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March 13 - Big Muddy Speaker Series - St. Charles 2013

"Paddle Strokes through History: A Big Muddy Adventure on the Lewis and Clark Water Trail"

presentation by "Big Muddy" Mike Clark (no relation), Big Muddy Adventures

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

6. p.m. Meet at Big A's Restaurant
6:30 p.m. Presentation
At Big A's Restaurant
308 N Main St. -  St Charles, MO
(directions below)

junebugcanoe

Dipping your paddle in the Missouri River is a direct, visceral connection to the history of past explorers and inhabitants along the river. Highlighting this connection between the past and present, the Mo. Dept. of Natural Resources has created the Lewis and Clark Water Trail.

If you are looking for a guide to this experience, you could do no better than "Big Muddy" Mike Clark, the owner of professional river outfitter service Big Muddy Adventures. Mike has paddled the Missouri River upstream and down following the Lewis and Clark trail, reliving its history and sharing it with others.

Mike will share some of his experiences on this historical "highway", including stories from the 2004 Corps of Discovery re-inactment, the Circumnavigation of St. Louis and his work guiding newbies and river pros alike on this magnificient waterway. He'll share Missouri River paddling tips as well as how to make a dugout canoe out of a massive cottonwood log.

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March 13 - Big Muddy Speaker Series - Kansas City 2013

"No Longer Estranged - A History of Urban Rivers"

presented by Amahia Mallea, Asst. Professor of History, Drake University

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

6 p.m. Social Hourkcsunrise
7 p.m. Presentation
At  Hickok's Grill
528 Walnut St. - Kansas City, MO (in the River Market)

Click here for flier (pdf)»

(directions below)

Presentation is FREE!

Please support our partner by coming early for dinner and drinks at this great local establishment! Happy Hour till 7:00

Many of our cities were founded on the banks of major rivers. Once they were highways connecting our communities to each other, our rivers became neglected dumping grounds as our cities turned their backs on them, embracing a future of railroads and then highways.

Kansas City is a perfect example, and is a good example of how cities are beginning to remember the important resource these rivers are for their identity, history and health. Amahia Mallea has been studying the difficult history Kansas City has with the Missouri River, and will use KC as a template for talking about the renaissance urban areas are having with their rivers.

We are lucky Prof. Mallea will be joining us from Iowa to share her insights and hope about the relationship Kansas City has with the river that runs through it.

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March 5 - Big Muddy Speaker Series - Rocheport 2013

"Close Up on Clean Water"

presentation by Kat Logan Smith, Director of Environmental Policy for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

7 p.m. presentation
lower floor of the Les Bourgeois Vineyards Bistro 
in Rocheport, MO (directions below)
NOTE: This presentation is the FIRST Tuesday of the month for March only. Then we'll go back to our regular second Tuesday.

Presentation is FREE and open to the public! Come early to purchase a great dinner upstairs at the Bistro!

The 40 year-old Clean Water Act aims to protect the “physical, chemical, and biological” integrity of our nation’s waters so our creeks, rivers, and oceans can thrive. For four decades Missouri has left nearly 150,000 miles of waters with insufficient protections to safeguard their health. At the same time, our waters are under increasing pressures from development, agriculture, and climate stress.

How can the Missouri River thrive when the creeks that feed it are unprotected? How can we secure our freshwater resources when 80% of our state’s waters are not held to Clean Water Act standards? How can we ensure that our children and grandchildren can enjoy healthy waters in Missouri?

 missouristreams

left - all Missouri Streams; right - streams classified under Clean Water Act
graphic courtesy of Mo. Coalition for the Environment

katKat Logan Smith will give us a basic overview of the Clean Water Act, how the law can work to keep fish thriving, restore damaged waters and safeguard our highest quality waters. She'll review the Missouri Coalition for the Environment petition for full protections for Missouri waters and let us know how we can preserve our water heritage for future generations.

The Missouri Coalition for the Environment works to protect and restore the environment through education, public engagement, and legal action.

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Wild & Scenic Film Festival - 2013

2013 wildnscenic

Sunday, February 10th - 2:00-6:00 p.m.
The Blue Note - Columbia, MO

On Sunday, February 10, Missouri River Relief hosted our third installment of the traveling Wild & Scenic Film Festival at The Blue Note in Columbia, MO.

The event was a friendraiser and fundraiser for River Relief, with the goal of raising awareness on some crucial environmental issues and inspiring action in the community.

Because of the creativity and hard work of the River Relief crew volunteers and the staff of the Blue Note, it was a smooth, inspiring and fun afternoon with friends. River Reliefers baked food, made popcorn and worked all over the venue. Donations for our raffle and silent auction poured in from the community and bidding was hot and heavy! Check out the list on the right for all the generous donors.

Thanks to everyone involved we raised over $5,400 for cleaning up the Missouri River!

Thanks everyone! See you next year!

Below is a list is a list of the films, more info on the festival and links to lots more.

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Feb. 13 - Big Muddy Speaker Series - Kansas City 2013

"Mitigating for Lost Habitat on the Missouri River"

presented by Kasey Whiteman, biologist with Mo. Dept. of Conservation

Wednesday, February 13, 2013jameson island

6 p.m. Social Hour
7 p.m. Presentation
At  Hickok's Grill
528 Walnut St. - Kansas City, MO (in the River Market)

Click here for flier (pdf)»
(directions below)

Presentation is FREE!

Please support our partner by coming early for dinner and drinks at this great local establishment! Happy Hour till 7:00

Over the past 100 hundred years the Missouri River has been highly altered which has resulted in the loss of naturally occurring side-channel chutes. In the late `90s and early 2000s the US Army Corps of Engineers started to mitigate for these losses by reconstructing chutes.

Since then our knowledge of how to build chutes, how they are developing and the fish response has increased. Currently more mitigation efforts are slated to take place each year and research continues.

Kasey Whiteman is a biologist with the Mo. Dept. of Conservation studying reptiles, amphibians and fish of the Missouri River. He'll bring that unique on-the-river perspective to a look at how the habitat mitigation project is evolving.

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