FOK Receives Grants and Last Wild Places of Kansas Book

June 7, 2016 by /

We have been awarded several grants this spring….we are going to be busy!

Mid America Regional Council – $,1778 to initiate our Adopt-A-Boat Ramp Program in Wyandotte County.

Unified Government of Wyandotte County – $5,000 for stormwater education in Wyandotte County.

Douglas County Natural and Cultural Heritage Grant – $13,230 to Cleanup, Restore and Fish the Kaw in Douglas County

REI, Seattle, WA – $5,000 for Kansas River cleanups.

Thank you to all of these great organizations for the opportunities to take care of our Kansas River and educate!

Did you see that George Frazier’s new book is out? “The Last Wild Places of Kansas”….get your copy today! Lots of great information on Kansas outdoor adventures, including the Kansas River!

The Last Wild Places of Kansas is the first book since Dave Murphy’s Paddling Kansas to take a deep look into issues related to the rivers of Kansas. The book tells the almost scandalous story of the Meek vs. Hayes supreme court case which led to the strange situation where almost every Kansas river – except the Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas rivers and certain short stream segments above public reservoirs – are “renegade streams.” To legally float these streams, you need to get permission from every landowner on both sides for your entire float (in the book the author tries to do just that on the upper Marais de Cygnes). Luckily, our state’s riparian jewel, the Kaw, isn’t blacklisted. The book chronicles a float of the upper Kaw during the flood of 2009 to retrace the footsteps of eccentric French explorer Etienne de Veniard Sieur de Bourgmont deep into the homeland of the Kansa tribe in 1724. It also tracks the resurgence of the Kaw in the last 20 years, including interviews with former river keeper Laura Calwell, legendary Kansas paddler T.J. Hittle, and many others.

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