The River Radius Podcast

Podcasting is incredibly unique and fun work that has allowed me to meet so many rivers and river people. And podcasting is a job that I really just created for myself. Yes there are other podcasts and podcasters, but by nature of the work, we are all kind of hidden in quiet places behind microphones and editing screens, so finding a podcasting friend is so helpful. Ed Roberson has built the Mountain & Prairie Podcast and we have become colleagues and friends that can support each other when we have questions and challenges. For this episode, Ed and I decided...

The Vjosa River in Albania is one of the largest of the last free running rivers in Europe and recently it was protected with the new Vjosa Wild River National Park. The Vjosa sources from the mountains of Greece and flows north through Albania where it meets the Adriatic Sea. Eco Albania has led much of the work to create this National Park and our guest Dr Olsi Nika founded Eco Albania.  Dr Nika tells us about this long and beautiful river in his home country, how people in Albania use this river, about life in Albania, and how t...

Amidst a flourish of media about Paddle Tribal Waters, a new film has published from Oregon Public Broadcasting & Jessie Sears, giving focus to the 2025 source to sea run completed by the indigenous teens of PTW. The film, “First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath”, is there to meet the paddlers at the Pacific Ocean when they complete their journey, is with them along the river and the film also engages with the families of the paddlers to hear their perceptions of their kid’s work and pursuits. And finally, the film’s producer, Jessie Sears, is a member of the Karuk Tribe fr...

In the spring of 1980, nine-year-old Bridget Crocker, while playing next to her home river, fell from a downed tree into the cold swollen Snake River — a scary swim that initiated a deep, lifelong relationship with rivers and river people. This year in 2025 her memoir “The River’s Daughter” traces a thalweg of traumas, challenges and joys that played out in both her river life and her family life. Today Bridget hosts retreats and workshops on rivers, guides on special occasions, and is creating her dream life with her family. 

GUEST
Bridget Crocker
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Book Duration: 01:06:45

Across the United States, 640 million acres of public land belong to all of us — rivers that still run wild, deep canyons, mountain ranges, plains, and deserts. Places where the wild things live. Places we can still visit, explore, and trust that it will be there for generations or an eon. But this year, the push to sell or transfer those lands has surfaced — sometimes openly, sometimes in quieter, less obvious ways. Why is this happening? Who’s behind it? And how do we, as citizens, stand up in simple, effective ways to keep public lands public? Our guest is Land T...

Dr. Adriana Martinez grew up in Eagle Pass, Texas, swimming and playing in the Rio Grande as a part of daily life. 10 years after getting her Ph.D and teaching university classes in fluvial geomorphology, her Texas hometown and home river became the iconic center of the modern immigration debate and the setting for the controversial river buoy border fence.  In this episode she tells us about the research she is conducting to learn how the buoy fence in the Rio Grande is impacting this river, and about growing up riverside to an international border. 

GUEST

...

Tim Palmer has spent much of his life floating down, writing about, and photographing America’s rivers. With 34 books and scores of awards to his name (including the first-ever lifetime achievement award presented by American Rivers), he’s one of river conservation's most seasoned voices. In this episode, guest host Clark Tate joins Tim to talk about a recent run down the newly dam-free Klamath, his lifelong bond with Pennsylvania’s Youghiogheny River, the origins of America's flood management system, the benefits of giving rivers the room they need to run when the waters inevitably rise, and how increasingly severe flo...

This September brings the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene and the powerful flooding that pounded Southern Appalachia. Incredible work has been to remove the bridges and cars and houses and trees that filled up the rivers. And more work continues today and for the next 18 months to clean up the remaining smaller trash. In this episode we learn about these details and how some communities did not flood because dams were removed prior to Helene, and how more dams are being removed post Helene.  Our guests are Hartwell Carson and Andy Hill from Mountain True in North Carolina. 

After incredible collaboration and momentum at the Snake River amongst several tribes and two states to create a legitimate pathway for the 4 Lower Snake River Dams to be breached and therefore allow the anadromous Salmon, Steelhead and Lamprey of the basin to avoid extinction, the collaboration has been cancelled by the current presidential administration.  Why?  What comes next?  Our guests are full of passion and wisdom for this story: Kayeloni Scott from the Columbia Snake River Campaign and Libby Tobey from the Grand Salmon Project. 

GUESTS
Kayeloni Scott
Columbia Snake River Campaign

Libby Tobe...

For 40 years, American Rivers has published its annual Most Endangered Rivers list — a powerful statement sparking awareness and action to restore waterways across the country. In this 40th anniversary episode, we talk with Chantel Dominguez from American Rivers to explore this year’s list, river by river, moving through the challenges they face and the tangible solutions for each. We also revisit three rivers from last year’s list to learn about their increasing health and vitality.

Thumbnail pic credit:  Sinjin Eberle, American Rivers

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Every year, we ask one big question: What is a River? This year, the currents brought us to Dr. Robert Macfarlane—writer & professor—and his newly released book, Is A River Alive?, Dr Macfarlane joined us to explore that very question. From the chalk streams from his home in England to rivers across three continents, Macfarlane pursues his answers. In this episode, we move through his global journey, his new water literacy, and why he calls himself a teacher first.

