We paddled as part of the River School that Friends of White River puts on to teach people about water quality and other characteristics of the river. James was the skipper of one of the rafts that the kids were in, and I was one of the safety boaters. Here is an article that was in the Star afterward:
White River group gains friends by leading float trips
Most of the two dozen Arlington Community High School students had never been in a boat before, and some were nervous. "I heard boats are tippy," said senior Montice Smith, 18.
Canoes are, but inflatable rafts aren't, and the students' trip Friday down the White River from Broad Ripple to Rocky Ripple proceeded with nerves that soon gave way to the sights along the waterway.
Their guide, Kevin Hardie, executive director of Friends of the White River, has taken newbies down the White for two decades but has stepped up his efforts as part of the group's attempts to build alliances by exposing people to the river.
"The river sells itself," Hardie says, "and positive uses drive out negative uses. People who see the river up close tend to advocate for it." Winning over high school students is a long-term play,
but some of Hardie's recent trekkers already are in leadership positions. Last weekend, they included Max Anderson, the Indianapolis Museum of Art's CEO; Bob Whitt, White River State Park's executive director; Indianapolis Downtown Inc.'s Tamara Zahn; and Frank Basile, the retired real estate executive and philanthropist.
Basile has lived in Indianapolis since the 1970s but had been on the river just once, briefly. Last Saturday he and the others floated from Broad Ripple to the art museum. "It looked like a wild oasis in the middle of the city," he enthused. "We recently went down the Zambesi River
(in central Africa), and except for the fact there were no hippopotamuses in the White, it reminded me of it. It was exhilarating."
The White, long abused, is cleaner than it has been in 100 years, say experts. But its future is uncertain, with much of the undeveloped banks north of Indianapolis overflowing with commercial potential. Basile said that because of his river trip, not only is he thinking of buying a
kayak, he'd be more likely to oppose development along the river. "It's a remarkable body of water going through our city," Basile said, "and we need to protect it."
The Arlington students paddled down the river wide-eyed. An enormous, gawky blue heron swooped low over the water about 30 yards from Steven Kaba's raft. Kaba had never seen a blue heron before. "That's one crazy-looking bird," he said.
At one point Kaba, 17, paddled past a combined sewer overflow, a pipe that, with Indianapolis' antiquated sewer system, delivers raw sewage directly into the river following a rain. This surprised him. "People dumping stuff right into the water? How could that be?" he said.
"That's a real legitimate response," said Hardie. The city is in the early stages of a $3.5 billion plan that, in 20 years, will remedy the situation.
The trip ended happily for Kaba. He saw a great horned owl. He learned how to steer the boat, sitting in the back, or stern, and using his paddle like a rudder. "The whole trip was cool," he said. "I'd do it again."
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