I just returned from three days in the heartland of America. Earlier this year, Kansas Riverkeeper Laura Calwell invited me to address the membership of the Friends of the Kaw at their annual meeting in Lawrence, Kansas. Yes my friends, there is indeed a Kansas Riverkeeper working to protect and restore the Kansas River (a.k.a. the Kaw).
Flying into Kansas City International Airport, my window seat gave me an excellent vantage point to look out and see farms and pastures spread out across the rich and fertile landscapes of the Midwest. At first glance, this appeared to be the living manifestation of Thomas Jefferson's vision of a nation comprised of thousands of freeholds supporting what he called an agrarian society. My hope of spending some time "on the farm" faded quickly once I was on the ground. I was barely off the plane when Laura met me at the terminal. My Kansas adventure had begun and there was no time to waste.
BLaura has been serving as Riverkeeper for four years but she's been an environmental advocate for many more. As we drove, she treated me to a rapid-fire history and geography lesson as we neared her home in Mission, Kansas (so named because it is the location of a regionally famous Mission School where the young children of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Kiowa and other Plains Indian tribes were brought to be educated in the ways of the white settlers). Upon arriving I met Laura's husband Mike - a Friends of the Kaw board member and like Laura, a tireless advocate for the Kansas River.
After a brief respite with my current reading assignment, Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, I was summoned downstairs and we were off on the road to Lawrence and our big event.
As the evening unfolded I met and spoke with dozens of Kansas Riverkeeper supporters and listened to their stories about the Kaw and their commitment to solving the river's many problems. Later, during my presentation, I realized that that despite being in the geographic center of the country (a place I'd never been before), I was at home. I saw the same expressions of hope and commitment in the faces of Laura's colleagues that I see among our friends and supporters here. Both of us are blessed with incredibly gifted and generous volunteers, supporters and staff who give us the strength to clear tons of debris from the banks of our beloved rivers, fight for their protection and ensure their future. Being with those good people reminded me of how very fortunate I am to be your Riverkeeper. Then, almost as soon as it began, my time in Kansas was over.
After those three whirlwind days, I finally got a chance to relax on my flight back to Newark. Thinking back on all that had gone on, my Kansas sojourn illustrated for me the true meaning of Dr. Margaret Meade's quote: "Never doubt that a small thoughtful group of committed citizens can change the world; indeed; it is the only thing that ever has."
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