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

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 30

Dumping, Advocacy and Some Good News!

Friends….how can it already be November?  The way that the days and months click on by leaves me wondering where summer went, and where is fall going so quickly? 

Our busy summer season ended with many public events including Beginner Wednesday’s, Beginner Camping, the signing of the water bills with Governor Kelly and a special trip on the river with Lt. Governor David Toland and his staff from the Kansas Department of Commerce.  We received great news that we have been awarded a grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce to pilot our kayak storage locker design with Sain Works Architecture at the Wamego Access Ramp!  We are thrilled to finally get this project off the ground and we hope to create some videos about the project to use to fundraise to get these installed at every Kansas River Access Ramp! 

Fall is officially cleanup season at Friends of the Kaw!  The weather is cooler and our partners and volunteers do not need a hot Kansas summer to remove tires from sandbars.  We had several big cleanups including tires and trash from the area downstream of Seward Access Ramp.  This area has been on our list for a few years and we were waiting for the right conditions (a drought year) to get it done.  We also had a very successful Manhattan Battery Case Cleanup.  Until we have a big flood push on this end of the river, we have removed everything in sight!  We have done this cleanup for 6 years.  I never thought there was enough for 13 cleanup events but here we are.  We know there are likely battery cases in the channel, so we will monitor it for future cleanups…but for now, the river is clean of battery cases!

We finished many restoration work days this fall and our team removed so much honeysuckle!  We have the spring season left at Topeka, so be sure to join us to finish out that project.  We have a lot of work ahead at both Lawrence and Eudora, so we hope to see you at those sites in 2024!

Our Kids About Water classes kicked off in late August and our Youth Education Coordinator has been busy educating the next generation.  There is nothing better than taking kids stream side to learn about water quality testing and seining for macro-invertebrates!  We also just won a grant to expand our program offerings to more students in the watershed.  Stay tuned to learn more about that!

We ended our public river season with our annual Kaw River Guide weekend.  We paddled from Belvue to Topeka on the most gorgeous fall weekend we have had in a long time!  We enjoyed each other’s company, a beautiful river, changing leaves and gorgeous weather.  What a great way to end the season! 

I will monitor the river all winter with our Kaw River Guides because pollution does not take the winter off.  Speaking of pollution and dumping, have you seen the news?  Read up here on the story that we participated in about dumping into the Kansas River:  https://www.ksnt.com/news/local-news/docking-building-rubble-dumped-into-kansas-river/.  We walked the site and it is heartbreaking to see how much construction debris is now on the sandbar.  It will take just one big rain event to wash all that concrete rubble down the river.  It is common sense to look at it and realize that those small rubbles of concrete are not going to hold the bank.  Why is this still allowed?  I do not think we have to remind all of you, but for anyone else reading, know this:  you cannot dump into the Kansas River and get away with it.  There are too many of us now…we monitor the river for pollution, so don’t even try.  As for this site, we will continue to push for it to be cleaned up. 

As we wind down into winter plans, let me take a moment and say THANK YOU to everyone that donated to our Day of Giving.  It is because of people like you that love our river, that we can continue this work.  I always say that we know how to stretch a dollar a long way – we are the masters of it – but we also have increased expenses as the cost of everything rises.  So, thank you, for supporting our work! 

This coming Sunday, November 5, 2023 is our biggest fundraiser of the year:  Beers of the Kaw!  We use beer from the Kansas River watershed to teach people about our work.  It also happens to be a great fundraiser; however, we need your help.  The only way this is a big fundraiser is to sell out of tickets.  So even if you don’t drink beer, or you can’t join us on Sunday, or you live in another state, please consider buying a ticket to support our work:  https://bit.ly/3PseNnb  You can also bid on items from our Silent Auction because you don’t need to be present ….check out the great items that we have this  year:  https://www.32auctions.com/BOK2023.  Please give special attention to our Fund-A-Need opportunities – these are the major projects that we need help with in 2024!  THANK YOU for your continued support….we are grateful! 

We will spend the winter season planning for the coming year.  We have so many new projects coming your way and we cannot wait to share more soon.  In the meantime, we wish you a peaceful winter season ahead and may you always have sand in your shoes, even in the winter.

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper