Dawn Buehler — Page 18

KAW 173 – Journey of the Entire Kansas River

June 19, 2020 by Dawn Buehler /

KAW 173 – Journey of the Entire Kansas River

Learn more here: http://kansasriver.org/kaw173-jc-to-kc-on-the-water-trail/

FOK Team to kayak the entire 173-mile-long Kansas River to highlight the Kansas River Water Trail

For Immediate Release

FRIENDS OF THE KAW TEAM TO KAYAK 173-MILE-LONG KANSAS RIVER TO HIGHLIGHT THE KANSAS RIVER WATER TRAIL

LAWRENCE, KS (JUNE 19, 2020) – Friends of the Kaw (FOK), a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the Kansas River, announces that a team will be kayaking the entire 173-mile long Kansas River to highlight the beauty and accessibility of the Kansas River Water Trail. The name of their journey is the KAW 173.

The KAW 173 Team will depart Junction City on Friday, July 17, 2020, and plan to take ten days to kayak to Kaw Point in Kansas City, Kansas, by Sunday, July 26, 2020. The core group includes Dawn Buehler, Kansas Riverkeeper, and FOK Board Member, Marcia Rozell, along with five of Friends of the Kaw’s long-time volunteer Kaw River Guides. The KAW 173 Team has been preparing for this event for the last two and a half years. Original plans were to make this journey in 2019, but due to a flooded Kansas River, the trip was postponed to 2020.

“We are so ready for this epic journey that we are about to embark upon,” said Dawn Buehler, Kansas Riverkeeper® & Executive Director. “This core group of volunteers is a small select sample of our entire organization which pours their heart and soul into much of the work that Friends of the Kaw does, and I am so grateful to have them as teammates on this journey.”

Friends of the Kaw invites local community members, mayors, and their FOK river family to join them at designated boat ramps along the way. The public is welcome to join the team for a day on designated sections of the river. Those details will be published on the Friends of the Kaw website (www.kansasriver.org) and through social media outlets.

About the Kansas River Water Trail:

The Kansas River Water Trail was dedicated in 2012 by the National Park Service and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The Kansas River is the longest prairie-based river system in the world and provides recreation, wildlife habitat, and is a drinking water source for over 800,000 Kansans.

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Friends of the Kaw is the only non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the Kansas River. Our mission is to advocate, promote, educate, and engage the Kansas River.

Protect. Advocate. Discover. #kansasriver

For Media Inquiries Please Contact:

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper® & Executive Director

Friends of the Kaw

785.312.7200

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 1

June 18, 2020 by Dawn Buehler /

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 1

About two weeks ago, I kayaked 48 miles of the Kansas River with some of our long time volunteer Kaw River Guide’s. Our goal for this trip, was to practice preparation for an even greater challenge, to kayak all 173 miles of the Kansas River, all at once, later this summer. We are in the final weeks of preparation and will be making an announcement soon about our journey. I sincerely hope that you will all join us in spirit on this journey, and maybe even some of you will join us to paddle for some of the pre-designated sections of the river where we would love to have some company.

The last few months have been challenging for all of us and certainly FOK as well. We’ve been blessed with plenty of work to keep our minds busy including updates to our website, new updates coming for our river access map, creation of a virtual kids about water program, many grants written, and coming into the home stretch of our beloved Riverbank Restoration Project. We are grateful that we have had opportunities to remain busy.

One of the projects that we’ve been working on since the flood waters receded last December 2019, is doing a complete river check of the entire Kansas River to check for new erosion and pollution. What is quite amazing, is that we continue to see new dumping sites in 2020 and new violations of dumping sediment into our rivers. Lucky for all of us that Friends of the Kaw exists along with our countless members, because if you dump trash from your property into the Kansas River, we will find it and we will enforce it. Let’s just say we’ve been busy this spring. If you see dumping, please report it to riverkeeper@kansasriver.org. Let’s do this together…keep our river clean!

As always, thank you to each one of you for your continued and steady support. We are so very grateful.

If we can help you find ways to connect to the Kansas River, please give us a call or send us an email. We are happy to help you protect, advocate, and discover the Kansas River.

For the river,

Dawn

Your Kansas Riverkeeper

Filed Under: Chasing the Channel Blog

Re-Opening: Spring Events Announced!

May 8, 2020 by Dawn Buehler /

Re-Opening: Spring Events Announced!

Friends…the last few months have been challenging for everyone not just in Kansas, but around the world. We are finding new ways to keep moving forward, In the spirit of this, we have developed some events in May & June 2020 with some new FOK COVID-19 Guidelines. You can read the Friends of the Kaw COVID-19 Guidelines HERE.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Spring is here!

March 16, 2020 by Dawn Buehler /

Spring is here!

We hope to see you all this spring, summer and fall and help you find a way to connect to the Kansas River! Our calendar is full and we will have sign-ups soon. Check out what we have planned on our CALENDAR