Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 37

Closing out year 34 of our work for the Kansas River!

I am deep in winter planning and administration mode at the moment…but my mind and heart still drift back to a great season of adventure and stewardship of our beloved Kansas River. When we are in the middle of the chaos of a busy season (our spring/summer/fall season), it is sometimes challenging to slow down to appreciate it. I admit often that we sometimes pack too much into a season, but there are so many great opportunities to explore the river and provide outreach opportunities that none of us want to miss it! Case in point, the photo above of a beautiful sunrise from the door of my tent. Our Kansas River is special, but it is still a secret that only a small portion of Kansans fully realize.

We spent the late summer season working on some key projects that included a video about our work with a film crew from our friends at The Nature Conservancy in Kansas.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to share our story and the story of the impact of federal funding opportunities to help with our work.  You can catch the video here: https://youtu.be/r9gmNRD8ewA?si=5GSA9cAyM_bp5C9b. 

In July of this year there was a flood event in the Cedar Creek watershed that caused extensive damage to the Cedar Creek Boat Ramp, which resulted in unsafe conditions for the public.  The Cedar Creek Boat Ramp is now closed.  Please review our Kansas River Access Map: https://kansasriver.org/river-access-map/ to find other access locations along the Kansas River.  We know that everyone loves the short 5-mile stretch between DeSoto and Cedar Creek (including us!), however we do suggest Edwardsville Boat Ramp to Mill Creek Access for a short 2.5-mile trip for paddle sports that is near the KC metro area.  The Mill Creek Access would not be recommended for motorized boats as it is simply a paddle sport access point.

We completed our 2^nd Annual One KC Cleanup in Kansas City, Kansas.  This has been one our most impactful cleanups to date, serving the lower end of the Kansas River and the people and wildlife that call this home. We had over 200 volunteers and removed over 1.5 tons of trash from the banks of the river.  We are growing this annual cleanup event and we want YOU to be a part of it.  Join us as a volunteer by emailing Kim at kim.bellemere@kansasriver.org or become a sponsor – we need the help – and email Jane at jane.liebert@kansasriver.org.  We hope you can join us.

Joey completed another season of our Water Quality Education Program.  At the end of the season, Joey had implemented the program in 115 classes to over 2,600 students.  We are proud of this program and the great work that we do to help students understand water quality and how it impacts our rivers. If you want to join us as a volunteer in 2026 with this program, please contact Joey at joey.shondell@kansasriver.org.

In the fall season, the Kansas Water Office and the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the first phase of a research project called Water Injection Dredging. This research project basically involves sending sediment from Tuttle Creek Reservoir down the rivers, while studying the impacts to both the reservoir and the Big Blue River and the Kansas River. 

Sedimentation in reservoirs is an expected process, but the sediment deposition has reduced the surface area of the reservoir and Tuttle Creek is estimated to be filled in with sediment by 75% by the year 2074.  The dam also traps sediment that would otherwise be transported downstream, disrupting natural sediment delivery essential for channel stability and ecological function of the river. This research project was designed to answer many scientific questions and analyze the impacts of this type of project to see if it can be beneficial to both the future water supply for those living downstream, as well as, the ecological function of the downstream rivers. 

I spent 10 days monitoring the turbidity along the Kansas River and found that those results were lower that “normal” high rain events that impact the Kansas River and in line with the data captured by the USGS gaging stations. I spent that time in my kayak or our jon boat testing the water and checking sandbars for sediment deposition. There are many more tests and results that need to be analyzed by the research team so follow along as they complete this work in 2026. 

To learn more about this research project, you can follow along, as well as read up on the technology and studies here: https://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/…/Water-Injection-Dredging/. Additionally, you can read Friends of the Kaw’s policy statement on this study here: https://kansasriver.org/…/FOK-Policy-Statement_-Water…

For our annual big fall cleanup event, we went back to the site between Eudora and DeSoto and removed an additional 251 tires from the Kansas River.  Earlier in 2025, we moved 258, putting the total at 509 for the year at this single location.  This work doesn’t just happen with our four staff members, so we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to our Kaw River Guides and partners that make that project possible.

