The River Radius Podcast

10 Episodes
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By: Sam Carter

This is a river podcast, and a great story, boating, science, adventure and conservation podcast.

Part 1 The Emerald Mile, The Forest Behind the Story
#88
03/19/2024

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.

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Atmospheric Rivers 101
#87
03/05/2024

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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Down River Equipment
Raftopia 2024 Sales Event
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Denver Area Nissan Dealers
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American Whitewater’s Top 10 River Stewardship Focus
#86
02/20/2024

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. 

 

SPONSORS

AED One Stop Shop

Over It Raft Covers
@overitraftcovers


GUESTS
American Whitewater Website
@americanwhitewater
Facebook
AW Membership
@kevincolburn42


Queer River Guiding; 1 Professional’s Experience
#85
02/06/2024

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. 

SPONSORS
Denver Area Nissan Dealers
@nissanusa
www.nissanusa.com

AED ONE STOP SHOP
Volume and Outfitter Discounts

THE RIVER RADIUS

Website

Instagram

Fac...


The Mountain Hydrology Lab & Future River Flows
#84
01/23/2024

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...


Heart Attack on the River
#83
01/09/2024

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. 

 

 

SPONSORS
AED One-Stop Shop Bulk Order Discount

Covered With Carrie website
 

CONFERENCE
American Outdoors Association
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THE RIVER RADIUS

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Heather Hansman & Teal Lehto: Conversations on their Craft & Conservation
#82
12/13/2023

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.  

SPONSORS
Covered with Carrie

Denver Area Nissan Dealers
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GUESTS
Heather Hansman
Website
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Link Tree

Teal Lehto
Insta...


Klamath 2: The Next Generation of Paddle Tribal Waters
#81
12/05/2023

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
NRS LEAD Program
NRS website
N...


Klamath 1: The Origin of Paddle Tribal Waters
#80
11/28/2023

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. 


SPONSORS
NRS  @nrsweb
Mighty Arrow Foundation
Virga Foundation 
American Whitewater   @americanwhitewater


GUESTS
Ashia Grae...


Payson Kennedy
#79
11/08/2023

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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Denver Area Nissan Dealers
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Ov...