Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 35

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. 

Kaw River Guides and their hard work.

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.

Tires on the boat ramp parking lot after we take them out of the Kansas River.

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! 

Volunteers from Garney Construction….thank you!

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! 

Kayaking in the Flint Hills. Photo credit Lisa Grossman

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.

Our friend Caleb with the Evergy Green Team.

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!

Joey teaching volunteers about our water quality education program.

Our annual Kaw River Guide Workshop is coming up on May 3rd.  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. 

River Cleanups!

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

A Beginner Wednesday event last year!

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

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!

Our team in downtown Milwaukee at the Waterkeeper Alliance Conference in 2024. (L-R Jane, Kim, Joey and Dawn)

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

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. 

Kansas Governor’s Water Conference in fall 2024. (L-R Dawn Buehler, Gov. Laura Kelly, Senator Carolyn McGinn, KWO Director Connie Owen).

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.

The former Dock Building was dumped on the banks of the Kansas River. Photo above is after the clean up..

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.

Dawn, Jane, Kaw River Guides and volunteers at the ONE KC Cleanup in 2024.

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!

Beginner Wednesday….doesn’t this look fun?

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!

Kaw River Guides….having fun while digging out tires! Join us!

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! 

Joey with students doing water quality testing in 2024.

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! 

We look forward to serving the Kansas River in 2025!

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

BELIEVE IN OUR COMMITMENT

Your Kansas Riverkeeper, Dawn Buehler, collecting samples from the Kansas River.

BELIEVE IN OUR COMMITMENT

Dear Friends of the Kaw,

As the year draws to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support and commitment to Friends of the Kaw.

We have achieved remarkable milestones in our mission to protect, preserve, and advocate for the Kansas River…none of this would be possible without your support.

Your contributions enabled us to: 

  • Remove tires, battery cases, trash, etc.
  • Advocate for the rehabilitation of the Kansas River’s environs, including its water quality, water quantity, and wildlife habitat.
  • Promote compatible public recreational uses of the Kansas River and encourage the development of public access.
  • Educate the public and youth about the importance, benefits, and beauty of the Kansas River.
  • Cooperate with other persons, organizations, and public agencies in support of a healthy Kansas River ecosystem.
  • Monitor, respond and mediate suspected pollution incidents.

Great things are in store for 2025, and I ask for your support in building a lasting future for the Kansas River.

For the river,
Dawn Buehler
Kansas Riverkeeper® & Executive Director

PS: Giving online is simple. Make your gift today kansasriver.org/donation

Click here for our 2024 WISH LIST!

Your generosity makes our mission possible!

Chasing the Channel- Blog No. 33

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”!

October Sunrise on the Kansas River.

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

Staff from WaterOne on the Kansas River.

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!

Joey Shondell, Youth Outreach & Programming Coordinator, at the DeSoto Pop Up Paddle this summer.

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.

Full harvest moon on the Kansas River in October.

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! 

Our last work day for the Topeka Riverbank Restoration Project at Kaw River State Park.

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. 

Dawn Buehler, Kansas Riverkeeper, with the Kaw River Guides for the One KC Cleanup in Kansas City.

 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.

Jane Liebert, Director of Major Gifts & Planning Giving; Volunteer with Evergy; and Kim Bellemere, Director of Programming & Outreach at the One KC Cleanup in Kansas City. Thank you to Evergy for sponsoring this event!
Thank you to our friends at Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks for partnering on this great event! To see the complete list of sponsors, go to: https://kansasriver.org/one-kc-cleanup/

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. 

Bill Hughes, Kaw River Guide, at the tire cleanup in October.
Kaw River Guides with their tire pile in October.
Jane and Dawn at the tire cleanup in October.

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. 

Our FOK Team at the Waterkeeper Alliance Conference in Milwaukee.

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!

Kaw River Guide weekend in October.

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. 

Otter tracks on a Kansas River sandbar.

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!

A big thank you from our FOK Team!

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