By Todd Wilkinson With winter coming to an end (hopefully), my thoughts have turned to paddling. I can’t wait for warmer temperatures – air and water – and getting underway again on the James, Finley, Current or one of other Ozark streams. For those of us who are kayak instructors with the American Canoe Association…
Loring Bullard, author of “Living Waters: The Springs of Missouri” and longtime water-warrior, speaks to a group about the history of the Jordan Creek “box.” Last month, James River Basin Partnership (JRBP) staff and volunteers conducted water quality monitoring on Jordan Creek in central Springfield (Mo.) for the City of Springfield. JRBP partners with the…
What’s a flivver? A quick Google search produced this definition: “a cheap car or aircraft, especially one in bad condition.” It was also the nickname for Henry Ford’s mass-produced Model T in the early 20th century. The famed Ozarks folklorist Vance Randolph documents the story of the “Phantom Flivver” in his magnum opus, Ozark Magic…
As part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, the James River Basin Partnership recently hosted the inaugural Paddle MO James trip with Stream Teams United last month. For three days, 50 attendees, including staff and volunteers, floated a 22-mile stretch of the lower James from Hootentown Campground to Galena, Missouri. Paddlers came from as far away…
By Todd Wilkinson Volunteers hard at work during a May cleanup of the Finley River, organized by James River Basin Partnership and the City of Ozark, Mo. I learned to kayak on the Upper Current. My job frequently finds me underway on the James. But the Finley is my “fun” river. One Legend says the Finley…
100,000 pounds of trash. That’s the amount that James River Basin Partnership’s executive director, Brent Stock, estimates that river cleanups have removed from the James and its tributaries in the last 25 years. That’s an impressive number. And it speaks to the power of folks coming together in a common cause. Paddling With a Purpose,…
On Friday, May 20, if you walk into my office, you’ll find me working at my desk in a life jacket. Todd Wilkinson Yes, you read that correctly – a life jacket. And no, I didn’t get too much sun on the river. I’m doing my part to promote boating safety. That Friday will mark…
In January 1969, an oil well off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., blew out, causing a massive spill in the Santa Barbara Channel. The largest spill in U.S. waters at the time (it now ranks third after Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez), Santa Barbara soon found an estimated 80,000 to 10,000 barrels of crude…
