Winter season is here….hopefully spring comes early!

Like all of you, I am spending some time getting ready for the incoming arctic blast that will sweep across not only Kansas, but the nation.  It is going to get real cold folks….so you definitely will not find me out on the river this week.  However, we do check the river throughout the winter as much as we can.  I have a few rules for winter paddling, such as sunshine, rising temperatures and little to no wind.  Winter paddling can be so beautiful, but you must have the right gear and ALWAYS have a second set of your entire outfit in the dry hatch along with a fire kit. 

This fall has been very busy with advocacy work.  I know that most people in Kansas see Friends of the Kaw as a paddling group, but we do so much more than that.  I often remind people that the paddle program consumes about 20% of my time and advocacy consumes 80%.  Advocacy takes many forms and does not just include work at the State Capitol to try to advance water issues.  Much of the work that we do involves working with cities and counties on projects that can impact the Kansas River, education about the river, conservation practices that protect water quality and holding our communities accountable for the health of the river.

I have spent most of the last few months working on advancing water policy with the Kansas Water Authority (KWA).  This role has been one of my most important roles.  I am lucky to be surround by a wonderful group of passionate water advocates on the KWA.  To learn more about recent work at our December meeting to sustain the Ogallala Aquifer, you can read these articles in the Kansas Reflector and High Plains Public Radio. 

I also was honored to be on the stage with Governor Laura Kelly during the Governor’s Water Conference in Manhattan, Kansas. Governor Kelly has stated that she will make water a priority in her second term. We look forward to her leadership and stand ready to help however we can. Watch her interview with KCUR.

If you follow our social media, you already know that we have been busy staying up to speed on the Keystone Pipeline Oil Spill.  This pipeline break spilled into Mill Creek near Washington, Kansas.  As your Kansas Riverkeeper, it is my duty to be a non-government public advocate for the Kansas River and its watershed.  My duty includes investigating issues in the watershed and this is a big one.  I drove to the site about 5 days after the spill and took some water quality measurements and put eyes on the creek bvoth up and downstream of the oil spill.  I have full faith in the EPA Region 7 and the Kansas Department of Health & Environment to clean up the spill.  I am less enthusiastic about holding TC Energy accountable for the full cleanup costs.  We will continue to keep you informed via our social media and we will stay engaged to make sure the cleanup is complete and that it does not fall to Kansans.  You can read up on our visit to the site on our Facebook page here.

We did a river check on Sunday, December 4^th from Seward to Lecompton.  We were checking a recent outflow update by one of our river partners, as well as looking at the sandbar that we cleaned up this fall.  We found a lot more tires, trash, and debris so look for another cleanup in this area soon. If you don’t know, jet skis don’t do well on the Kansas River as the sand gets into the water intake. We find a lot of abandoned jet skis. By the way, that is polluting also! Once the arctic blast lifts, we will do another river check if the weather conditions are right.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in 2022.  It is because of you, that we can do our work to protect and preserve the Kansas River.  Great things are in store for 2023 with more river cleanups, more advocacy with local/state leaders, more education, more restoration, and more paddles. I ask for your help to build a lasting future for the Kansas River.  If you can, please consider a donation so that our work continues. You can also mail a donation to PO Box 1612, Lawrence, KS 66044.

As I close out my 2022 blog, I feel very optimistic about the future.  Yes, we have many challenges from climate change to education, but we have a dedicated team that is passionate about advancing our work.  While I work to advocate, monitor pollution and cleanup our river; Kim will be leading our programming efforts, Denise will be educating the next generation, Macy will be maintaining the FOK ship, and Jane will help us secure the tools to get it done.  I feel very grateful as the year comes to an end.  What a beautiful resource that we protect….and what a beautiful community of volunteers, staff, Board Members, educational team members and Kaw River Guides we have on our team to get it done.

With Gratitude.

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper® & Executive Director

Please donate today, for the health of the Kansas River.

Where did summer go?  Beautiful fall on the Kaw is here. 

Do you ever just look back in a blur over the last few months and wonder where it went?  That’s about how I feel as I finally sit down to write a blog post.  Since I last wrote, we finished our educational paddle trip season and moved into fall cleanup season and the Kids About Water Education Program seasons.  Many of the programs that we do are very cyclical – coming at certain times of the year and then we move on to the next.  The one thing that remains constant, unfortunately, is pollution.  Pollution never takes a break.

I had a very busy August with many meetings with the Kansas Water Authority.  We hosted a Water Policy Conversation with stakeholders across the state to discuss how we can move forward together to solve some of our most important water policy problems.  This was a very important meeting and I think it set the reset button for many of us to reflect on what’s important, find where we have common ground, and how we are going to move forward.  I am a glass that is always full, kind of person, so for me this was a great step. 