We ended our Kaw Currents Educational Series in October with a program called “Our Watershed Home” that included presentations from Jim Locklear, author of “In the Company of the Kaw” and Matt Unruh, the Assistant Director of the Kansas Water Office.  It was a fascinating evening with so much great educational information that we all left with a little more knowledge about our watershed home.  Big thank you to Jim and Matt for sharing what they know with all of us! 

My work continues with the Kansas Water Authority and I have been busy with meetings, making policy recommendations, reviewing budgets and working with the legislators to keep water a priority for Kansas.  If you want to help, please contact your legislator ahead of the 2026 session and let them know your thoughts on water policy and funding.  Trust me when I say that they want to hear from you! 

A few last highlights include Beers of the Kaw’s 10 Year Anniversary celebration – thank you to everyone that joined us to toast to the Kansas River.  This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and because of you, it helps to fund 2026. 

This year has been special in many ways, but I can honestly say that getting to interact with all of you is the best part.  We love hearing your stories about the Kansas River – how you grew up on the river, the adventures you have taken, or how you simply admire it from a trail or park bench. We know every single day that we work for the Kansas River that we are doing it for the 950,000 Kansans that rely on it for drinking water and for every single person that enjoys the river that belongs to Kansans. 

May you enjoy the winter season of renewal, may 2026 bring you new adventures on the Kansas River, and may you always have sand in your shoes….

For the river,
Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 36

Long summer days make for plenty of opportunities to enjoy the Kansas River!

I love spring in Kansas, but more directly, I love the month of June.  The longer days, native flowers are blooming, the Kansas River flows are usually pretty good for our work, and the most amazing sunrise and sunsets anywhere in the world.  If I could bottle up one month and hold it all year, for me it would be June. 

Like all spring seasons, we are very busy.  This is the time to get everyone outside to engage with the river and to educate young people about water quality.  We held educational paddle trips with college level groups to use the Kansas River as a living classroom.  Joey also enjoyed a busy yet fun spring season with our water quality education program in the schools.  One of the most impactful programs that we do is teaching young people about how macro-invertebrates are indicators of water quality.  You don’t need fancy water testing equipment, you just need a good understanding of macro-invertebrates and which ones are indicators of good water quality – and what the absence of those macros means for water quality.

Did you see the podcast about our work, UP FROM DUST, from KCUR?  We were so thrilled to be invited to participate in the Podcast!  Celia Llopis-Jepsen joined us on the Kansas River last March when we were removing tires near De Soto.  I also did an in-studio interview earlier this year.  Celia then interviewed all our Kaw River Guides that were on the sandbar for the cleanup.  The result was so good – because it tells our story and the story of the Kansas River.  Please go and listen to the Up From Dust Podcast from KCUR, then reach out and let us know what you think.  If you feel inclined, please consider a donation towards this important work.  It is expensive work!  Pleases consider a donation here: https://kansasriver.org/donation/?did=1

Spring and fall are by far the best seasons for river cleanups.  Spring is a good time for the land-based cleanups and fall is best for in-river cleanups.  This spring we held cleanups in Lawrence, Manhattan, and Topeka.  Thank you to all of you for helping us keep the river clean, because all trash is one windy day away from a river or stream.  Mark your calendar to join us for the 2^nd Annual One KC Cleanup in Kansas City, Kansas coming on Saturday, September 13, 2025.  Links to sign up are coming soon, so stay tuned to our newsletter and social media.

Our Kaw River Guides are back in full force this year – cleaning up the river, assisting with river checks, and helping the public learn how to paddle on the Kansas River. Our season is packed and we could not do this important work without them!  If you are interested in joining the group, we’d be glad to have you.  Reach out to me at riverkeeper@kansasriver.org.

We have held a host of events so far this year – including Beginner Wednesday’s; Beginner Camping; Themed Paddles such as Birds and Rivers, Bones on the Kaw, and Geology of the Kaw; and Kaw Currents, our educational series to learn more from our partners about a variety of topics relating to the Kansas River.  Thank you to everyone of you that joined us for one of these events. We have had so much fun getting to know you and sharing our love for the river! 

