Category — Partners

From Patty Ogle, Event Coordinator: First, I would like to thank everyone for their participation. I hope you have all recovered nicely. Please thank your volunteers for me as well. Everyone seemed organized and well staffed this year, making this year’s festival another success.

I have included some numbers from activities. I would be interested if anyone else kept a tally. I also have photos if you need them for supervisors, reports, etc.

Incredible Journey bracelets made - 269
Homes located on Watershed Map - 225
Completed cards /prizes give out - 200
Earth Day organizers crowd estimate 800 - 1000

We did receive a $1000 grant from KACEE. We will be using the money to cover our new permanent signage and banners, prizes, advertising, etc for this year. We will use the remainder to order more prizes for next year. We gave away 200 sports sacks in less than 2 hours! I would love to have more prizes next year, which costs more – so as you plan your budgets for next year, please consider a small amount to help with this expense.

As always, I welcome any feedback – good or bad. We want the festival to grow and improve each year, so feel free to send your suggestions. Thank you again – I’ll be in touch for next year!

Patty Ogle Stormwater Quality Technician | pogle@ci.lawrence.ks.us
Public Works Department - City of Lawrence, KS
PO Box 708, Lawrence, KS 66044
office 785-832-3136 fax 785-832-3398

Spring in Kansas is notoriously unpredictable - the variability is part of what we love about it here but geez, winter just doesn’t want to let go. It’s starting to impact our field season. The Wetland Learners event scheduled for last Friday had to be postponed.

We’re still all systems go for Lawrence’s Rain Shower’s to Water Towers event tomorrow but I’m definitely going with the layered look.

Wild Birds Unlimited in Shawnee, Kansas, has stocked up on copies of Exploring the Kaw Valley. These are now officially out of print so catch ‘em while you can! As many of you will recall this book, authored by Lynn Byczynski and dedicated to KVHA’s founder Joyce Wolf, has a series of annotated driving loops of natural and cultural interests in the Kansas River Valley.

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The last event in the Westport to Wakarusa Poetry series is set to take place next Thursday, 4/24, at the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum at the Haskell Indian Nations University 7 to 9 pm. Smokey McKinney and Ken Lassman will be sharing some of their writing and insights. The poetry series is a KVHA Partner Project with the Lawrence Poetry Community.

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Odds & ends from the last few days… -Alison Reber

Friday 3/28/08 Bob and I attended KU’s Hall Center for Humanities Annual Oral History Workshop (Learning to Hear the Stories IX)

This year’s theme, “Beyond These Hallowed Halls—Educating America”, encourages us to take a critical look at the connection between our past and our future as we turn to projects in individual and group history that have had a significant impact upon our public memory. (sound familiar?…)

There were several old friends in the mix - Mike Watowa & Gloria Throne from the Kansas Folklore Society. Ruth Turney, Pat Kehde, and Burdett Loomis were also in the mix.

[Read more →]

From Johnson County, Kansas Homepage January 2008
Funding for construction of a Riverfront Park overlooking the Kansas River in De Soto was approved Thursday, January 24, by the Johnson County Board of Commissioners.

The Board authorized $56,685 from the county’s Stream Maintenance Fund for public improvements in connection with the new park. Vote to approve the funding request was unanimous by the Board.

The Stream Maintenance Fund receives royalty payments from sand removed from the Kansas River as it flows through Johnson County. The funds can be used for the cleaning and maintenance of the river upon approval of the Kansas Division of Water Resources and for development of public park lands along tributaries of and along the Kansas River.

The fund was last used in 1996 and 1997 by the Johnson County Park and Recreation District to construct a boat ramp near Cedar Creek.

Thursday’s funding authorization by the Board will be used by the city of De Soto to help finance phase one of its 50-acre Riverfront Park located along the banks of the river with a connection at Ottawa Street. The site of the park is on property of the former commercial sand dredging business operated by the Kaw Sand Company in the 1990s.

De Soto’s concept plan of the park includes a stage for festivals, concerts, and other attractions; hiking and biking trails; an informational kiosk or monument with De Soto history; picnic shelters; playground equipment, including a disc-golf course and sand volleyball area; parking areas, including a site for recreational vehicles; public bathrooms; and shower facilities for campers and RV users.

The first phase of the project now is under way, including site clearing and rough grading for the regional festival and concert viewing area to accommodate up to 2,500 visitors. That work is expected to be completed by mid-February.

Construction of a performing stage overlooking the Kansas River, grass seeding, and final grading work will start in March with completion by early summer. The first concert in the new Riverfront Park is scheduled October 11, featuring a Blues and Barbecue Festival.