GUESTS

Dr Robert Macfarlane, University of Cambridge

Dr Robert Macfarlane, Wikip...

In this episode, we dive into About Damn Time, Dana Romanoff’s powerful film that follows Cindell “Dellie” Dale and a crew of boatwomen as they navigate handcrafted wooden dories down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. They spent 17 days and 277 miles running the river and filming the story. Their journey becomes a vivid exploration of women reshaping a river culture long dominated by men. We ask: How did they work together to tell this story? What wisdom flows from these women to the next generation of dory guides? And why is the dory the most poetic boat ever b...

Every July, more than 500 paddlers push off from Kansas City down 340 miles of massive Missouri River current, paddling day and night across the state in one of the world’s longest nonstop river races. This is the MR 340, an event of endurance, suffering and transformation. From solo racers chasing records to 10-person canoes grinding it out over four brutal days, every paddler faces the same river. In this episode, we sit down with Kate Mansker, a racer from the very first MR 340 in 2006 who still holds course records, and Steve Schnarr, the race director who steers the chaos behind th...

Live from the River Management Society’s Annual Symposium in Ashland, Oregon, we bring you a live conversation with Paddle Tribal Waters. This powerful project is paddling the entire length of the Klamath River from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean during the summer of 2025. We dive into the vision and logistics behind this month-long river journey. Hear how Paddle Tribal Waters is weaving together stories of ecology, culture and river life. 

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HOST
River Mana...

Katie Veteto is a river guide with quiet calculated confidence and a sharp eye for water. Within a few years she was navigating one of the most difficult crafts on the river—the massive sweep boat. NRS's new film Driving Sweep, directed by River Radius Contributing Host Greg Cairns, follows her journey of learning, doubt, and determination as she takes on a role historically dominated by men. Through her story, the film offers a powerful reflection on resilience, mentorship, and making space in wild places.

GUESTS

Katie Veteto
Katie Veteto was born in Southern Ut...

Two friends become enamored with R1 rafting and together began running class 5 runs to include waterfalls. Then they decide to spend a summer R1ing and making a river film about their fun. Kenny Beauchamp and Ryan Huck tell their story of being friends, running scary fun water and learning to make a film.  

GIVEAWAY

Enter Here
 

GUESTS

Ryan Huck @hucknstuff29

Kenny Beuachamp @steep_creek_kenny

Film Acct @steep_creek_productions_llc

Website:  www.steepcreekproductions.com

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This is the 3rd and last episode about the Tijuana River. The Tijuana River is a story of trade, immigration and international borders. This is a river that flows across the US Mexico border and carries pollution and sewage. Our guest is Dr Maria-Elana Giner; she served as commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission and upon request of President Trump, she resigned from this position in April of 2025. In this 3rd episode we look for solutions to this epic challenge for the US and Mexico.

CO-HOST

Ramon Chairez
Un Mar d...

Many of our favorite rivers run through public land, land that is owned and managed by the Federal Government, and so therefore owned by the citizens of the United States. There is renewed chatter in Washington DC suggesting that major sales of public lands can create significant revenue for the Federal Government. This episode hosts experts on this topic from the Idaho Outfitters & Guides Association, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition to learn more about who wants this, why this is being considered, what are the benefits, and how listeners can engage in the process.  

GUESTS

Do you ever wonder if bots are being used to acquire river permits during the annual cancellation lotteries each year? So do we. So we built a bot to see if it works to secure permits. And we tried talking with rec dot gov to get their input. Check out this episode for a tour of bots, permits, bureaucracy and access to public rivers. 

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The Tijuana Rivers courses through the City of Tijuana Mexico where 2 million people live.  Several hundred thousand homes in Tijuana are not connected to the city sewage system and this leads to significant pollution of the Tijuana River.  And because the city of Tijuana butts right up to the US Mexico border, the path of the river sewage and the responsibility for managing is not always clear.  This episode goes into Tijuana to learn more about why the pollution exists, where it comes from and the status of various infrastructure tools that manage the pollution. 

CO-HO...

This episode is on site where a beautiful desert mountain river flows through an estuary and into the Pacific Ocean. Before the Tijuana River meets the ocean, it navigates through a dense urban border region with 5 million people. The outcome is a river that is carrying toxic sewage and pollution to the ocean, closing beaches and creating illness in the river and beach communities. This is the first episode in a series about this beautiful place, the epic pollution, and the incredible people who are engaged in the work to clean up this river and ocean. 

G...

River runners became paramount for river rescue in many parts of Appalachia when Hurricane Helene inflated the rivers to record levels. People were stranded in buildings, bridges blew out, and houses were swept downriver. This live episode at the America Outdoors Conference hosts 3 river runners who immediately engaged in the rescue of people stranded by the floods, and, the rescue of the rivers from their own floods. They tell the stories of their work beginning at daybreak on day 1 of Hurricane Helene. 

GUESTS

Korey Hampton
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...

