family size of 3.04 persons.   The 2002 per capita personal income in Houghton County was $20,319. This was an increase of 17.2% from 1997. The 2002 figure is 66% of the national per capita income. 13.5% of the population live below the poverty line. 

Portage Township: According to the census of 2000, there are 3,156 people residing in the township. The population density is 10.8/km² (28.0/mi²).  In total, there are 1,584 housing units.  The median income for households in the township is $33,080 and the per capital income is $17,655.  About 8.1% of families and 14.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.6% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those ages 65 or over.

City of Houghton:  The City of Houghton has a population of 7,010.  The median income for households is $41,994 and the per capita income is $21,587. About 9.2% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line.

Major economic activities in the country include education, health care, light manufacturing, retail, forest products, tourism, and accommodations and food services.  In 2005 retail trade was the largest of the major sectors.   Many of the large retailers--such as Wal-Mart, Econo Foods, Shopko, and J.C. Penny--are located in the Huron Creek watershed.    Also located in the watershed area are an indoor mall, several small strip malls, and a number of commerical buildings that house government and private offices, motels, restaurants and fastfood providers, small healthcare facilities, automobile service facilities, and a number of service businesses.

Michigan Technological University (Houghton) and Finlandia University (Hancock) are both located in Houghton County but neither have facilities in the watershed.

In the watershed, most people are connected to public water supplies with all water piped in from outside the watershed.   No wells supplying public systems are located in the watershed though a few private residences have wells. 

In the City of Houghton, all businesses and residences are connected to a centralized waste treatement plant through the city's sewage network; the waste treatment plant is not located in the watershed.  Most businesses and residences in Portage Township depend on onsite wastewater treatment (septic) systems.  No industrial facilities discharge effluent to Huron Creek.

Huron Creek is not used for recreation.  It does, however, run through a park just before it flows into Portage Lake, and people--often children--do come into contact with the stream there.

Developing the Huron Creek Watershed Management Plan