(This is a selection of past articles from our Newsletter.)

A TRUE RIVER OF THE WEST
          by DeEtte Huffman
         reprinted by special permission from Arkansas River Coalition Newsletter, Vol. 7, Issue 1, January-February 2005.

    A readership of 192,500 people has just been exposed to the past history and present day attractions of the Arkansas River as they traveled with writer Candy Moulton in True West magazine's special feature Renegade Roads in the November/December 2004 issue.

    The story starts in Wichita, Kansas and ends up in Leadville, Colorado, giving readers some suggestions of places to eat, sleep, sites to see, and dates of special events for a future trip.

    True West's demographic stats show that 87% of their readers visit the historic sites they feature.  In that case then, I think it would behoove us in Kansas and Colorado to clean up our act by making the Arkansas River look as good as possible.

    The author visited Cowtown and the Indian Center in Wichita and found that the river runs slowly here so she headed upstream to Yoder, which she seemed to find more interesting because of the Mennonite shops with hand-made good.

    In Hutchinson, the Dillon Nature Center was recommended and she liked Hedrick's Exotic Animal Farm, both fun attractions for children.

    Fort Larned is given high praise for the fact that it is one of the best preserved Indian War era forts anywhere.  Then she comments: "The river seems not much more than a large creek near Larned, having been drawn down by irrigation and other uses in this area and upstream, so I continue west into Colorado and make my way to the second important frontier-era post along the Arkansas: Bent's Fort."

    Before leaving Kansas, what a relief it would be to mom and dad if they could stop at a river park around Garden City and let the children, who have been cooped up in the car, out to run and explore before the long haul to Colorado.

    The Arkansas has suffered a series of root canals leaving it with a vacuous appearance.  While it will never look again as it did back in the early 1800's, it would be to our economic advantage if it could regain its base flow and at least look like a river.

   Farther northwest the Pawnee Watershed in Hodgeman County is promoting a new reservoir called Horse Thief Canyon of 450 acres on Buckner Creek, one more dam out of hundreds already in place.

    This historic trail along the Arkansas River may be a disappointment to out enthusiastic True West travelers when they see the stretches of of river around Dodge City that no longer flow and we'll have to admit, yes, we did it, we sucked it dry in less than 100 years.

    Once in Colorado, Bent's Fort in La Junta and the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk in Pueblo are given good coverage.  Moulton gives some fascinating history in this article and ends: "Here in the heart of the Rockies, I end my journey along the Arkansas, confident that as long as the 14,000-foot peaks here remain snowcapped, the Arkansas will continue flowing to Wichita."

    It will take more than the mountain melt of the Rockies to keep the Arkansas flowing since there are many who would like to draw down the snow melt beyond its capacity.  Declining water levels may get worse when Aurora, Colorado has been granted storage rights in Pueblo Reservoir to move water from the Rocky Ford Ditch to the sprawling Denver suburb.

    This, on top of the irrigators water demands in both states from a river that cannot give any more, does not bode well for the author's optimistic hope that it can still be there for all those future tourists in search of authentic western American history.

    So what can we do about this dilemma of our own making?  For starters, both states could moratoriums on building any more diversion dams on the streams that feed the Arkansas.  Their water agencies could crack down on over-water users now and they could bolster their pilot studies with irrigators who agree to voluntarily save water by giving them some incentives.

    Then may be we would not have to admit that we are sucking a river dry and we really don't care.  We could take pride in this special gift of nature.   The Arkansas could once again be considered a True River of the West.

HEALTHY RIVERS NEED CLEAN CREEKS
     by DeEtte Huffman, Prairie Writers Circle

    If you were lucky when young, a nearby creek gave a tremendous amount of pleasure.  There was wading - maybe it even had a pool deep enough to swim in - searching for tadpoles or crawdads, fishing with a homemade rod, or just throwing stones in to watch with fascination as the ripple grew.  At moments in the reflection you and the creek became one.

    In my childhood, in the middle of summer when it finally got hot in Chautauqua County, N.Y., family including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins would drive to an isolated swimming hole in Hatch Creek not far from the town of Busti to spend a wonderful afternoon with nobody there but us.

    Only later did I learn that this little creek emptied into larger Stillwater Creek, the water flowing on to the Cassadaga River, the Allegheny River, the Monongahela River, the Ohio River that joined the Mississippi River, and finally into the Gulf of Mexico.

    We adults seem to have forgotten the joy of being near a creek and the beauty of a free-flowing river.  Or we have chosen to ignore, in the name of progress, the importance of small streams as feeders of rivers and part of our cultural heritage.  We need to teach our children about the greater picture of their own nearby stream so they can develop a sense of awe and respect.

    Now many streams like these are threatened.   The Bush administration proposes to rewrite Clean Water Act rules to remove protections from thousands of wetlands, small streams, ponds, ditches and other waters.  The act has already been softened by an administration that has crafted industry -friendly regulations and rescinded rules and quietly reduced enforcement of the act's provisions.

    Kansas has done no better.  Our state has enacted a law that reclassifies many small or intermittent streams to make them exempt from the Clean Water Act.  This is especially maddening since overuse strongly contributed to their becoming intermittent in the first place, and all streams, even the intermittent, feed into rivers.  We should protect all streams at all times.

    The disappearance of Kansas streams since 1961 is striking in maps included in a recent report on the response of stream biological communities to agricultural disturbances.  Crop irrigation has been implicated as the primary cause in the loss of historically normal stream flows over much of western Kansas.  Even the once rowdy, unpredictable Arkansas River has been tamed by eliminating a long stretch around Dodge City.

    The report, from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas, also points out that agricultural development and water policies have profoundly altered Kansas stream life.  Several native fish and mussels are lost, and many other native aquatic plants and animals are in decline.

    When you remember your childhood creek, think of what it meant to you and your family.  We all have landmarks in our lives, such as a town, a school or a creek.  They give us a sense of place where we know we belong.

    Too many of our creeks have been lost to overuse, pollution, diversion or fill-in.  It doesn't really matter how it happened.  What does matter is that it must stop if we are to preserve a culture that includes a brook or creek.

DeEtte Huffman is founder and past president of the Arkansas River Coalition, Inc.  She is a member of the Prairie Writers Circle at the Land Institute, Salina, and lives in McPherson, KS.

IMPACTS OF DECLINING STREAM FLOW ON SURFACE WATER QUALITY
by
Robert T. Angelo

Many streams in western Kansas have experienced a progressive reduction in flow during the past two decades.   Trends are most dramatic in the upper Arkansas, Cimarron, and Smoky Hill river basins, where a shift toward irrigated crop production has contributed to the lowering of the groundwater table and largely eliminated baseflow contributions from shallow aquifers.   Continued emphasis on the production of corn and other water intensive crops threatens to reduce stream flow over an even wider geographic area. 

Declines in flow exert a direct impact on surface water quality by reducing the dilution base available to sewage treatment plants and other pollution sources.  In the face of such declines, contaminant loadings eventually begin to exceed the assimilatory capacity of streams.   Nuisance odors, blooms of filamentous or scum-forming algae, episodic fish kills, and the elimination of pollution intolerant plant and animal life often accompany reductions in flow and increases in contaminant concentrations.

Reductions in stream flow also aggravate problems associated with the intrusion of highly mineralized groundwater.   In streams  receiving significant baseflow contributions from saline aquifers, concentrations of chloride, sulfate and other ions tend to increase as baseflow contributions from upstream (overlying) freshwater aquifers decline.  These circumstances render streams less valuable as sources of domestic and irrigation water and place a profound physiological stress on many native aquatic and semiaquatic species.

