The River Radius Podcast Sam Carter

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 staff manager, Bryant Baker, about how he is working to eliminate sexual harassment from the company he manages. And we talk with Respect Outside and Jim Miller to gain clarity about sexual harassment definitions, when sexual harassment is assault, how and why it percolates in river guiding, and resources available for guide companies to shake free of sexual harassment.

This episode is Part 2 of our live on stage interview with Kevin Fedarko. Kevin joins us to talk through his new book A WALK IN THE PARK. In Part 2 we go into the west end of the Grand Canyon and learn about the events that confound and inspire the messages that emerge in his new book.

This episode was recorded live in Cortez, Colorado at the Sunflower Theatre. Kevin Fedarko, author of THE EMERALD MILE, is our guest on stage where we discuss his new book, A WALK IN THE PARK. This book is the account of Kevin’s walk through the length of the Grand Canyon, not across it. He did this with his friend and colleague Pete McBride. Over the course of 75 days scattered through 14 months, they walked 750 miles inside the Grand Canyon. While this book delivers the details of how hard that journey was, the real essence is what they discovered about the threats to the canyon, the people of the canyon, and evolving views of what wilderness can mean. This episode is Part 1 of this interview.

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.

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.

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.