In September of 2024 when Hurricane Helene arrived in the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, it landed where the ground and rivers were already saturated and swollen with rain. The result was “the storm of record” taking out thousands of bridges, sending thousands of landslides down the mountains and taking human life. This episode hosts the National Weather Service and the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center to explore the storm and the river reaction, and then Dr Phillip Prince goes deep in describing landslides and debris flows and their impact. 

GUESTS

Trisha...

Dr Len Necefer opens up 2025 for The River Radius. Len is the mind and perspective I wanted to welcome me and you both into this 6th season of The River Radius. We talk through the relationship of rivers and elections, of books for this year, the work and impact of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, and other river and life layers. Len is the founder of Natives Outdoors, the Sonoran Avalanche Center, runs rivers, is articulate and intelligently humorous. This is the 2nd episode with Dr Len Necefer and both are some of my favorites. 

1S...

To move from 2024 into 2025, we have one guest in two episodes for you. Our guest is Dr Len Necefer. This is the first episode. We talk through life wrapped in intellect and self facing humor, 6th grade reading levels, native art and the modern retail market, an upriver bike ride, and river runs at the northern most reaches of the North American continent. Len is the “star” of his Outside TV show where he is riding his bike up the Colorado River from Mexico to Colorado.  He is the founder of Natives Outdoors. He served the Obama Administration in the D...

Do rivers have rights? Should they have a set of rights that guide how they are used? In September of this year, 2024, the Biobio River in Chile was assigned a Declaration of Rights. This non binding document allows for work to be done towards making the Declaration influential and even binding at a later date. We speak with International Rivers and Malen Lebu in Chile to understand this more. 

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GUESTS

Darby McAdams holds many places in the river world: kayaker, film maker & instructor of both kayaking and film work for young paddlers. In November of 2024 her new film NEAR THE RIVER went public. In this episode Darby moves through her kayak path, her film path and talks about NEAR THE RIVER and its story about the people of the Zambezi River in Africa. 

DARBY MCADAMS
Near the River film
IG
River Roots Film Production
NRS Dirtbag Diaries:  “Darby McAdams & the Evolution of Passion” by Chandra Brown

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Georgia has rivers and streams running from the mountain country of the Southern Appalachians to the Gulf of Mexico, totaling about 70,000 total miles of waterways.  Whitewater and flatwater.  Clear water and Black water.  And a long history of publicly accessible rivers and streams.  That access is being debated by the State of Georgia and bills have been proposed that would curtail access for the public.  We talk with Georgia Rivers to learn more about this topic and about the public meeting and comment process. 

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25 years ago the Edwards Dam was removed from the Kennebec River in Maine allowing alewives and sturgeon to return to their spawning grounds in force, revitalizing the ecosystem and delighting the paddlers and local communities with the sturgeons’ explosive breaching displays. In the summer of 2024, 2 separate source to sea trips ran the lengths of the Sandy and Kennebec in Maine. Contributing host Clark Tate was part of the Sandy trip and tells the on river story of both source to sea trips.

CONTRIBUTING HOST
Clark Tate
@lclarktate

RIVERS FOR CHANGE 
...

In the summer of 2024, the Chilcotin River in British Columbia had a landslide that completely blocked the river creating a natural dam.  For the next 6 days the river water backed up behind this dam until the waters finally worked over the top the of the landslide, creating a breach that would exceed the previous historical flows by 5 fold. 3 people share their experience and knowledge of the landslide in this episode.

EPISODE GUESTS

TŜILHQOT’IN National Government
Jenny Philbrick, Executive Director
State of Local Emergency Declared for Tŝilhqot’in Territory due to Tŝi...

Why have cases of reported bat encounters at the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon drastically increased in the last several years? What are the chances of contracting rabies from a bat encounter? How is the safety of helicopter crews wrapped up in the physical location of a bat encounter? What does the vaccination process look like? In this episode, we utilize the personal story of a river runner's bat bite in the Grand Canyon, the expert perspectives of 2 ecologists, a CDC rabies expert, and the woman who oversees Search and Rescue in the Grand Canyon to provide insight...

Working as a commercial river guide is one of the best jobs, day after day on rivers, helping people enjoy rivers, seeing beauty, having fun, chasing adrenaline. Creating incredible friendships, some of which might last a lifetime. And there can be a dark layer. Sexual Harassment continues to percolate, as it does in many places, in the layers of river guide culture.  This episode goes there and learns about sexual harassment in the river guiding culture. We talk with Dr Maria Blevins, long time river guide, who has conducted research on this topic. We hear from guide warehouse and s...

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GUEST

Kevin Fedarko
A WALK IN THE PARK
Order the book
Audio Book
THE EMERALD MILE

Pete McBride
While Pete is not a formal guest of these episodes, he is part of the  jo...

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GUEST

Kevin Fedarko
A WALK IN THE PARK
Order the book
Audio Book
THE EMERALD MILE

Pete McBride
While Pete is not a formal guest of these episodes, he is part of th...

As snow is melting and running down rivers across the US, this episode talks with hydrologists at 5 regions of the National River Forecast Center to gain perspectives on how much snow and rain fell over the winter and how it will melt and what the rivers will look like this spring and summer.  We focus on the Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, California, some of Nevada, and the Colorado River Basin. 