As for Friends of the Kaw, we’ve had more events that I can count here in this blog post.  We owe a huge thank you to Kim, Denise, Jane and Macy for their hard work on behalf of FOK.  This team makes it possible. Thank you to everyone one of you that joined us for a Beginner Wednesday this year!

We held our bi-annual Manhattan Battery Case Cleanup event in Manhattan last weekend. When will the battery cases end? We’ve done this cleanup twice a year for 5 years now and they are still there. We know we are making progress. We move about 3 ton every time we do it. Last weekend we had our partners along with about 40 students! It was a great day for the Kaw. One of these days, we will get them all, we promise.

You likely saw all of our emails about our first ever Day of Giving!  Thanks to all of you that donated and participated.  We are truly grateful for the donations from our friends and members, and to the FOK Board and anonymous donors for challenging us to raise the dollars.  It is a wonderful thing as a non-profit to have such unanimous support of the Board of Directors.  If you see them around town, do me a favor and thank them for serving and giving so much to the river!

So what’s next?  We’ve got Beers of the Kaw (most fun of the year!), our big tire cleanup tomorrow (like, 500 tires or more), a Kansas Water Authority meeting next week, and lots of gear cleanup and storage towards the end of the month.

Our annual Kaw River Guide Weekend is coming up and I always look forward to this event.  A weekend with our volunteers, just exploring the river and enjoying each other around the campfire is the perfect way to end the river season.  While the public side of things winds down, we will still be out on the river doing river checks and looking for pollution.  I’ll try to write a blog post over the winter about pollution – don’t even get me started on the fact that it still happens!

We did have many celebrations for the 50^th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act and I was honored to stand next to Governor Kelly as she signed a proclamation.  It was a great month to celebrate how far we’ve come in 50 years! 

Lastly, I thought I’d let you all know that I became a first-time grandma in August.  My little grandson is healthy and perfect!  I can’t wait to get him in a kayak and on the river, but it will be a few years.  In the meantime, I plan to get him out on a few walks, playing in the dirt, sitting in the kayak on the pond, and dipping his toes into a mud puddle!  His Mom and Dad are gonna love how dirty he gets at Grandma’s! 

I wish you all a wonderful fall season.  The best camping season on the Kaw is October – get out there and enjoy!  Contact me if I can help you plan your adventure, we are happy to help. 

I hope to see you all on the river!

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 25

Water Funding Updates and Summer

Hello river friends ~

Last weekend we spent time on the Kansas River from Junction City to Manhattan for the first time in a month after many rainy days.  Many of you have heard me speak about this part of our river and how beautiful it is.  Think of rolling Flint Hills and a narrower river before the influence of the Big Blue River downstream at Manhattan.  There is a very diverse tree canopy, wildlife everywhere and a peacefulness on the water.  We camped on Friday night after launching at Junction City and while it was a hot afternoon, the evening was quite enjoyable.  I slept really well in my little tent, better that I usually do for the first night out camping. 

The next morning, we departed really early because we had to meet the public group at the Ogden Ramp.  We shoved off about 6:45 AM just after the sun came up.  There is nothing quite like watching the sun come up on the Kaw.  The wildlife along the shores and in the water.  We saw a beaver jump out of its den and another beaver swimming along beside.  This is truly a special place.

Later we arrived at the boat ramp in Ogden and met up with the public and started our Bugs, Biodiversity and the Kaw event with Dr. Greg Zolnerowich, a K-State Professor of Entomology.  We had a really great educational day on a gorgeous stretch of the river!  Next time, you need to join us!

This week is back to advocacy and working on water issues across the state.  The Kansas Water Authority meets tomorrow in Pittsburg and as the Chair, there is much to prepare for the meeting.  If you want to listen in on the meeting, there is a ZOOM option here on the Kansas Water Office website: 

https://kwo.ks.gov/admin-pages/events-landing-page/2022/06/22/default-calendar/kansas-water-authority-meeting

Speaking of water, funding and the Kansas Legislature; I wanted to give our members an update on the final tally for water this year.  In my many years of advocating for water funding, this is the first year that we have made so much progress.  Many thanks to all of the folks that have advocated for the last 15 years for funding, but also to Governor Kelly and the Kansas Legislature for finding a way to start to make water a priority. 

Here are a few updates:

• The Governor recommended and the Kansas Legislature approved the FY 2023 SWPF appropriations including expenditures reflecting full statutory State General Fund (SGF) and Economic Initiatives Development Fund (EDIF) demand transfers of $6 million and $2 million, respectively, to the State Water Plan Fund. The full $8 million statutory demand transfer is the first time since FY 2008 in which this full amount was approved.

• $80.0 million of State General Fund (SGF) was appropriated for the purpose of paying off capital expenses for water supply storage within Hillsdale Lake, Clinton Lake, and Big Hill Lake during FY 2022. The bill also included language regarding the dedication of revenue streams which would have been previously utilized for capital expenses on those three reservoirs to be utilized on retirement of storage debt in the future.

• The John Redmond Reservoir bond debt will be paid off before the end of FY 2022, which will in turn put $1,000,000 per year back into the State Water Plan Fund.

We have a great deal to be thankful for this year pertaining to water.  Many heartfelt thanks to everyone that advocated for funding and kept the conversation going all these years.  We all worked hard to get here, but ultimately Governor Kelly and the Kansas Legislature made it happen.

As I close out this blog post, I ask that you please write to your Kansas Senator and/or Representative and give them a big thank you!  For now, let’s celebrate!  Then tomorrow, onward to the next….as there is more to be done in water circles.   

I hope to see you all on the river!

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 24

Cleaning Up the Kansas River by 2030

When I was a kid, we use to fish just upstream of De Soto on the back side of a little bend.  My Dad would take our trusty old jon boat with an old outboard mercury and shove it off the bank of our farm.  My sister and I in tow, we would head out for a day of fishing.  These are some of my very best memories of my Dad, who died in 2015.  My Dad was my connector between our farm and the Kansas River.  He taught me how to fish, bait a hook, drive a boat, canoe, drive an airboat, shoot a shotgun, ride dirt bikes and 3 wheelers, drive every tractor under the sun and even drive a semi.  He was convinced that his daughters could do anything the boys could do, and we did.  I often refer to him as one of the early advocates for women’s rights starting in the 1970’s. 

While I was fortunate to enjoy the river from our farm, many Kansans did not have access.  Thanks to 30 years of Friends of the Kaw and the advocacy, we now have 19 access ramps that Kansans can enjoy on their public river.  When the Kansas River was designated as a National Water Trail (only the 2^nd in the nation at the time) in 2012, that elevated the river in ways that I don’t think we all fully realized at the time.  Our river is now a trail not unlike many walking trails like the Katy Trail in Missouri, where you have plenty of places to hop on and off the river as well as many communities along the way to stop and resupply or get a cold beverage. 

Our Kansas River Water Trail is now becoming an important part of the state – both as a source of recreation and as a working river to provide drinking water to over 800,000 Kansans, to provide irrigation, industrial uses and generate electricity.  I think for so many decades, our river was a “forgotten river”, as my predecessor Laura Calwell referred to the Kansas River in our 30-year documentary.  I think she nailed it.  It was forgotten, until Friends of the Kaw elevated the river’s voice.

I do love that our river is becoming more accessible and used by our river friends.  However, it still bothers me the amount of old dump sites that remain on the river. We removed over 1,000 tires last year, but there is still so much work to do.  We have to remember that at one time, we did not have the modern trash services that we do today.  Many rural people had no where to take their trash and often had a trash dump on their property or barrels where they burned their trash.  There also was a time when there was no way to properly dispose of large items like appliances and vehicles. So many times, they were used a bank stabilization along our rivers and streams.  We also know that discarded tires were used a bank stabilization as well. 

Today, we are cleaning up these old dump sites as much as we can.  Obviously, if an old car is holding a bank, we would not want to remove it because a) it might destabilize the bank and b) it is likely on private property.  However, there are many places along the river that we can do a big cleanup.  We have created a map (yes, a map!) of the tire cleanup sites that we have identified along the entire 173-mile-long river.  We have plans to get all of these tires removed by 2030, but let me tell you that this is an expensive endeavor.  It takes people and resources to make it happen. It takes months of partnership and volunteer building by our staff. These events “don’t just happen”. They take a great deal of coordination, partnerships, and money.

 If I can do one very important thing during my time as your Kansas Riverkeeper, I want it to be to clean up the old dump sites.  It is our duty to leave this river better than we found it.  I will not leave this mess to my children and grandchildren.  I hope you will join me in this endeavor, but we need your help.  We have set a goal to raise $10,000 each year for our cleanup efforts.  As a non-governmental public advocate, we rely on your donations to get this important work done.  Can you help us reach that goal?  Make a donation today to continue our cleanup efforts on the Kansas River!  You can donate online:  https://kansasriver.org/donation/?did=1 or send a check to PO Box 1612, Lawrence, KS 66044. 

Let’s do this together.  We can make our river a better place, with your help.  One tire at a time. 

For the river,
Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper