ALERT – Senate Floor Debate on:

Senate Substitute for HB 2118 to repeal the Threatened and Endangered Species Act  in Kansas law, will be heard today or Wednesday on the Senate floor.

Information about Kansas Threatened and Endangered Species Act

Senate Substitute for HB 2014, repealing the Renewable Energy Standards or Renewable Portofolio Standards will also likely be heard on the Senate floor today.

Also watch for Senate Bill 323, this bill would destroy conservation easements by prohibiting perpetual easements and requiring that easements terminate when the landowner dies.

Contact your legislators if you have concerns about these bills!

House Directory

Senate Directory

To identify your legistators

Nurturing Our Planet ….     Mind, Body, Spirit

Join the Kansas City Yoga Community and meditation teacher and passionate environmentalist Sami Aaron for one of these special 2-hour donation-based workshops celebrating Earth Day 2014!

While Friends of the Kaw is not one of the chosen beneficiaries – many studios did choose a cause that benefits water!

Upcoming Activities

FOK Program for Keenagers
Monday, April 7 at noon
Asbury Methodist, 5400 W 75th St, Prairie Village, KS

FOK Program for Susanna Wesley Methodist Church
Tuesday, April 8 at noon
7433 Sw 29th St, Topeka, KS 66614

Reading and book signing: Along the Kaw by author Craig Thompson
Thursday, April 10 at 7pm
Raven Book Store
8 E 7th St, Lawrence, KS 66044

Eat Local and Organic Expo
Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 9:30 to 2:30
Penn Valley Community College Gym
3201 SW Trafficway, KC MO

Time to start planning your Kaw River Float Trip!

Friends of the Kaw sponsors both private and public educational float trips from April through October. We are focusing our efforts on scheduling private groups of 16 to 24 people. The advantage of organizing a group trip is that you pick the date, time and river segment you wish to float and we bring the boats and host an educational “sand bar” seminar followed by a hot dog & marshmallow roast. There are now over 20 access ramps on the Kaw so there are many opportunities for float trips between 5 and 14 miles. If you have questions or would like to inquire about a private float visit our “contact us”  page.

Once we schedule a group float trip, we open registration to the general public  two weeks before the scheduled date.  You need to check with the Kansas Riverkeeper to see if there are available canoes or kayaks for that trip, and to register. Friends of the Kaw estimates it takes about 1 hour to paddle 3 miles.  Novice paddlers should not attempt to paddle more that 10 miles in one day.

If you are not interested in organizing a group float trip, check out these options to get out on the Kaw:

Kaw Valley Canoe Rental – new in Topeka!

Up a Creek – in Lawrence

Mud Kat Kayaking – in Manhattan

For other business that rent canoes and/or kayaks check out the bottom of FOK Float Trips page.

Kansas River Water Trail in the News:

• Check out page 26 of the Kansas Outdoors 2014 Official Guide.
• The Kansas Magazine also did a 3 page article on the Kansas River Water Trail.  You can subscribe to this magazine or pick it up locally.
• Check out the Kansas River Water Trail at TravelKS.com!

Upcoming Activities

Healthy Yards Expo
Saturday, March 29 from 9 to 2
Shawnee Civic Centre
13817 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, KS

Come to a hearing on Senate Bill 300 (to raise the fees companies pay for sand dredged out of the Kaw) – January 30, 8:30am in Room 159-S at the state capitol.

Since our inception in the early 1990’s, Friends of the Kaw has advocated that in-river sand and gravel operations move out of the river and on to appropriate land sites (pit mines) due to (a) irreparable harm done to the river’s channel, banks and ecosystem; (b) degradation of our drinking water quality; and (c) degradation to infrastructure such as public water intake supply systems and bridge structures.  This year we worked with Senator Marci Francisco to introduce a legislative bill to raise the fees that in-river dredging companies pay the state of Kansas from .15/ton to .30/ton.  Raising the fees for in-river dredging companies will be another incentive for these companies to move their operations from the river to pit mines in the Kansas River valley (see Lawrence Journal World article.) The hearing will be held for the Senate’s Natural Resource Committee on Thursday, January 30 at 8:30am in room 159-S at the state capitol in Topeka.

Pit mines are more expensive to locate because companies have to buy or lease the land that the pits are located on and these companies also have to go through a sometimes contentious local process to permit the pit mine operation. We consider the in-river dredging fees as a lease payment to the state of Kansas as the riverbed is public property. The current rate of .15/ton a is bargain for the in-river dredging companies.  Friends of the Kaw has been told that if in-river companies paid at a minimum a fee of .50/ton for sand dredged out of the Kansas River that it would be comparable to the cost of leasing or purchasing land for pit mines.  Doubling the fee to .30/ton, while not totally equalizing the difference in cost, would be an incentive for companies to move to pit mines and halt damage to the river’s bed, banks, habitat, and infrastructure. The Kansas River supplies drinking water to over 800,000 people and it is in the state’s best interest to protect the river from further degradation caused by in-river dredging.  The state of Kansas should not be subsidizing companies that harm the river when better alternatives (pit mines) exist.

The Kansas River has been commercially mined (dredged) for sand and gravel since the early 1900’s.  Past dredging activities are documented to have caused significant damage to riverbed, habitat, infrastructure and water quality.  The river through Topeka and between Lawrence and Kansas City have been dredged for many years and show significant impacts when compared to sections of the river that have never been dredged.  Weirs costing millions of dollars have been constructed to protect public drinking water intakes for both Topeka and WaterOne of Johnson County due to degradation of the river bed.  The Kaw power plant owned by Kansas City Board of Public Utilities has been put in cold storage because water intakes can only be used in high water events.