The Alliance of Rouge Communities is an organization of governmental and non-governmental entities created in 2006 to manage the watershed.

It then flows mostly south through western Detroit and Dearborn Heights, then turns southeast in Dearborn and continues along the northern edges of Allen Park, Melvindale, River Rouge and the southern edge of Detroit.

Major tributaries of the main branch include: The headwaters of the upper branch rise in southwestern West Bloomfield Township, the southeast corner of Commerce Township, and the northeast corner of Novi.

It forms in Farmington Hills with the confluence of Minnow Pond Drain and Seeley Drain, where it flows mostly southeast through Farmington, Livonia, Redford Township and enters the main branch in the northwest Detroit neighborhood of Brightmoor, Detroit.

Tributaries include (from downriver to upriver): The U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement defines an Area of Concern (AOC) as “geographic areas designated by the Parties where significant impairment of beneficial uses has occurred as a result of human activities at a local level.” The EPA and other environmental agencies are working to restore the 27 remaining U.S. AOCs in the Great Lakes Basin Region, including River Rouge.

[9] There are 43 AOCs in the Great Lakes Basin total, with the rest in Canada or shared by the two countries.

Over 50% of the land surrounding the River Rouge is used for residential, industrial, and commercial purposes and development pressure continues to increase.

[10] These activities contaminated river sediments and water with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals (e.g., mercury), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), oil and grease.

Henry Ford built an estate, Fair Lane, on the river in Dearborn, upriver from the manufacturing plant, on what is now the campus of the University of Michigan–Dearborn.

A portion of the estate's grounds are a preserved historic landscape and more of it is held as a nature study area since 1956.

[12] The Henry Ford, billed as "America's Greatest History Attraction", is a major tourist destination in the area.

In contrast, the more well-known Belle Isle State Park of Detroit covers 982 acres (397 ha).