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Ramble around on the Potomac: June 19-22

Posted on May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Events, Mid-Atlantic, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
Blue Trails, River Heritage

The Potomac River Rambles are a series of weekend canoeing and kayaking expeditions that feature educational programming, riverside camping, restoration projects, festive meals, meeting with elected officials, and much more. Novice and experienced paddlers alike enjoy a unique on-the-water experience. The Rambles aim to elevate awareness of the Potomac River’s importance to the region and to encourage local residents to play an active role in its restoration. Find out more information and register with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.

“Water trail janitors” keep rivers clean

Posted on May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Great Lakes, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
Blue Trails, River Heritage

A new program called Illinois Water TrailKeepers is now providing stewardship of local water trails. TrailKeepers, a joint project of Illinois Paddling Council and Openlands, is creating a corps of stewards for designated water trails in Illinois. Mirroring other groups which turn their passion for the outdoors into hands-on care for it, Openlands is sponsoring “Reach Stewards,” who will adopt a section of a water trail much like the successful Adopt-A-Highway programs that help take care of roadways throughout the nation.

Monitoring and reporting conditions, including any log jams or other obstacles to recreation along it, the Reach Stewards will be the eyes and ears of the agencies entrusted with the management of our waterways. Often, they will be the helping hands as well.

The initial program will include seven waterways in nine counties, totaling 350 miles of rivers, including the Fox, Kishwaukee, and DuPage rivers. Instream maintenance teams will literally be “water trail janitors” who will maintain water trails on smaller streams by clearing obstructions and hazards in a safe and environmentally sensitive way.

This is an exciting program that I hope will be replicated in other states and regions.

Worried about the economy? Protect rivers and enjoy them.

Posted on April 21, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

People get the connection. Healthy rivers are valuable community assets. They provide an array of benefits to communities. Not only are they good for recreation, they are good for the economy too. In fact, they provide countless opportunities for economic renewal and growth. Take a look at Ed’s The River Less Traveled blog. He sums it up well.

Pop quiz: will a canoe made of 7000 chopsticks float?

Posted on April 14, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, River Heritage, Stories

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

Bothered that perfectly good wood was going to waste after a single use, Shuhei Ogawara - whose job at city hall involved working with the local forestry industry - spent the last two years collecting 7,382 used chopsticks from the cafeteria. It took him three months to build this 13-foot long, 66-pound canoe. It’s heavier than a regular canoe, so he doesn’t know if it’s going to float. But he’ll find out in May when he launches his canoe for the first time. Will his canoe float or sink? Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz posted a quick poll to see what you think, take a look and vote now.

New York unveils network of kayak and canoe launches

Posted on April 7, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Northeast, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

Communitie s everywhere are rediscovering their rivers through blue trails and other river recreation. New York City adds its name to the list.

amNew York (NY) March 27: Parks officials hoping to promote public access to one of the city’s least-used recreational zones - its waterways - have created its first formal network of kayak and canoe launches. Dubbed the New York City Water Trail, the 28 small boat ramps are sprinkled along the shorelines of all five boroughs, in places as remote as marshlands within the Idlewild Park Preserve in Queens and as bustling as the six piers along the Hudson River in Manhattan.

Paddling for a purpose

Posted on April 2, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Clean Water, Events, River Heritage, Stories

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

KUAM (Guam) - March 24: One couple has made a three-year commitment to promoting clean water awareness. Whether by foot or by kayak, Beachwalk Project is taking Bob and Evelyn Weinman around coastlines on the U.S. mainland to raise awareness for the protection of everyone’s right to clean water.

During two and a half weeks this month the pair is making their way around Guam, with the first part of their paddling tour here having taken place this past weekend during the East Side Relay put on by the Guam Kayak and Canoe Federation. Guam is the second stop on the Weinmans’ journey. Last summer they traveled 1,600 miles up the Atlantic Coastline from Miami to Manhattan Island.

