Outstanding Recreational Resource
Friends of the Kaw considers the Kansas (Kaw) River a 171-mile linear park to be enjoyed by families and outdoor enthusiasts. We continue to partner with river communities to develop boat access, river front parks and hiking and biking trails along the river for public use.
News
Links to newspaper articles
Kansas River Currents Newsletters
Topeka Capitol Journal Article, January 10, 2010 on the Kansas Riverkeeper
Missouri and Kaw roll by mostly unnoticed, but river-lovers have a vision to change that
Story by EDWARD M. EVELD | Photos by KEITH MYERS
The Kansas City Star
This is a photo of Star reporter, Ed Eveld, kayaking on the Kaw June 4, 2009 taken by Laura Calwell.
Read the article in the Kansas City Star Magazine
Oh Where, Oh Where Has My River Gone?
A Ground-Breaking Study of a Key Player in the American Heartland
For Immediate Release
June 12, 2009
For Further Information contact:
Mary Lynne Bird, Executive Director
(212) 422-5456 or (212) 422-5480 fax
MLBird@amergeog.org
The American Geographical Society announces release of Special Publication Number 42, “Historical Channel Changes of the Kansas River and its Major Tributaries.” The Kansas River, flowing into the Missouri River at Kansas City, drains an area of approximately 60,000 square miles within the central Great Plains. Twenty-five pages of text discuss historical changes in the Kansas River system in considerable detail, but in language accessible to interested citizens. The volume includes 43 pages of 1:50,000 maps depicting channel positions color-keyed to sources ranging from earliest county atlases of the 1850s to recent satellite images, all plotted on a 2002 black-and-white, fine-resolution imagery base. Coverage is included for all or parts of the Kansas, Wakarusa, Delaware, Blue, Republican, Smoky Hill, Soloman, and Saline Rivers.
AGS Special Publication 42 was authored by Wakefield Dort, Jr., Professor Emeritus at the University of Kansas, who joined the Department of Geology in 1957. He retired from regular teaching in 1993, but his research activities have continued right up to the present. Both his research and teaching have focused on geomorphology, the study of the processes that shape the Earth’s surface, the landforms they create, and the deposits they leave behind. He also has a major interest in glaciation of the Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. The list of his publications contains more than 100 titles.
This volume benefits from more than three decades of research that began with a request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a study of instability in the Kansas River system in the 1970s. In the Preface to the volume, Richard Marston remarked that, “This atlas was first conceived and written most specifically for the farmers and ranchers and others whose livelihoods and well-being depend directly on the Kansas River and its tributaries. However, the principles discussed here, and the knowledge gained from this study, can be applied by engineers, planners, and scientists to similar river systems anywhere in the world.” This 80-page long atlas presents information about channel development, stable versus unstable histories, straight versus meandering reaches, meander migration and cutoff, contrasting degrees of meandering, pulses of extensive deposition and erosion and differing patterns of channel activity in sub-parallel tributaries. Some aspects of these topics have received little or no mention in standard textbooks. These discussions, augmented by the numerous maps of actual river histories, can therefore serve as educational tools by providing a basis for lecture or laboratory exercises or advanced studies – regardless of where a student resides.
Copies of AGS Special Publication 42 can be ordered for U.S. $50.00 plus $7.50 for shipping and handling, by sending check, money order, or credit card order (AmEx, VISA, Mastercard) to: The American Geographical Society, 120 Wall Street, Suite 100, New York, NY 10005-3904. Phone: 212-422-5456, Fax 212-422-5480, email ags@amergeog.org
The Friends of the Kaw website will be featured at the Interactive Mapping Panel during the National Waterkeepers Alliance meeting in New York. View Laura's presentation
Water quality comments submitted May 7th
On Thursday, May 7 at 2:00pm the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) held a hearing for comments on proposed revisions to Kansas Surface Water Quality Standards including revisions to the Kansas Surface Water Register. The hearing was held by video conference from several locations (details are in the hearing notice) and the Riverkeeper made comments for Friends of the Kaw. The Notice of Hearing, the Regulation (K.A.R. 28-16-28g), the 2009 proposed revisions to the Kansas Surface Water Register (this is in a pdf format and is a little tricky to download), and other supporting data can be found at http://www.kdheks.gov/befs/.
In a nutshell, the changes are good and we need to support them. Over the past several years, KDHE has physically looked at ALL the stream segments in Kansas and determined their uses (domestic water supply, food procurement, industrial water supply, irrigation and livestock watering), and designated classifications i.e. the Kansas River is designated B, primary contact recreation and accessible to the public. For many stream segments more uses have been added.
On Sunday, May 2, our new president, Chad Lamer, and Laura Calwell the Kansas Riverkeeper accepted a $5,000 grant at the pre-opening event for the new Walmart at 6th & Wakarusa in Lawrence. We thank Walmart for this generous grant as donations are down because of these trying economic times.
Our second Sandbar School was held on Monday April 20th at Burcham Park in Lawrence. Three classes of fourth graders from Quail Run Elementary School spent an afternoon on the bank of the Kaw learning and having fun. We were featured in an article and video in the Lawrence Journal World. Check out the new Kids 4 the Kaw website.
Quail Run fourth grades listen to the Riverkeeper
Our first Sandbar School was held on Monday April 13th at New York Elementary School in Lawrence. Because of rain, we had to stay indoors, but we still had fun. Fourth grade students decorated their PFDs, learned how to properly wear the PFDs, discussed why the Kaw is important to their everyday life and practiced the correct way to get in and out of canoe (on dry land.) Check out our new Kids 4 the Kaw website for more on having fun on the water safely.
Friends of the Kaw is one of the designated charities for Insight High School's "Walk for Water", a fun 5K, on Saturday, May 2 (postponed from March 28) from 9:00am to noon. Registration will be at the Mid American Sports Complex, 20000 Johnson Dr., Shawnee, KS. The Kansas Riverkeeper will host an information booth at the event. See the registration form below for more information.
Walk for Water Registration Form
On July, ll our very own access guru, Mike Calwell was awarded the Presidential Service Award at the Environmental Protection Agency office in Kansas City, KS. For more information and a pic click here.
The boat ramp constructed under the Highway 99 Bridge in Wamego is finished. Picture on left was taken by Dave Karnowski of Construction Inc. and Chairman of the Wamego Chamber of Commerce. Dave was also instrumental in the planning and construction of this boat ramp. The new ramp will be accessed via the Wamego River Front Park just to the west of the bridge. Hurray - no more muddy put-ins and take-outs in Wamego!
The colorful display on the right was created by Sally Buzbee's Girl Scout Troop in Cairo, Eygpt in celebration of great rivers. Margaret Buzbee, Sally's daugther, suggested that her troop study the Kaw. They learned about the Kaw's place in Native American and Kansas history. The troop also sang "Home on the Range and served buffalo jerky and corn bread. They also noted the current environmental challenges facing the Kaw.
"Distant Rivers", Kansas City Star Magazine July 5, 2009
"Sandbar School", Lawrence Journal World April 20, 2009
As I See It "Respect the Kaw River while enjoying the fun it offers" by Laura Calwell, from the Kansas City Star on May 3, 2008
"Cleanup" Shawnee Dispatch October 22, 2008
"Ramps to make Kansas river more accessible" Manhattan Mercury, March 23, 2008