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Dams have been blocking rivers for decades. Is there a growing crack in the dam? This episode explores dam removal as an increasing trend.  We talk with guests at the Chattooga River and Tugalo Dam, the Snake River and the Lower Snake River Dams, and the Klamath River and the active removal project there.  And we look at the trends globally for dam construction and removal.  

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Each year American Rivers publishes a list of 10 rivers that hold great opportunity for river quality improvements. This year, in addition to covering the full list with Amy Kober of American Rivers, we talk with local experts to include the ocean surfers at the Tijuana River estuary in California, the river lovers at the Duck River in Tennessee, and the high desert river people overseeing the entire state of New Mexico. We hear about the unique rivers and the work happening to care for these places.

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GUESTS

John Amodio
Facebook
Linkedin: John Amodio
 

Kevin Fedarko
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Vicki Ozaki 

Leonel Arguello

Dave Van De Mark

CONTRIBUTING HOST
Samara Rosen

RESOURCES

Navigating Ecological Transformation: Resist–Accept–Direct as a Path to a New Resource Management Paradigm

Sierra Club Oral History Project: John...

Kevin Fedarko’s book, the Emerald Mile, takes readers on the journey of the fastest ride through the Grand Canyon in a dory named the Emerald Mile. Fedarko’s book dives into the backstory of the dam, the characters, and even the record-breaking journey, and yet leaves one question remaining: what is the backstory of the dory’s namesake? In this 1st of 2 Emerald Mile episodes, the stories of Fedarko and Dave Van De Mark demonstrate the impact that words and imagery make when applied to places like the Emerald Mile in California’s Redwood National and State Parks.

 <...

Atmospheric Rivers are bands of water vapor in the sky, sometimes a few thousand miles long, bringing winter moisture to the west coast of North America and delivering it all the way to the Rocky Mountains. The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes flies research planes above these storms all winter tracking the details and forecasting the coming storm and this episode hosts their director to learn about Atmospheric Rivers.  

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American Whitewater published their Top 10 List of Stewardship issues in January 2024.  This is a mix of dam removal projects, legislation and policy pushes, Wild and Scenic options, all encompassed in the work from American Whitewater to keep rivers clean and accessible.  This episode is an interview Kevin Colburn from American Whitewater learning about each river on this list and the positive end goals. 

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GUESTS
American Whitewater Website
@americanwhitewater
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AW Membership
@kevincolburn42 Duration: 01:04:18

The river guiding and river running world are sometimes perceived as idyllic and welcoming.  When is it something different?  Our guest today is an openly gay man, and he share’s his story of working as a river guide and guide company manager for the past decade and how some of that is idyllic, and other parts are full of discrimination. 

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THE RIVER RADIUS

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The Mountain Hydrology Lab at West Virginia University has defined the density of whitewater river runs in the United States and cross referenced this data with how climate change will alter those flows, and how changes in river flows, to include low flows and floods, will impact the people living along those rivers. This episode talks at length with the Director of the Mountain Hydrology Lab, who is also a stout river kayaker, Associate Professor Nicolas Zegre about this work his students are doing, how West Virginia has the most dense collection of whitewater runs, and where students can...

In the first episode of 2024, a commercial river guide tells his story of having a massive heart attack while guiding a trip in May of 2023 on the South Fork of the American River in California. This episode is recorded with an audience of river guides and outfitters. Beyond the story is the question of the role of AEDs in commercial river guiding. 

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CONFERENCE
American Outdoors Association
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THE RIVER RADIUS

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There are numerous authors and media professionals doing work to explore river topics.  To close out the 2023 river and podcast year, this episode hosts two of the best.  Heather Hansman is an author writing books and magazine articles.  Teal Lehto, a.k.a., “Western Water Girl” is a social media content creator.  We talk through their respective crafts, leadership in river conservation and trending topics.  

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GUESTS
Heather Hansman
Website
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Link Tree

Teal Lehto
Insta...

The Klamath River 2nd episode. In the Spring of 2025, a group of teenagers from several Tribal Nations of the Klamath River Basin and greater region will descend the newly undammed Klamath River from source to sea. These teens began learning how to kayak in 2022 and 2023, began learning about river policy and fish science, and are bringing their family stories to the river with them. In the summer of 2023 The River Radius spent a week with these young paddlers on the water and on the microphone capturing their story. 

SPONSORS
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After 100 years of dams stagnating the flows of the Klamath River and killing the Salmon runs, a group of teenagers from the tribal nations of the Klamath Basin will paddle the Klamath from source to sea to usher in the post-dam Klamath.  In this 1st of 2 episodes on the topic, the founders of Rios to Rivers & Paddle Tribal Waters explain how their own paddle experiences and time travel, brought the inception of this powerful passage. 

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GUESTS
Ashia Grae...

Payson Kennedy at 39 was a career academic, and with his wife Aurelia had four kids, a house, and two cars in Atlanta.  After working on the stunt team for the film Deliverance in 1971 and a summer running a raft company, he and his wife decided to leave it all behind and with a good friend, started the Nantahala Outdoor Center.  Today, 50 years later, the Nantahala Outdoor Center is one of the most important and successful river guide operations and instruction schools in the river world. 

