KU News Release

Native American science students from KU, K-State and Haskell to explore Kaw River

LAWRENCE — For Native Americans studying science in northeast Kansas, the health of area watersheds and wetlands is both a critical concern and an opportunity for learning.

On Sunday, Oct. 14, Native American students from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Haskell Indian Nations University will join a canoeing “river float” conducted by Friends of the Kaw, a nonprofit group that protects the Kaw River (also known as the Kansas River).

The event is funded by a diversity grant from the National Science Foundation through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The grant also will provide opportunities for future activities for Native American students seeking advanced degrees in environmental biology.

“This will be an excellent opportunity for the Indigenous Nations Studies Program graduate students to take a leadership role in developing activities and acting as role models for the undergraduate students,” said Ray Pierotti, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and indigenous nations studies at KU.

Native American involvement in the river float is a new thing, said Laura Calwell, who regularly leads the canoe trips in her role as the Kansas Riverkeeper with the Friends of the Kaw.

“We’ll talk about the river, where it starts as a watershed and a little geography about the river,” she said.

Calwell said students would discuss the key problem facing the Kaw River: non-source-point pollution from the agricultural industry and municipal storm water. Such pollution can enter the Kaw from any point in the watershed — the area of land that eventually drains into the river.

“Pesticides and herbicides will run into the river, and there is also E coli from animal waste,” said Calwell. “Sometimes in heavy rain, wastewater treatment plants can add to the problem. After a rain, you find a spike in chemicals from oil and gas in the streets.”

Members of the Haskell Ecology Club also will participate in the river float, which will depart from Topeka (Kansas Avenue Bridge to Seward Avenue Access) at 1 p.m. and run until 6 p.m.

Graduate students in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program at KU will lead the other grant-supported activities in tandem with the Center for Hazardous Substance Research, the Ecological Forecasting Group and the Konza Prairie Long Term Ecological Research Program at K-State.

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