Switching gears, the Kansas Water Authority met twice since I last wrote this blog post. We met in April in Deerfield, KS and in June in Hutchinson, KS.  We have been working to restructure our committees to align with the State Water Plan. Each committee will be responsible for making budget recommendations and policy recommendations as we work to inform the Governor, the Legislature, and the Director of the Kansas Water Office on these issues.  Budgets are due from the agencies in September and our policy recommendations are included in the Annual Report to the Legislature that we approve in December each year.  In other news, the Water Planning Task Force is underway as detailed in House Bill 2172. The appointments have been made along with legislative leadership.  Their goal as outlined is for the task force to evaluate major risks to the quality and quantity of the state’s water supply, identify steps that the state must take to define and achieve a future supply of water for Kansans, and evaluate current funding.  The meeting dates have been announced with the first two on July 21 and 28 via online platform and then a two-day meeting in Dodge City on August 11 and 12. These meetings are open to public and you can find the information on the legislative YouTube channel.  We will also post any information announced to our social media.  Finally, on a sad note, one of our dear friends and members of the Kansas Water Authority passed away suddenly.  Our dear friend John was a champion for the public, for the long-term future water supply, and for the need to regionalize and combined water systems for the benefit of the public.  We will continue to carry John’s message and we will miss his voice and friendship. 

For my last update, but certainly not the least, I wanted to take a moment to publicly say THANK YOU to the Evergy Green Team for the donation of a “new to us” truck!  We are so very grateful for the partnership with the Green Team for over a decade to remove tires and heavy trash from the Kansas River.  We use our truck for river cleanups, educational events, and to haul our trailers full of kayaks and our jon boat.  We keep the truck busy…thank you Evergy Green Team for this incredible gift! 

In closing, the season is not over.  We have many more events coming up this fall and we hope to see you out there.  Also mark your calendar for Beers of the Kaw on Sunday, November 2, 2025 at Abe & Jake’s Landing in Lawrence.  Tickets will go on sale in September! 

In the meantime, I hope that you have sand in your shoes.

For the river,
Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper & Executive Director

Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 35

Tires, River Checks, and the Start of our Season!

If you were to take a survey of our Kaw River Guides, you would find that many have a favorite section of the Kansas River. Maybe they grew up there, maybe it was the first time they were on the river, but regardless they would tell you that they know it like the back of their hand. That’s how I feel about the stretch of the Kansas River from Eudora to DeSoto. I have spent countless hours on the river there during my childhood and into my adult years…fishing, canoeing, and camping. We had a jon boat that we motored up to our favorite fishing hole to catch big catfish when I was young.  We had a sandbar just off the farm where we would camp for the night. We had a huge family and friend canoe float back in the late 70’s and early 80’s that included my husband and his family and many of our friends. This was our stretch of river and I’ve known it my entire life. I know every curve, every sandbar, every tributary.  When I started this job over 10 years ago, I was ready to clean up the river.  I knew the old dump sites, tires, and scattered debris. I was ready to do my part to leave it a better place for my family. My family has been deeply rooted in the Kaw River Valley in DeSoto for over 150 years and I am proud to call it home. 

We have removed over 4,000 tires from the Kansas River in the last five years. The tires are often what we call “failed bank stabilization projects,” meaning that the tires were placed to protect the farms along the river as bank stabilization. What we now know is that tires do not hold the bank – only native trees and deep-rooted grasses do that work.  So here we are decades later and all these tires are pushed out of the banks and into sandbars every time we get a big flood. Think about 1993 and 2019 as examples of tires shifting and moving with the force of the river. So that’s how we got here.  Now how to fix it.

About six years ago, I made a bold goal that Friends of the Kaw would remove all the old trash and dump sites from our river. I knew it was a heavy lift – literally – but I also knew that our Kaw River Guides and partners were up to the challenge. We are well on our way, but the site of tires in my home stretch has been a challenge. We have so far removed 467 tires from this one site between Eudora and DeSoto. We have about another 250 to be removed and we estimate another couple hundred that we have not even pulled out of the river yet.  It is hard to imagine that one site could have close to 1,000 tires! 

Cleaning up rivers is physically hard, logistically challenging, and expensive. Thank you to everyone that has sponsored the events or donated – every dollar makes a difference, just like every tire makes a difference. A heartflet thank you to every volunteer Kaw River Guide that has pulled tires out. Thank you for making our work happen! 

