View from the River – Education on the River

Healthy River Partnership (HRP) was formed of Kansas City’s commitment to water resources, river cleanups and watershed education. The organization does river cleanups, river education, riparian restoration, on-the-water field trips and provides safety boats for the Missouri River 340 Race.

HRP’s View from the River Program promoted awareness, understanding, and appreciation for Missouri’s natural resources and conservation heritage on the Missouri River by taking participants out on the river in boats. The View from the River is an on-the-water educational experience for a wide audience of participants. Boats take participants on a floating tour of Kansas City’s history, ecology and biology and learn about how cities are influenced by the rivers that flow through them. Kansas City’s Missouri Riverfront is a perfect learning lab for students to understand the huge impact the Missouri River has on Kansas City. The program helps citizens understand future challenges faced by our nation’s Big Rivers. When citizens have an understanding of rivers, they are able to make better-informed decisions about actions that promote watershed health.

The View from the River program engages people in watershed information from a unique perspective. Involvement in a cleanup engages citizens in personal stewardship of lands in public trust. The audience served is quite divers and included the following groups in 2014: students, festival attendees, conservation groups, community groups, city and state government, elected officials, general public, student groups, Missouri Stream Teams and MR 340 race participants, race officials and ground support crews.

HRP will bring three groups to the Missouri for the View from the River program. They anticipate 40 students from three different schools to participate in three programs. These participants are introduced to the recreation, infrastructure, history and the future of the Missouri River.