Daydreaming of a spring paddle

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

Thank goodness spring is here! Unfortunately, here in Washington, like most places around the country, it’s still too cold to get on the water. As the days grow longer and warmer, I find myself daydreaming of the great paddle adventures I had last season.

The first that come to mind - a stewardship trip on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail in New Hampshire and Vermont; the inaugural paddle of the Congaree River Blue Trail in South Carolina, American Rivers’ first blue trail; an exploration of Thompson Creek, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, home to the Captain John Smith Water Trail, the nations first National Historic Water Trail.

I’ve already begun plotting my adventures for this season and I’m looking forward to exploring new areas of the country - Arkansas, Ohio, and Washington State.

Mostly, I’m looking forward to lazy afternoons on my hometown river, the Potomac. I’m continually amazed by the wildlife and quiet one can find in the heart of the nation’s capital. Families of turtles sunning themselves on rocks, Great Blue Heron wading for a snack, the sound of my paddle in the water.

My hometown river is truly a gem - and the great thing is that gems just like it exist in your backyard too. Your gem may be bigger or smaller, faster or slower, but it’s a gem nonetheless.

What adventures do you have planned this summer?

Your River History

Posted on March 19, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Southeast

Matt Rice,Associate Director of Southeast Conservation
Southeast Hydropower & Blue Trails

Rivers are cool. I know there are a lot more descriptive and eloquent ways to describe a river, but somehow I think it works best. I would be willing to bet that the majority of river related professionals from river guides to fluvial geomorphologists started the pursuit of their respective professions because they thought in the very beginning, before they knew anything about hydraulics or sediment transport or endangered darters, that rivers were simply cool. I certainly did. Rivers are cool for countless reasons, one being they help define periods in our lives.

Our lives are divided into time periods; childhood, high school, college or pre-marriage, post marriage, kids or by jobs, locations, pets etc. Try using rivers as the variable. I will use my life as an example.

Here is a condensed version:

Russian River, California: late 1970s–I don’t remember this period but I have seen several pictures of myself naked on the banks of this cool northern California River.

Hudson River, New York City: early to mid 1980s–I think I first muttered the words “rivers are cool” on this river.

Boulder Creek, Colorado: Mid 1980s to mid 1990s–I came of age on this river, fly fishing, tubing, and just hanging out. It will always be one of my favorites.

Yellowstone River, Montana: early 1990s to 2000–I went to Montana State University because the rivers are especially cool in the Bozeman area.

Zambezi River, Zambia 2000-2004–I fished and paddled this beautiful and terrifying river every chance I got during my service in the Peace Corps.

River to be determined, Columbia, South Carolina: 2007-???

There are so many cool rivers in the Southeast it will be difficult to choose one. Then again I won’t have to choose just one. Many rivers can define periods in our life- only time will tell.

I want to apologize to all the worthy rivers I left out, there are certainly many more that have had an impact on my life. Let us know about a river that helps define a period in your life.

Georgia man goes fishing and catches 300-year-old canoe

Posted on March 12, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, River Heritage, Southeast, Stories

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

Old Indian dugout at Fernbank ‘one in a million’ - Atlanta Journal Constitution (GA) - March 1: A Waycross man went fishing in a South Georgia river two years ago and caught a 17-footer. It goes on display this month at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

The catch is a dugout canoe, possibly created more than 300 years ago from a longleaf pine. It turned up in the shallows of the Satilla River one July day in 2006 when the fisherman noticed something odd just under his johnboat. What looked like an old log turned out to be a canoe, formed by fire and hand. It is one of just a handful of dugouts known to exist in Georgia.

National Trails Symposium’s Call for Presentations

Posted on March 3, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Deep South, Events, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

Got something to say about water trails? American Trails is now accepting presentation proposals for the National Trails Symposium in Little Rock on November 15-18, 2008. Water trails is one of the symposium’s key topics! Submit your presentation ideas that introduce new ideas, convey useful strategies, identify lessons learned, and strengthen participants’ existing skills and knowledge - in the spirit of the symposium’s theme: “Innovative Trails: Transforming the American Way of Life.” The submission deadline is April 18, 2008.

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