September 24, 2007 by Baker.

On Wednesday September 26, 2007, environmental writer and amateur swimmer Akiko Busch, author of Nine Ways to Cross A River, will speak about her personal experiences with notable American rivers and the dynamics of creating relationships with natural waterways.

Combining a journalist’s eye, a naturalist’s passion, and a swimmer’s stamina, Akiko visits rivers, meets with their protectors, and documents ongoing threats to their existence.

Busch writes, “Intimacy with the river, like other kinds of intimacy, is laced with ambiguity, with questions of ownership elusive and variable. And it becomes an easy thing to imagine yourself a particle in the river’s continuity.”

The Salt Lake City lecture is the last event in a series of lectures, workshops, and community swims throughout the Great Salt Lake watershed region featuring Akiko Busch as part of Great Salt Lakekeeper’s Swimmable Waters Campaign. Busch hopes, through her public swims and lectures, to immerse others in grassroots efforts to promote swimmable waterways locally and across the nation.

Akiko Busch’s lecture will be broadcast live at 7:00pm on KCPW Public Radio (88.3FM, 105.3FM, 1010AM).

On A Clear Day, a film about swimming across the English Channel, will precede the lecture at 4:00pm.

Akiko will sign copies of her new publication, Nine Ways To Cross A River, available for sale at the event.

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September 13, 2007 by Baker.

Please join Great Salt Lakekeeper, Salt Lake County Mayor Corroon, The Living Planet Aquarium, Project Aware, and the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands for a river cleanup project along the Jordan River as part of International Coastal Cleanup on Saturday September 15, 2007 from 8:00am - 12:00noon.

The Jordan River cleanup activities will be staged from Jordan River Trailhead Park, located at 1000 West and 2320 South in West Valley City. To get there, enter the residential neighborhood at 2320 South and Redwood Road. Turn east at light (7-11 store on SE corner), and drive east on 2320 South until you get to the park. We’ll have “River Cleanup” signs to guide you to the right place.

The cleanup will be land based. We’ll supply the gloves and plastic bags. Be sure to bring personal water, hat, sunglasses, sturdy shoes, mosquito repellant, and sunscreen.

Other International Coastal Cleanup activities taking place on Saturday September 15th include:

Utah Lake

Great Salt Lake at Saltair

Willard Bay 

Please invite your friends and family members to help us cleanup the Jordan River Parkway. All ages from 8 - 80+ are welcome to help clean up the Jordan River.

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