The conversion of perennial streams to intermittent water bodies, characterized by the formation of shallow, stagnant pools during the irrigation season, also subjects aquatic biota to overcrowding, high concentrations of metabolic wastes, increased incidence of disease, and heavy predation.   These problems are often compounded by the tendency of livestock to congregate near pools, resulting in sediment disturbance, heavy organic loadings, and anoxic and highly unsanitary conditions.

The relationship between stream flow and surface water quality is not explicitly recognized under existing water allocation laws.  However, stream flow is an important consideration in the implementation of the Kansas surface water quality standards.  Under the standards' mixing zone provisions, declines in available dilution base necessarily impose more stringent effluent limitations on discharging facilities and often add to the cost of wastewater treatment [K.A.R. 28-16-28c(b)].

State efforts to establish minimum desirable stream flows have not reversed the trend toward stream dewatering and water quality deterioration in western Kansas.  Absent any changes in the laws and policies governing water usage, regional depletion of groundwater will inevitably lead to further decreases in stream flow, further reductions in surface water quality, and the elimination of the beneficial uses historically associated with flowing water.

(Robert T. Angelo, Office of Science and Support, Kansas Department of Health and Environment  - 1994.   Impacts of declining stream flow on surface water quality.  Pages 1-2 in: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Conference on Water and the Future of Kansas, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS)

"DO YOU LIVE IN A RIVER TOWN?" 
by Tom Pelikan

    Years ago, at a conference celebrating efforts to protect the Delaware River, I had the pleasure of speaking with Frank Dale, the author of a book called Delaware Diary.   We spoke of the difference between river towns and towns that just happen to have a river running by or through them.  Since then, I've looked at every town I've been to with a river, trying to figure out whether that town was a river town.  I've visited a lot of towns along the Arkansas, and I've seen plenty of both kinds of town.
    What's the difference?  The difference is that river towns LOVE their rivers.  They think about them.  They celebrate them.  They make the river, no matter how big or small, a part of the life of the town.  Think of the San Antonio River, a relatively insignificant stream compared to the Arkansas, that San Antonians have made a vital part of their identity as a city.  The relationship with the river is what makes or breaks a river town.
    Do you live in a river town?  Ask yourself some questions about the relationship.  The answers will make the decision for you, and teach you what you have to do to make sure yours is or becomes a river town.
    One: Does your town CELEBRATE the river?   Do you have a festival like Salida, Colorado's FIBARK Festival?  Are there parties, from a neighborhood blues concert to a state fair, near the river?  If not, then why doesn't the town think the river is worth celebrating?
    Two: Is there a part along the river for people to walk along it, or just sit on a bench and watch the river go by, like there is in Fort Smith, Arkansas?   If touching the water requires a major effort, chances are you don't live in a river town.
    Three: Are there city or county plans for protecting the river or capitalizing on it, like Tulsa's new Vision for the Arkansas River or the plan Great Bend, Kansas, has for bringing more tourists to town?  River towns include the river in their plans, laws, and visions for what they are as a city.
    Four:  Who takes care of the river?  Is a city agency responsible for river matters?  Is there a good group of volunteers picking up trash or monitoring water quality such as in Wichita?  The more people in a town who care about and for the river, the more likely it is that you live in a river town.
    Though I make my living protecting a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, the beauty and history of the Arkansas frequently call me back.  The Arkansas River Coalition is doing a lot of right things working with groups throughout the watershed to protect that amazing river.  Think about your town along the Arkansas.   Think about what you can do to make your town a river town, or an even better river town.

    [Tom Pelikan is a member of the Arkansas River Coalition and Executive Director of Friends of the Wissahikon   (www.fow.org) in Philadelphia, PA.]
    From the Arkansas River Coalition Newsletter - Volume 5, Issue 5, September-October 2003

SLUDGE - IS IT SAFE?

     An investigation by the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency found that there were gaps in the science used to approve sludge recycling.  As a result, the EPA has asked the National Research Council, a panel of distinguished scientists, to study the possible health concerns related to sludge recycling.  This has come about because of growing concerns that recycling of solidified sewage may not be as safe as thought when the government approved it in the mid-1990's.
    The most commonly used sludge is treated but still contains reduced levels of bacteria viruses, toxins and parasites.  There have been some questionable deaths of people who lived near fields treated with sludge.  Presently there are restrictions for owners who apply sludge as to human access for a period of time to let those toxins naturally degrade.  There are also restrictions on the times they can plant crops but evidently none that would protect neighbors who live close by.

    Cree Indian Prophecy ---
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

From the Arkansas River Coalition Newsletter - Volume 4, Issue 2, March-April 2002

WHERE TRAILS MEET

    Two of the most historic trails of Kansas, the Santa Fe and the Chisholm, meet just 3 miles east of Canton on the McPherson/Marion County line, the only place in the U.S. where these two trails cross.  There is a beautiful limestone marker that marks the spot, placed there by the Cottonwood Crossing Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail and Marion County Development.  Canton is located 10 miles east of I-35 on Highway 56.  The Maxwell Wildlife Refuge entrance is 7 miles north of U.S. 56.   The trails were of great economic impact to America and to this area.  The homesteading, ranching, small trading towns and cowtowns were a spring-off of these important trails as well as the railroads.  The Santa Fe railroad followed the trail fairly close and soon replaced the wagons for hauling freight.  Now as so many things from our past history have disappeared, the Santa Fe railroad has also been dismantled through the area.

SANTA FE TRAIL IN OKLAHOMA

    The Santa Fe Trail lies along an approximately 150-mile strip in the northwestern corner of the state, in the very tip of the panhandle region known as No Man's Land.  The area's dramatic landscape and unique history invite travelers to experience a modern-day trek along the Santa Fe Trail.  It lies north of Boise City and at nearby Flag Spring you will find a historic landmark that served as a camp site and watering hole for weary Santa Fe travelers.  Going west is Autograph Rock where Trail travelers carved their names and the date they passed through into this cliff and a regular overnight stop.

   Near a historical marker are the ruins of Camp Nichols, built in 1865 to protect those crossing the Trail.  Proceed on to Black Mesa State Park/Nature Preserve.  The park is adjacent to Lake Carl Etling.  On the Nature Preserve, a granite monument featuring Oklahoma's highest elevation, 4, 973 feet above sea level, can only be reached by hiking a 4.2 mile trail to the top of the mesa.  Allow four to six hours for the round-trip hike as the trail has a fairly steep incline.  Black Mesa offers a great diversity of plant and animal species as well as evidence of historic Indians.

From the Arkansas River Coalition Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 5, September-October 2001.

Santa Fe Trail in Colorado

In Kansas, the Santa Fe Trail split into the Mountain Route that followed the Arkansas River and the Cimarron Route through the Oklahoma Panhandle and New Mexico.  During Trail days, the Mountain Route was called the Raton or Bent's Fort Route and was longer and more difficult than the Cimarron Route, but considered safer.

You can drive the Mountain Route byway, comprising a 188-mile portion of the trail, traversing one of the last strongholds of the nomadic Plains Indians and one of the first toe-holds of Anglo-American pioneers, who began homesteading along the Arkansas River in the 1860's.

The Arkansas River was a serious obstacle for the pioneers.  During crossings, injury to people or animals and damage or loss of wagons or cargo were ever-present dangers.

The Mountain Branch of the Trail traveled through what is today Trinidad and crossed Raton Pass, a mountain gap used by Indians for centuries.  Between Las Animas and LaJunta at the byway's midpoint is Bent's Old Fort, once a trading post and cultural melting pot, now a National Historic Site reconstructed by the National Park Service.  A good book to read describing the history of Bent's Old Fort is Bent's Fort by David Lavender.

The Koshare Indian Museum in LaJunta has an outstanding artwork collection from seven of the original Taos Founders artists plus work by other notable artists.
From the Arkansas River Coalition Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 4, July-August 2001.