Spring is here….and that means cleanups, water quality education, restoration work, and educational paddle trips!  We love spring here at FOK….don’t get me wrong, we are all exhausted beyond exhausted at the end of October each year, but around February we begin to recover and we are ready to go again! Often, we get asked if winter is our slow season, and the answer is NO – there is never a slow season but the seasons are vastly different. We just spent the winter planning for the season, writing grants, fundraising so that our work can continue, getting our first aid and wilderness training up to date, repairing gear, did I say write grants?  The work of a non-profit is never done, but we do find great purpose in our work and our mission.  We sleep good at night knowing we are doing good work.

Joey hosted our first water quality education workshop in March and we are thrilled to have some new volunteers ready to go. This education program is one of our sources of pride, knowing that we are educating the next generation about water quality. Joey kicked off the season at Eudora and has many classes lined up this spring. We are excited to hear from the students!

Our annual Kaw River Guide Workshop is coming up on May 3^rd.  If you have ever thought about joining us as a Kaw River Guide, just come to this workshop to learn more. This is not a commitment, but an opportunity for you to see if you wish to volunteer and give back in this way. We have a very welcoming and inclusive group and I hope you will consider joining us. You can learn more here, including the link to RSVP: https://kansasriver.org/get-involved/volunteer/kaw-river-guide/.  Please reach out to me at riverkeeper@kansasriver.org if you have questions. I’m happy to help! 

We are wrapping up the final work days for our Riverbank Restoration Project! The last work day is May 15 in Eudora.  It is hard to believe that this project is coming to an end.  I remember starting the first Riverbank Restoration Project in 2018 with Courtney of Native Lands.  We met at a networking event and hit it off instantly and started brainstorming about how we could work together.  We decided that native plants and rivers go together – protecting water quality – and from there our work began.  It has been a great ride!  Kim has done an amazing job of taking this project and others in ways that have greatly benefited the Kansas River. While we do not have a new project of this kind coming up anytime soon, we do hope to incorporate work like this into future projects. When we protect the watershed of the Kansas River, we protect the drinking water source for over 950,000 Kansans. 

If you’ve made it this far – thank you for hanging in there with me on my rambling blog posts. Our big cleanups are coming up and we hope you can join us.  Each of our big river cleanups has a river portion for our Kaw River Guides and a bank cleanup for the public. We welcome both families with young children and those that like to climb steep areas and get filthy.  There is always something for everyone to do to help.  Save the dates – April 19 we will be in Lawrence to celebrate Earth Day; May 10 in Manhattan; and June 14 in Topeka.  You can learn more here and RSVP:  https://kansasriver.org/cleanup-schedule/

Lastly, I must mention our Spring Day of Giving, scheduled for Earth Day on April 22, 2025.  We hope that you will consider a gift to Friends of the Kaw to support all this important work that we have scheduled this year.  As always, it is because of you that we can do this work.  If you want to donate early, you can do so here: https://kansasriver.org/donation/?did=1

Well…are we ready for river season?  Ready or not, let’s go!  Please join us for Beginner Wednesday or Beginner Camping (https://www.eventbrite.com/o/friends-of-the-kaw-17751155327), a river cleanup, or just drop by the boat ramp when we have an event and say hello! Honestly, that is one of our favorite things is when people stop us to say hello. We always have our FOK gear on, so you should be able to spot us.  Say hello, tell us a story about your connection to the Kansas River!

As we start the season, I truly hope that you have sand in your shoes.

For the river,
Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 34

2025, Legislature, and Forward Progress

Friends…welcome to 2025 at Friends of the Kaw.  The end of the year marked great progress in our work for the Kansas River, thanks to you!  We successfully helped people discover the Kansas River while providing educational and outdoor experiences.  It was a successful year and we are proud of our accomplishments that included 31 river and cleanup trips with 4,581 volunteer hours, 15 restoration events with 305 volunteer hours, 106 water quality education classes to 2,523 students, 17 media opportunities, 10 events to 10,313 people, and 30 presentations to 2,630 people….whew!  All of this with four full time staff, thirteen board members, 705 volunteers, and YOU!  Thank you for the gift of your time, membership, and donations that make all this work possible for the Kansas River. She deserves our efforts!

I spent my time as Chair of the Kansas Water Authority (KWA) in 2024 working towards an implementation framework for the Kansas Water Plan.  Together with the water related agencies, Kansas Water Authority, Regional Advisory Committees and YOU, we showed up for public meetings and shared our perspective about how water touches our everyday lives.  I am proud to share that the KWA’s final report was delivered to Governor Laura Kelly and the Kansas Legislature in January.  You can read the final report here.

The Kansas Water Authority also completed our statutory requirement to complete the Annual Report and it was also delivered to Governor Laura Kelly and the Kansas Legislature in January.  I also presented this report to three committees during our legislative visits.  You can read the Annual Report here.

In the KWA’s Annual Report, we made policy recommendations that include a request to increase funding to the State Water Plan.  If you support long term water funding, please reach out to your legislator, and share why it is important to you. 

I also was honored to attend the State of the State Address by Governor Laura Kelly.  We are grateful for her continued leadership on water issues, as outlined in her Address, which you can find here.

If you follow us on social media, you may have already seen that we did a river check in late December to check on the status of the illegal dump on the Kansas River with the contents of the former Docking Building.  We were very pleased to see and report that the debris had been removed.  We are thankful to the many agencies, neighbors, and FOK that advocated for the removal of this dump site. 

In late 2024, I was accepted to the newly formed Regional Advisory Board for the cleanup of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto, KS.  As many of you know, De Soto is my hometown where I was raised on the Kansas River.  The committee has met once and the meetings are open to the public.

Who is ready for spring?  I am not a snow fan, but I do love the moisture.  Some of my favorite parts of the winter season at FOK include planning for the coming year.  We have mapped out our entire 2025 calendar, which you can find here, so start planning how to make 2025 your RIVER YEAR!

Just yesterday, I loaded all our Beginner Wednesday Paddle events as well as one Beginner Camping event.  Signups are open, so get your reservation and reserve your spot here!

We have six big cleanups planned this year, with four offering public opportunities to participate.  Those details and signups are coming soon, but for now you can mark your calendar by getting the dates from our calendar: https://kansasriver.org/eventcalendar/. We hope you can join us – we have some big work to do together.

We are bringing back our educational event series this year so stay tuned for more information.  Topics this year include Climate Change and the Kansas River, Water Quality in the Kansas River and more!  These fun and informative educational events are a great way to socialize and learn more about the river that we all love!

If you have ever wanted to join our Kaw River Guide Program, our workshop will be coming up in early May.  We hope you will consider joining our inclusive group of river rats that love to get dirty, pull-out tires, help me with river checks, and help the public.  Even if you can only volunteer once or twice a year, it is worth it to spend a day on the water with these river stewards and become a part of the group! 

Kim and Joey have been busy with our water quality education program.  They are working on curriculum for our online program including creating a groundwater module with the Kansas Geological Survey.  We can’t wait to share this new program with all of you when it is finished.  In the meantime, they are also getting ready for the spring season in the schools.  Joey can’t wait to get back into the classroom and along the local stream to teach students about macro-invertebrates! 

Thank you to each one of you that supports our work for the Kansas River.  We could not accomplish so much with so few staff without your support and the 700 volunteers that commit to the Kansas River every day.

Join me to slide into spring…sunny days ahead and warmer temperatures make for beautiful river days. 

May you always have sand in your shoes…

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 33

Advocacy, Beer, and Volunteers

Someone asked me the other day, “what have you been up to”?  That is a big question with a million answers and I would sum up the summer and fall of my work for Friends of the Kaw with “it has been BUSY”!

A good portion of my time this year has been spent working on the Strategic Implementation Plan for the Kansas Water Plan per Governor Kelly’s request to the Kansas Water Authority (KWA) back in January. The initial recommendations should include a large-scale, long-term investment framework around the five guiding principles of the State Water Plan before the 2025 legislative session.  I am pleased to say that we are well on our way and hope to have the plan delivered to the Governor later this year.

This is an important time for water in Kansas and I hope you will join me in talking to your friends and family about the importance of these issues. You can sign up for a virtual on-demand webinar and take a survey to record your priorities, as well as learn more on the Kansas Water Office website: https://www.kwo.ks.gov/news-events/kwa-strategic-planning

We enjoyed a beautiful summer and fall season on the Kansas River for Beginner Wednesday’s and our student educational paddle trips.  The early summer saw a great deal of rain and unpredictable river flows; however, we are right back into drought conditions in the fall.  We enjoyed taking many of you out on our beautiful river to learn more about this important natural resource in our state. Thank you for trusting us as your “go to” for all things Kansas River!

We kicked off another season of our Kids About Water classes and Joey has been busy educating the next generation about water quality.  These classes are so important to fostering an understanding of the issues that face our rivers and streams, but these classes also showcase that a career in the water field is an option that we hope students will consider. We also finished one grant and started another – all building towards an online educational platform that will make our programs more equitable.  Big congratulations to both Kim and Joey for their work on these important projects to ensure that students will be able to learn about these issues for generations to come.

The Kansas River Water Trail had a busy summer and fall also.  We were thrilled for the ribbon cutting for the kayak and canoe storage locker back in June. We are also working to finish the information kiosks at the remaining access ramps on the river trail.  We also won a grant to finish the safety kiosks.  When we are done with these two grants, we will have safety kiosks at all 19 access ramps.  These safety kiosks will include QR codes for river flows and reservoir releases, education about how sandbars form, and the free use of life jackets. We are so thrilled about bringing this important safety feature to the Kansas River Water Trail! 

We completed our project at Kaw River State Park in Topeka this year.  We are so proud of the work that we accomplished with our partners, volunteers, and YOU.  The space has a lot less invasive plant species and more native plant species. All that work means better water quality, habitat, and bank control. 

 This summer and fall we have also launched several new cleanups to reach of our goal of four major cleanups each year that include both land and river based cleanup teams.  The cleanups each year going forward are as follows:  Manhattan Little Apple Cleanup, Together Topeka Cleanup, Lawrence Earth Day Cleanup, and the One KC Cleanup.  Our calendar will be out in early 2025 with the dates, so stay tuned.

The inaugural One KC Cleanup was a huge success this year.  We had a great turnout with many partners and pulled historical trash from the Kansas River including a double axle trailer, part of an old boat, tires, and trash. 

We also hosted our annual tire cleanup earlier this month and volunteers pulled 544 tires out of the sandbars, of which 213 were taken off the river.  We will go back this winter to get the remaining tires and many more we did not get pulled out yet.  We are well on the way to our goal of having the big trash removed from the Kansas River by 2030.  If you would like to volunteer, please send an email to info@kansasriver.org.  Our annual Kaw River Guide Workshop will be next May and that is a great opportunity to learn more about that program. 

At the end of September, our team went to the Waterkeeper Alliance Conference in Milwaukee. We enjoyed learning about emerging issues, education, and ways to work for our river.  We also really enjoyed just spending time together without being pulled in different directions – team building!

My last update for this long overdue blog post is that recently we hosted our end of season Kaw River Guide camping weekend.  This is their weekend with no work to do, no tires to dig out….nothing but friendship around the campfire.  This is our very small way of thanking them for all they do to make the Kansas River healthier for all of us.  Please join me in thanking our Kaw River Guides, who give so much, and expect nothing in turn. 

As you can see from this long blog post, we have accomplished so much – and the year is not done yet.  All this great work only happens thanks to your volunteer efforts, sponsorship, support, and donations. We are hosting our biggest fundraiser of the year, Beers of the Kaw, this weekend on Sunday, November 3, 2024 from 3 to 6 pm at Abe & Jake’s Landing.  Please get your ticket and join us to raise a glass to toast this great year of work for the river!  If you cannot join us, please consider purchasing a ticket to support our work all year long:  https://tinyurl.com/yc7wn9he.  We are truly grateful for your support…without you, this work would not be possible.  These are your accomplishments!

As the season comes to an end, it is time for our fleet and staff to rest a bit for the winter.  I will still monitor the Kansas River all winter with the Kaw River Guides, but a little slower pace is needed for everyone to enjoy more time with family, enjoy winter paddling, and read a good book.

I hope to see you at Beers of the Kaw!  If you have read this far and make it to Beers, come and say hi!

May you always have sand in your shoes.

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 32

The Flint Hills are spectacular from the Kaw!

Last weekend we did a river check (looking for pollution and trash) on the upper end of the Kaw from Junction City to Manhattan. The river winds its way through the Flint Hills in a magical way.  Around most of the river bends you get a perfect view of the green rolling hills and the beauty of Kansas that most never see.  There is something about being down in the river valley and looking up in awe of Kansas…. definitely not what out of staters think of Kansas! 

 As your Kansas Riverkeeper, it is my job to patrol the entire Kansas River each year to report any findings and push to protect the river. I often get asked how many miles I paddle in a year and it is always 173, but often is it around 700 miles in a season. I love the field work – looking for pollution, trash, taking water samples, checking outflows for the color of the discharge and the temperature, and whatever else I find. If I find anything that is harmful to the river, then I report it to the appropriate agencies. 

Since I last wrote for Chasing the Channel…we have been extremely busy.  There are many good things happening at Friends of the Kaw and I am so proud of the team that we have assembled.  Back in March, we hired Joey Shondell as our Youth Outreach and Programming Coordinator.  Joey is a KU graduate and spent the last few years working with native plants, youth outreach and volunteer work days.  He has strong connections to our rivers and is a native Kansan with a passion for connecting young people to their neighborhood rivers and streams.  Along with myself, Kim, and Jane…we have a strong team to protect, advocate for and help people discover the Kansas River.

I spent the winter and spring working with Kim and Jane to plan for the future, expand our work with disadvantaged communities, increase our education around climate change and continue to finish the Kansas River Water Trail.  I have also been working with our Board of Directors to write advocacy policies that state our stance on issues that impact the Kansas River.  If you are interested in reading our advocacy policies, you can find them on our website here:  https://kansasriver.org/protect/advocacy/.  We have a strong board with deep experience related to the Kansas River, water and the environment.  You can learn more about them here:  https://kansasriver.org/about-fok/board-of-directors/

In late April, I was invited to present two lectures at the new Kansas Water Institute at Kansas State University. It was an honor to be on campus and present one lecture on water policy and the second on the Kansas River. We have been blessed by so many opportunities already this year to share our message.

My work as the Chair of the Kansas Water Authority (KWA) has been extremely busy – for a good reason!  In January, Governor Kelly tasked the KWA to work with key stakeholders at the federal, state, and local levels, public and private, to develop a strategic plan, including funding, and to determine the state’s role in the next decades of water funding and management in Kansas. Governor Kelly asked the KWA to provide initial recommendations for a large-scale, long-term investment framework around the five guiding principles of the State Water Plan before the 2025 legislative session.  The recommendations should include policy changes, ways to improve state capacity and water management, measurable goals and timelines, and include input from various state and local stakeholders.

So, since January, I have been busy working with my fellow KWA members, the consultant, agencies, and the Governor’s office as part of this initiative.  It has been a very busy time, but also exciting to have a focus on water.  We have been advocating for this type of effort for a long time and I am proud to be working with Governor Kelly and the team on moving this forward. 

The cornerstone of this initiative is stakeholder outreach.  Every Kansan is a stakeholder!  We all use water and need it to survive. That is why I am asking that each of you take a moment to review what we have been working on and find a way to participate. 

So please join Friends of the Kaw and others across the State of Kansas for local consult meetings to share your thoughts and concerns for water in Kansas as part of the Kansas Water Authority Strategic Planning Process. You can learn more here: https://www.kwo.ks.gov/news-events/kwa-strategic-planning

Meetings will include facilitated discussion of goals and priorities for three of the Guiding Principles of the Kansas Water Plan related to aquifer, reservoirs, and water quality issues. RSVP here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WaterLC

You can join any meeting across the state.  If you cannot make these meetings, there will be another opportunity this fall for stakeholder participation.  We want to hear from YOU!  This is our opportunity to provide input to shape our water story for the future.  Remember that all of the issues for water in Kansas are issues for the entire state.  We must think about the state as a whole and how we can make sure that every Kansan has a secure water future.

