The River Radius Podcast

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...

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...

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...

  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 work...

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 component...

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.     ADVERTISING SPONSOR Big Muddy Adventures, Clipper Canoes distributor   GUESTS Mike...

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 Rad...

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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...

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, line...

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. RIVER'S END FILM www.riversendfilm.com Instagram Twitter Facebook   RIVER RADIUS PODCAST EPISODES ON CALIFORNIA WATER Ep. 27  "Souther...

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 ne...

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 Grand...

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 L...

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! EMAIL:  hello@theriverradius.com INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK   THE RIVER RADIUS Website Runoff signup (episode newslette...

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 impact...

For many decades water has been recycled after it runs through sewage treatment plants in cities large and small in many states and countries.  That recycled water is used for landscaping and industrial cleaning.  Today with decreasing access to imported river water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has built a test facility to further clean treated waste water to the standar...

This past June of 2021, Matt Moseley attempted to swim 52 miles downriver in one day in the Green River of Utah.  He was swimming to make a statement about the state of water in western US.  The river he was swimming was at record low levels.  Matt has completed open water swims in the Colorado River, Lake Pontchartrain, the Caribbean Ocean, Lake Tahoe and he does it all to bring attention to wate...

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While interviewing Dr. Laurence C. Smith for an episode in May about his new book, "Rivers of Power, we went down a rabbit hole of talking about Supraglacial Rivers.  This short conversation gets the basics of these unique rivers that start on the top of the glaciers and is a more candid expression from Dr. Smith about this topic that he researches at great depth.  Supraglacial rivers are constant...

The groover is one of those words that has become an adjective, a noun and a verb and originally has nothing to do with the thing it defines.  The groover is that portable, leakproof and reusable river toilet that gets packed on so many overnight river trips.  It has become an essential tool for protecting the quality of the river corridor where humans travel for recreation.  This episode is a con...

"Rivers of Power" was published in 2020.  It covers humans' history with rivers from some of the earliest civilizations to the most powerful nations today and how water is possibly the greatest natural capital.   Rivers, their water and their usefulness for society has not changed.  What is changing is how humans can and do move that water from source to a place of use.  This episode explores grea...

Sacramento Source to Sea:   Website , Instagram Sacramento River Rivers for Change River Radius Podcast:   website , instagram , facebook , email San Francisco Bay Angel Island Golden Gate Bridge Previous River Radius Podcast episodes on Sacramento Source to Sea (this link goes to the home page; simply scroll down to each show and press play) Mile 0 Sacramento River Source to Sea Mile 153 Sacramen...

For many years, I have wondered about what really makes up a river.  I can see the basic features and the flows, the source and end.  But how does it really work?  Why does it work?  What are the prominent forces creating the path of the river.  This longer episode is a direct interview and conversation with Dr. David Montgomery from the University of Washington in Seattle.  Dave is a geologist by...

In March of 2021, three women launched a source to sea expedition on the Sacramento River in California .  In this new episode, we talk for 25 minutes with the crew at mile 153 and hear about how the river has changed once they left the mountains and was impounded behind a few different dams.  They call themselves Sacramento Source to Sea .  They skied on snow to get to their river launch and bega...