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Our 3rd Annual episode of "What is a River" comes to you from a plane flying above the flooded Yampa River Valley in northwest Colorado. In May 2023, River Radius host Sam Carter joined two geomorphologists and a hometown river guide to fly above the Yampa River when it peaked at 20,000 cfs. This flight and episode learns about the deep value of an un-dammed, free flowing river spreading its waters across the flood plains and pounding down deep sandstone canyons.  

EPISODE IMAGE 
Kent Vertrees 
@powdercatkent
(more info below)

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The Native Teen Guide in Training Program held its 12th year of training teenagers from various tribal nations how to work as river guides. This year was the first year that the guide staff for this program was all Indigenous. The River Radius joined the NTGIT program at the boat ramp, campground and river warehouse to hear this story.  

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GUES...

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GUESTS

Scott Armstrong with All Outdoors
Scott Underwood with Mother Lode River Center 
Jann Dorman
Ron Stork
Keiko Mertz
Stan Dodson
Amy Stroud
Colton Johnson
Tim Lasko
Friends of the River

EPISODE CONTENT RESOURCES

The Last River Lost Episode

Restoring the Stanislaus River 

Cadillac Desert

THE RIVER...

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GUESTS

David Brown
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American Whitewater
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GUESTS
Mark Dubois
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RESOURCES
The Stanislaus River Archive
Restoring the Stanislaus River
Tim Palmer
Tim Palmer’s book:  Stanislaus: the Struggle for a River
Friends of the River
Episode Cover Photo by Tim Palmer from the Stanislaus River Archive

PICTURES OF ITEMS MENTIONED IN EPISODE

Shark's Mouth

Proposition 17

Chainings

THE RI...

The South Platte River runs right through downtown Denver and as you might imagine, this river catches a lot of trash.  There are hordes of people who clean this river several times a year and have been doing so for 17 years.  Today this clean up is led by Protect Our Rivers, and the South Platte is lined up for a $350 million dollar upgrade.  This is a story of urban river people and the river they love. 

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Have been using a groover this summer?  Have you cleaned one....or need to clean one?  This episode is a Re-issue of our "History of the Groover" episode from 2021.  For many overnight river trips, the groover has become as common a tool as the PFD.  Where did this groover come from, and why is a portable river toilet called a groover.  This episode finds the people who were there 50 years ago when the need for the groover emerged, and when the groover itself was created.  

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While many river runners see Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam as the leading threat to the Colorado River overall and to the Grand Canyon, there is a voice that wants to keep Lake Powell in place and full of water. To understand this viewpoint and reasoning, this episode explores this topic with the BlueRibbon Coalition and Powellheadz. This episode is the companion to our recent publication of “Glen Canyon is Again Being Submerged Under Lake Powell.” 

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Is there a relationship between forest fire scars, floods and debris flows? This episode will explore  landscapes denuded by fire and these massive storms creating floods in the fire scar zone. Is this a normal pattern? A new pattern? Coincidence? And how does understanding this correlation further our relationship with these changing landscapes? This episode explores these questions and more through the tools of western science, personal narrative, and traditional ecological knowledge.

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GUESTS
Bryan Maddox, author of A User’s Gui...

Glen Canyon was home to the flowing Colorado River until 1963 when Glen Canyon Dam closed its gates creating Lake Powell.  Over the past few years, water in Powell has dropped to levels not seen since the 1960s.  The River Radius went onto Lake Powell and up into the canyons to see what has returned in these canyons as they restore to their pre Powell eco-systems and to ask the questions of what is next for Powell and Glen Canyon.  Guests are the Glen Canyon Institute and Eric Balken.     

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An exploration of unions in river guiding. Why aren’t they common? Why do some guides want them?  A guide forms a union. One outfitter assesses the viability of unions on multi-day rivers. A guide turned outfitter on the Ocoee River provides healthcare to her guides. A boater turned insurance agent teaches provides healthcare insurance to river guides.  

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As spring melt begins to fill rivers in the Western United States, the anticipation is high for big water runoff this season because of the long snowy winter.  The River Forecast Centers of the National Weather Service provide forecasting for river flows across the country.  This episode talks with the 3 of the Western Forecast Centers to learn about the snowpack and the coming river flows for spring of 2023. 

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13 River Forecast Centers
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Every year since 1984, American Rivers has released a report called America's Most Endangered Rivers. To be highlighted by this report, rivers must have significance to human and natural communities, face consequential threat, and have an upcoming major decision that the public can help influence. This episode is an interview with Sinjin Eberle and Amy Souers Kober on what makes this report an effective river conservation tool, the most endangered rivers of 2023, and tangible actions that we as listeners can do to engage with the most endangered rivers of 2023.

GUESTS 

American Rivers

In...

American Rivers celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year.  Founded in 1973, American Rivers is a national level river conservation organization.  To understand how they see the future of rivers, we interviewed their Executive Director to hear his story and what American Rivers is focusing on in the next few decades. 
 

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River corridors are the conduits of water and beauty.  And so many of us treasure our time there.  How do we best leave it untrammeled?  Two experts on River Leave No Trace (LNT) join me to talk through the LNT philosophy. 

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GUESTS

Colter Pence
Wilderness, Wild & Scenic Rivers, and Trails Program Manager
Flathead National Forest
Hungry Horse - Glacier View Ranger District

MacKenzie Holbrook
Colorado Mesa U...

Is it true that lightning can’t strike in the Grand Canyon? How far can lightning travel through water? If it does strike, where is the safest place to be? This episode explores lightning from scientific and risk management perspectives. Grounding theory through personal narratives and best practices, this episode is a tool for any river runner’s stormy trips. 

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GUESTS

LAURA HARRIS

JOHN BELZ, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

John Belz's Undergr...

Running waterfalls in rafts is not overly common, but some rafters do it.  Tony Glassman and his river crew built a film about running waterfalls that eventually lead to people following their lead, but not following their path of gaining experience and skills.  Tony explains the layers of training and safety and experience and communication that he and his river crew have worked through to become competent waterfall running rafters. 

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River Guides have a great life working on rivers, guiding people down fun and beautiful rivers. But what makes that life hard? How do River Guides deal with stress?  Responder Alliance is building tools for River Guides and OARS, an outfitter, is putting the tools to work with their River Guides. 

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ENDLESS SUMMER EPISODES

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Hayley Stuart learned to kayak while attending an international traveling high school.  Today she works with indigenous river communities in South America to prevent dams from changing their rivers into reservoirs.  She is teaching these river communities to kayak, building films about this work, attends the United Nations COP meetings as a linguistics translator working to UnDam the UN, and recently earned a Masters from Oxford University  in water science, policy and management.

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GUEST

Hayley Stuart
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TEDx<...

American Whitewater is one of the oldest whitewater clubs in the United States, has become the club of clubs and is a modern leader in access to whitewater rivers and river conservation.  Recently the leadership at American Whitewater shifted as Mark Singleton stepped down after 18 years, and Clinton Begley became the Executive Director.  We talk with both Mark and Clinton to learn about AW, their history and their future.  

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In September of 2020 at Kanawha Falls in West Virginia, a river rescue at midnight occurred and was given an award and labeled the “Midnight Miracle.”  A group of 13 kayakers and rafters responded late that night to a facebook post about a lone kayak floating at the falls.  At the 2 year anniversary of the rescue, we went with the rescued kayaker when he ran the falls again for the first time since his rescue.  He and the rescue crew tell the story.  

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GUESTS Duration: 01:18:06

Source to Sea expeditions come with a myriad of missions. This episode explores how to leverage source to sea river expeditions for conservation. Source to Sea expert Danielle Katz breaks down the types of impacts that source to sea expeditions can have, how long expeditions take to plan, and what this kind of undertaking demands from a team.

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Rivers For Change
Danielle Katz

Grand Salmon Source to Sea Ex...

For the past 27 years in November, class 5 kayakers have assembled at the Green River in North Carolina for the Green Race.  And a couple thousand hardy spectators hike the miles down to cheer on these rowdy kayakers.  In these two episodes we tell the story of the race and we meet two of the women racing.  One has won the race 12 times.  The other is a first time racer, and an Olympic kayaker.  Come mad bomb the Green River with us.  

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For the past 27 years in November, class 5 kayakers have assembled at the Green River in North Carolina for the Green Race.  And a couple thousand hardy spectators hike the miles down to cheer on these rowdy kayakers.  In these two episodes we tell the story of the race and we meet two of the women racing.  One has won the race 12 times.  The other is a first time racer, and an Olympic kayaker.  Come mad bomb the Green River with us.

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GUEST
Jon Totten
Dogsmile Adventures
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Jason Isbell, “It Gets Easier”
 

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GUEST
Jon Totten
Dogsmile Adventures
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Jason Isbell, “It Gets Easier”
 

SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE
For emergencies, call the : 1-800-273-8255

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REDSIDE FOUNDATION
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HELPLINE, 208-740-1192, Response within 48 hours
 

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SOAR

RESPONDER ALLIANC...

ADVERTISING SPONSOR
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GUEST
Jon Totten
Dogsmile Adventures
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Music Jon likes
Jason Isbell, “It Gets Easier”
 

SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE
For emergencies, call the : 1-800-273-8255
 

DENVER RECOVERY CENTER


REDSIDE FOUNDATION
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Facebook
HELPLINE, 208-740-1192, Response within 48 hours
 

WHALE FOUNDATION
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HELPLINE , 877-44WHALE / 877-449-4253, Response as soon as possible

SOAR

RESPONDE...

In the late 1980s, a group of river boaters from the United States reached out to river boaters in the Soviet Union, modern day Russia.  And they began an international river running friendship called Project RAFT; Russians & Americans For Teamwork.  Big volume rivers of Siberia and the Altai Mountains.  Friendships that are still intact today.  

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PROJECT RAFT
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Project RAFT 1988 Mutual of Omaha: 'Rafting Into Siberia' on youtube
Soviet Union Rafting to Freedom on youtube

CONTRI...