Now on to Friends of the Kaw events…we have many Beginner Wednesday’s coming up: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/friends-of-the-kaw-17751155327.  We also have restoration work days:  https://kansasriver.org/get-involved/volunteer/riverbank-restoration-volunteer-opportunities/.  And even if you missed the Kaw River Guide Workshop, you can join at any time by contacting me.  Learn more:  https://kansasriver.org/get-involved/volunteer/kaw-river-guide/

We have also been working on a kayak storage locker idea for the Kansas River Water Trail since 2017! Our long desire to bring this to the river is coming to fruition. We partnered with Sain Works, Kansas Department of Commerce, City of Wamego and Wamego Chamber of Commerce to bring a pilot project of our kayak storage locker to the river town of Wamego! The fabrication is complete and the ribbon cutting will be Thursday, June 13, 2024 at 4:30 PM at the Wamego Access Ramp on the Kansas River. We hope you can join us to celebrate the hard work of our team, especially Sain Works for the design and fabrication, along with the help of our Kaw River Guides for installation.

Lastly, and certainly not least, we are gearing up for some major cleanups this season.  Join us for our Topeka Cleanup on June 15, Manhattan on August 27, and our new inaugural event in Kansas City….One KC Cleanup on September 7.  Follow our newsletter, social media, and website to stay up to date. Cleanup Schedule: https://kansasriver.org/cleanup-schedule/ .  If you wish to join our cleanup newsletter, please let me know and I will add you to it! We are looking for sponsors for these cleanups (they are expensive!), so if your company can participate, please reach out to Jane at jane.liebert@kansasriver.org.  We could use your help! 

I hope you can find one of these great events that work for your schedule and join us.  As always, if you are planning your own river trip and need any information or assistance (including River Angels), please reach out.  We are happy to help you discover the Kansas River.

May you always have sand in your shoes. See you on the river! 

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 31

Is 2024 Your Year to Discover the Kaw?

Let this be your year to find your outdoor adventure right here in Kansas, literally in your backyard.  We have this beautiful resource with golden braided sandbars for you to explore!  As always, let me now how I can help you discover the Kaw. 

Well…I did not get my end of year blog post done but I have a good reason.  My little 16-month-old grandson was running through the house!  I got him a toddler tower this year so that I could get him near the kitchen sink to start playing in water!  And yes, it was a big hit!  I look forward to many outdoor adventures to teach this next generation all about the beauty of our world beyond the kitchen window.

Each December, our team meets to discuss planning for the new year. In January, our Board of Directors does the same.  We set goals for the both the Board and the Staff and the fun part is seeing all that we have accomplished from the past year.  While I do enjoy the occasional look back, I am more of a “here in the moment” person.  What am I doing today to move the needle? 

On Monday, the Kansas Legislator will gavel in and the session will begin.  Expect a great deal of the water conversations to continue in both the Statehouse and with my work with the Kansas Water Authority.  I will be at Governor Kelly’s State of the State Address this week at the Statehouse to listen to her vision for the year.  I hope you will tune in to listen on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at 6:30 PM.  You can stream the State of the State Address here. 

We have drafted our river calendar for 2024 and will be announcing it soon.  We are bringing back Beginner Wednesday’s, Members Events and MANY big river cleanups.  We look forward to sharing more details!

This blog post is going to be short, because I will have much more to report after the Legislative session gets started.  For now, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that donated to Friends of the Kaw for our end of year giving.  This is one of the most important times of the year for us because it helps to set the foundation for the coming year.  Your gift allows us to focus on the important work of protecting the Kansas River.  Your gift also allows your Kansas Riverkeeper to remain a non-governmental public advocate.  If you would like to give, you can send a check to P.O. Box 1612, Lawrence, KS 66044 or you can donate online. If you would like to see our Wish List for 2024, you can see it on our website.  Thank you for making our work possible!

I wish each one of you a healthy and adventurous 2024!  Will this be your year to discover the Kaw?  Let me know how we can help.  We are your oldest resource for the Kansas River!

May you always have sand in your shoes in the coming year!

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper