THE RETURNING RAPIDS PROJECT
OF CATARACT CANYON & THE COLORADO RIVER
Live for the Closing Plenary Session
America Outdoors Conference
December 2025
Salt Lake City, UT
In the canyon country of Southeast Utah where the Colorado River flows south, Lake Powell (a.k.a. Reservoir Powell) is the body of water formed by Glen Canyon Dam. When Lake Powell is full it is the 2nd largest reservoir in the United States, by volume. But in December of 2025 during this live episode, Powell sat at 28% of full and continues to drop. Where the Colorado River first meets the stalled river waters that form Lake Powell, the river continues to carve down the through the decades of deposited sediment and restore its riparian habitat and river bed. This recovery was first noticed by river guides as they notice the return of long lost rapids. Today an organization called "The Returning Rapids Project" is the lead research and documentation organization of the return of the river. In this live episode, three members of Returning Rapids joined the River Radius on stage for conversation about their work and what is happening where the river returns.
PADDLE TRIBAL WATERS
& THEIR
KLAMATH RIVER SOURCE TO SEA
Live for the Closing Plenary Session
River Management Society Symposium April 2025
Ashland, OR
From a Klamath River headwater stream in the summer of 2025, Paddle Tribal Waters, a group of young indigenous paddlers from the tribal nations of and near the Klamath River Basin launched a source to sea run down the Klamath River, reclaiming the waters, eddies, sun & salmon. At River Management Society's Symposium in April 2025, The River Radius hosted a live episode with these young paddlers two months prior to the launch of this source to sea run.
HURRICANE HELENE
&
THE RIVER RESCUE
America Outdoors Conference
Chattanooga, TN
December 2024
We hosted a live event at the American Outdoors Conference in December 2024 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our guests were two river outfitters, Kory and Mitch, with French Broad Adventures in Marshall NC on the French Broad River. Mitch is also the assistant fire chief in Marshall and leads the swift water rescue team. Kory and Mitch became central figures in river based rescue in Marshall as the river went from 800cfs to 100,000 cfs overnight. Further, our guest was Steven Foy from NOC who engaged with state and federal law makers to begin immediately the process of communicating the impacts to the rivers and the resources needed to bring the infrastructure to whole. A companion episode, not from the AO conference, covers the science of the weather, river flow and geologic impact of the storm.
Sunflower Theater
Cortez, CO
June 2024
Kevin Fedarko is the author of THE EMERALD MILE, the story of the Emerald Mile dory and its speed run down the Grand Canyon in 1983. His new book A WALK IN THE PARK published in May of 2024 exploring his full length backpack of the Grand Canyon. Kevin joined the RIver Radius for an on stage interview at the Sunflower Theatre in Cortez, Colorado on June 13. Find the episodes here: Part 1 & Part 2.
HEART ATTACK ON THE RIVER
AMERICA OUTDOORS CONFERENCE
PHOENIX, AZ
DECEMBER 2023
At The American Outdoors Conference, December 2023 in Phoenix, The River Radius hosted Joe Ellis for an on stage episode. Joe is a long time river guide in California and in the spring of 2023, he had a massive heart attack while on the river. The immediate and exact actions of his peer river guides using an AED and CPR saved Joe; Joe is alive and told his story to the River Radius and an audience. Listen to the episode here.