Our 1st episode published in 2019 and in September of 2022, we hit the 50th episode.  The River Radius has covered 50 rivers, 21 states and 12 countries.  Here we have 8 short follow up interviews from 8 of those episodes to learn what is happening in those ongoing river stories. 

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Is there a right associated with being able to float down a river and to engage in that joy and risk?  What happens when life circumstances create barriers to accessing risk?  The National Ability Center (NAC) is a river rafting outfit that focuses on developing access to rivers for all people.  We spent a day this summer running a river with NAC and their boats full of participants learning about access.  

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What is a River?  What is in there, at the micro level?  How does water move from the Earth’s surface through the ground, in and out of rivers?  How much of the water on the planet is in rivers and how long is it there?  This episode of What is a River is our annual episodic interview with an expert in their field.  Dr Rebecca Neumann is a professor and researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle where she focuses on Hydrobiogeochemistry.  

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Ben Knight builds powerful films with his partner at Felt Soul Media.  DAMNATION, RED GOLD, IN CURRENT, and now LEARNING TO DROWN.  In the past few years, Ben also became a father.  In this episode Contributing Host Greg Cairns talks with Ben about the inside of his life, some of the process of creating his films, and his path of becoming a powerful filmmaker.  And, his daughter.  

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GUEST
BEN KNIGHT

Instagram for Ben Duration: 00:58:12

The Grand Salmon Source to Sea crew is paddling just shy of 1000 miles following the Snake River Basin Spring Summer Chinook Salmon from the mountains of Idaho to the Pacific Ocean.  These 4 women launched in April of this spring and are now nearing the west coast.  Youth Salmon Protectors is a dedicated group of 2000 young people of the Pacific Northwest.  Both of these groups are working to bring attention and action to the Chinook Salmon as they near extinction.  This episode is interviews with 6 members of these 2 groups.  

SEN MURRAY & GOV INSLEE REPORT AND COMMENT OPTION

The River Radius went to Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River to learn about that dam.  How do Salmon get around the Lower 4 Snake River Dams?  How are the dams impacting the salmon returns?  What does breach mean?  What are the proposals on the table right working to avoid Salmon extinction?  How do tribal treaty rights impact the salmon outcome? 

GUESTS

Jay Hesse, Director of Biological Services, Fisheries Resource Management, Nez Perce Tribe

US Congressman Mike Simpson, 2nd District of Idaho

Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune

Vice Chairma...

Chinook Salmon of the Snake River begin their lives in mountains of Idaho’s rivers, live their lives in the Pacific Ocean, and return to their natal spawning stream in Idaho.  This fish is on the brink of extinction. This is the summer when all pressure is focused on maintaining this fish that is millions of years old.  This is the first of 2 episodes about this Chinook Salmon.  

GUESTS

Dr Helen Neville, Trout Unlimited

Vice Chairman Shannon Wheeler, Nez Perce Tribe

Russ Thurow, Fish Biologist, US Forest Service

This episode is the 2nd of 2 episodes.  Some stories stand the test of time. This is one. 1995, Big Susitna River in Alaska, glacial melt, rains in the canyon. Three friends fly deep into the backcountry with plans of a one day trip on big water. That day their plans changed & 27 years later they all tell the story. 

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Big Susitna River

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Helio Courier

THE RIVER RADIUS

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This episode is the 1st of 2 episodes.  Some stories stand the test of time. This is one. 1995, Big Susitna River in Alaska, glacial melt, rains in the canyon. Three friends fly deep into the backcountry with plans of a one day trip on big water. That day their plans changed & 27 years later they all tell the story. 

Nissan and The Denver Area Dealerships
Dealer Locater Link

Big Susitna River

USGS Gauge on Big Susitna River

Helio Courier

THE RIVER RADIUS

Website

Run...

Each year, American Rivers, one the largest organizations advocating for clean and healthy rivers, releases their annual report of 10 rivers in the United States that need help. This episode is an interview with two staff from American Rivers, Amy Souers Kober and Matt Rice, where they explain the report, how it has led to rivers having improved water quality in the recent past, and the 10 rivers in the “America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2022” report.

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How many times have you ended a river trip and said that you have enough food for 3 more days?  This episodes talks with two outfitters focused on Grand Canyon River trips.  Ceiba provides food for private permit river trips.  AZRA provides and prepares meals for their commercial river trips.  Between both companies they are packing food for about 230 multi-week river trips each year.  They share ideas on how to pack food, how to keep coolers cold and how to keep the kitchen and cooking simple and delicious.  

This is part of a 3-episode cluster with an overall theme...

Swiftwater Rescue courses are available for private river runners, commercial river guides and professional rescuers.  These courses provide curriculum and instruction on river hydrology, swimming, self support, peer rescue, rescue of gear, and skills to avoid situations where rescue is needed.  This episode hosts interviews with two instructors of Swiftwater Rescue courses.  One instructor works on the rivers of the western United States, the other instructor works on th rivers of ten Southeast United States, Costa Rica and Ecuador.  

This is part of a 3-episode cluster with an overall theme of, HOW TO RUN RIVERS. The s...