Other work in the first phase, with an estimated cost of $700,000, will involve construction of the loop drive snaking through the park, public parking areas, a storm water system, and potable water system along with installation of electrical service and an irrigation pump to provide water from the river to irrigate grass, trees, and plantings at the park.

The project, which is the first Johnson County park along the banks of the Kansas River, is being developed in five phases by the city over five years with a final estimated cost of $3.5 million.

Funds for new Riverfront Park in De Soto authorized

By remembering the past we can envision our future.

Our understanding of common experiences is anchored in history and culture. When we creatively interact with the environment, we’re also building a sense for how the world should be. If people are able to find common ground, a shared vision for the future becomes within the realm of possible.

Over the years KVHA has interwoven humanities-based principles with our grant-based programs.

We need help gathering the resources to make these things happen.

What you can do:

1 - Help us find compatible partner projects or potential collaborators.

2 - Share your talents and/or volunteer your abilities.

3 - Make a financial contribution.

The 2nd event in our 3 part poetry series will be Thursday, February 28th at the Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union from 7 to 9. The Oread Bookstore is hosting the event.

Local poets Elizabeth Schultz, Denise Low, and Dennis Etzel will share their poetry and thoughts on our place in the natural world. Please join us for a reading and discussion.

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THANK YOU to
January Poetry Event Sponsor

About: Signs of Life is a bookstore, art gallery, and espresso bar all rolled into a big wonderful place whose purpose is to be a blessing to the community. We opened our doors in March of 2003 with the intent to be a place where people could find good books, not just any old book, but books worth owning, thoughtful books, books that tackle big ideas. And not just books, but fine art too! Our professional sales gallery represents artists who want to present beautiful images - not vapid fairytale images, but work that grapples with the mystery of life and finds reason for hope.

Friends of the Kaw, P.O. Box 1612, Lawrence, KS 66044

http://kansasriver.org

Description: The Kansas (Kaw) River stretches 171 miles from its origin in Junction City to its confluence with the Missouri River and is the primary source of drinking water for many communities in northeast Kansas. This recreational treasure was a well kept secret among a few knowing paddlers and anglers, but is fast becoming a valued recreational resource for thousands of visitors each year.

FOK has a longstanding relationship with KVHA. There are a number of mutual interests and we’ve been able to orchestrate projects that compliment each other’s activities. Friends of the Kaw is the primary NGO Kansas River pollution watchdog.

See Kansas River Inventory

See Kansas River Access Points

See Volunteer Water Quality Assessment

See Kansas River Life, Captain Catfish

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs004/1101274774513/archive/1101954710829.html

Bob Burkhart, Stephanie Barrows, and I have been collaborating on a project designed to spark ideas and conversation about personal relationships within the natural world and how they carry forth into the future.

Many of you know that this topic is especially fascinating for me.

From one side of the state to the other, 10 year olds to 90 year olds, I’ve guided group discussions about where people live and what they hope is different in the future. Generally speaking, people like where they live and they hope that in the future others will valued it more than they do now.

With Mudscapes thousands of young people have worked together as neighbors to plan out their ideal watershed. Not unsurprisingly they create something that mirrors what they see in the world around them. Urban, rural, good, bad, ugly…and equally fascinating.

Several years ago Bob and I began having indepth conversations about teaching approaches that spark collaborative learning. For me when that happens it’s like a moment in time freezes and I try to become invisible before the “students” suddenly realize they’re learning from each other without “teacher-directed curriculum bumpers”. Bob and I have been refining guided storytelling techniques that build shared visions of the future.
We met Stephanie through the Wetland Learners Project. She has a talent for tenacity, a passion for poetry, and a calm capacity to channel creative chaos. She also taught me a cool word — diachronical, which means changes that happen over time. Stephanie’s been wearing the letters off her keyboard trying to work out the details for this and several other poetry endeavors.

In mid-December we hosted a poetry reading at KVHA’s office. From there we decided to launch a spring series - recording the events with the hope of connecting the poetry with several of KVHA’s other projects.

Details about the events in this series are shown above. If all goes well, we plan to hold a special event in June to share and celebrate these new endeavors. -ALR

Jayhawk Audubon Society, P.O. Box 374, Lawrence, Kansas 66046-3741

http://jayhawkaudubon.org

The mission of the Jayhawk Audubon Society is to encourage enjoyment of, to promote understanding of, and to advocate conservation of the natural world. The Jayhawk Audubon Society serves the communities of Douglas County, Kansas.

JAS has a longstanding relationship with KVHA. Past partnership projects include Kaw Valley Eagles Day and Wakarusa Wetland Learners. KVHA has worked with JAS in the context of Wakarusa Watershed/Clinton Lake Protection and wetland conservation.