Since the national Clean Water Act in 1972, the river has greatly improved and is safe for swimming 74% of the year (the exception usually being right after heavy rains which bring higher levels of "E. coli" from runoff waters). The Red Cedar is regularly monitored by MSU Water with the contaminant reports posted by the Michigan State University International Center. Despite these improvements, littering and pollution into the river and onto its banks is a common problem and includes bikes, parking barricades, general trash, and occasionally large items such as car tires and mopeds. To combat this problem, twice per year the undergraduate MSU Fisheries and Wildlife club holds a "Red Cedar Clean-Up" event that brings students, faculty, alumni, and community members together to remove and recycle items found in the river and its banks. The Red Cedar River is a familiar campus landmark at Michigan State University. The name of the river is featured in the first line of MSU's fight song, and MSU students can be found studying in the parkland along its banks. A number of student activities centered around the Red Cedar over the course of MSU's history, including freshman vs. sophomore "tug-o-war" spanning the river and a Water Carnival featuring student made floats drifting in procession. People on campus frequently feed the large community of mallard ducks that congregate near the river. Alongside the river on MSU's campus is the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden, the oldest continuous botanical garden in the United States. The garden was started in 1873. The river is popular in the summer for canoeing and kayaking. (The campus canoe dock is self-mockingly named Red Cedar Yacht Club.) During floods, the river forms a standing wave at the campus dam that can be surfed. In the winter, the river often freezes over and students walk or play on the ice despite the inherent danger. During its inaugural season in 1922, the MSU hockey team played games on the frozen river. Fishing was banned on the campus in the 1960s; the ban was rescinded for a section of the river in 2013. Wildlife in the river includes 33 species of fish and various other aquatic animals, and study of the river and its ecosystem is incorporated into relevant areas of the university's curricula. From December 1979 to 1981, Dr. Patrick M. Muzzall from MSU's zoology department collected the following species: white sucker, northern hog sucker, spotted sucker, golden redhorse, silver redhorse, rock bass, green sunfish, pumpkin seed, warmouth, bluegill, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, black crappie, stoneroller, carp, hornyhead chub, common shiner, rosyface shiner, sand shiner, bluntnose minnow, blacknose dace, creek chub, grass pickerel, brook stickleback, black bullhead, yellow bullhead, brown bullhead, rainbow darter, johnny darter, yellow perch, blackside darter, and central mudminnow.