Getting kids on the river is many things: fun, life-shaping and maybe intimidating.  Lindsay DeFrates has written numerous “How to” articles based on her experience taking her 3 kids on river trips.  Lydia Wing founded a kayak school that teaches young people how to kayak rivers.  Their expert insights and approach to getting kids on the river is hosted in this episode. 

What are the key components of taking your kids on river trips?  How do you know what to bring and how to pack it?  Is it even fun to take kids on the river?  Lindsay DeFrates provides Th...

River cleanups with excavators, barges, bigfoot and Oreos.  Living Lands & Waters is an “Industrial Strength River Cleanup” organization working to clean up the big rivers of middle America.  24 years.  118,000 volunteers.  12.4 million pounds of trash.  Living on barges.  Meeting the small obscure river towns.  

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GUESTS

Mike Coyne-Logan

Living Lands & Waters website, Instagram, Facebook

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Bison Bridge Project

RIVER RADIUS PODCAST

hello@theriverradius.com

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Have you ever heard someone say they don't listen to podcasts or don't know how?  Have you recently learned how to listen and want to know more?  This episode is all about how to listen to an episode.  So, go listen to this with someone who doesn't know how to use a podcast app and help them learn.  There are many people out there, many river people, waiting to learn how to listen to The River Radius Podcast.  

For this episode I sat down with my friend Peggy and taught her how to use her iPad to liste...

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Is it a reservoir in crisis or a river recovering?   In October of 2021 a crew of river scientist and river runners and this podcast traveled down Cataract Canyon to examine a retreating reservoir and a recovering river.  As Lake Powell dips below 30% of full, the Colorado River is cutting through the decades of reservoir sediment.  What is in the sediment?  On top of it?  What is next?

SPONSORED ORGANIZATION
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GUESTS
Pete Lefebvre
Dr Brenda Bowen
Dr Scott Hynek
Dr Cari Johnson
Dr Sasha Reed
Dr Ja...

The Gila River and Gila Mountains of New Mexico have been home for Indigenous people for thousands of years, for colonial Spanish and Mexican people for hundreds of years, and now for all of those folks under the United States since 1912.  This river along with The San Francisco River and The Mimbres River were just nominated for Wild and Scenic River protection.  This is a river of families, lineages and gathering.  

GUESTS

Nathan Newcomer

Guadalupe Cano

Patricia Cano

Michael Darrow

Simon Sotello III

US Se...

Dry rivers and deserts full of irrigated nut trees. Jacob Morrisons new film, “The River's End: California’s New Water War” leans into the questions about agriculture and how rivers can be maintained. In this interview, we delve into some of the topics in the film.

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RIVER RADIUS PODCAST EPISODES ON CALIFORNIA WATER

Ep. 27  "Southern California's Water, Yesterday & Tomorrow"
Ep. 26  "Recycling (river) Water in Southern California"
Ep. 16  "Mile 0 Sacramento River Source to Sea"
Ep. 18  "Mile 153 Sa...

Rafael Gallo began kayaking at the University of Tennessee in the 1970s, founded Rios Tropicales in Costa Rica in the 1985, prevented the Rio Pacuare from being dammed, was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame in 2009, taught ex-Columbian FARC soldiers to become river guides in 2018, was known and respected across the globe for his river work, and during his life helped plant nearly 31,000 trees, all to protect and support rivers.  In March of 2021, he passed away.  This episode is a conversation with his son, and his personal assistant/biographer about his life and his way.  

RAF...

River shuttles are as important to a river trip as the boat.  And sometimes shuttles are easy and when they aren’t easy, they can be horrible.  This episode is a set of four stories from The River Radius listeners about their sh!%%y shuttle experiences.  

RIVERS FROM THIS EPISODE

Usumacinta River, Mexico

Green River, Utah

New River, West Virginia

Gauley River, West Virginia

Gauley Fest

Rio Grande River, Texas

Colorado River, Grand Canyon, Arizona

Mancos River, Colorado

John...

New Mexico passed a law in 2015 that unintentionally resulted in two public rivers now being fenced off from public use by private landowners. A case was presented before the New Mexico State Supreme Court in 2020 looking to have the law repealed. This episode interviews Lesli Allison from the Western Landowners Alliance and Steve Harris from Far Flung Adventures to get the clear story.

GUESTS
Lesli Allison, Executive Director
Western Landowners Alliance

Steve Harris, Owner
Far Flung Adventures

ARTICLES
*There are years of articles on the 2015 La...

This episode is a quick hello and a request for story input from you, our listeners of The River Radius.  Do you have a story of a river shuttle that went sideways, really far sideways?  We want to hear from you.  There are more details in this super short episode.  Thanks for listening!

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Southern California is home for 19 million people and imports the majority of its municipal water from the Colorado and Sacramento Rivers, moving that water hundreds of miles through humanmade aqueducts.  Both rivers have decreased flows meaning less water for So Cal.  This episode looks at how So Cal gained water, how they are changing their water profile, and how rivers may continue to be impacted by their extractions.  

COMPANION EPISODE: 
"Recycling (river) Water in Southern California"
 

GUESTS
METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

REGIONAL RECYCLED WATER ADVANCED PURIFICATION CENTER

  Duration: 00:49:38