"Texas Author John Graves Dies At 92"

"Author John Graves, whose books became icons of rural life in Texas, has died at 92, according to multiple reports. His 1960 memoir 'Goodbye to a River', which recounted his tracing of a doomed waterway he knew in his youth, was quickly recognized as a classic. The book had a deceptively simple premise: In the late 1950s, Graves took a canoe ride down miles and miles of the Brazos River in north-central Texas, where a plan to build dams, and irrevocably alter the terrain, was being put in place..."

"Kayaking Kraze: Sport is riding a high tide of popularity"

"Racks of bright-colored kayaks at the big box stores, sporting goods retailers and specialty outlets are a testament to the boom the sport has experienced in recent years. Recreational kayaking grew by 27 percent in 2012, and is up 32 percent over the past three years, according to statistics compiled by The Outdoor Foundation..."

"Paddlers rescue lost dog in the BWCA"

"The five teenage boys were setting up their tents in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) at an island campsite when they noticed a message scrawled in ash on a rock: "Lost Dog. Named Tomah. Call DNR." A leash was left nearby. That’s when the eight-day canoe trip for five members of Minnetonka High School cross-country team turned into a doggie rescue mission..."

"Royalex is Dead"

"PolyOne, the company who produces the most revolutionary material in canoeing, is closing plants and ceasing production of Royalex. According to its press release, the plant shutdowns will produce $25 million in annual savings for the company, which ranks as North America's largest compounder and one of the region's largest resin distributors..."

"Local paddlers offer safety advice"

"Three area paddling enthusiasts say that while a lake might seem calm and glassy, there's one thing you should never paddle without. "We always insist on life jackets," said Tim Calloway. According to the United States Coast Guard, one in 66 people drown in a boating accident while wearing a life jacket. Without a life jacket, that number rises to one in 11..."

"Mosaiculture at Botanical Garden"

"No other word fits this extraordinary exhibition of ‘horticultural arts’ that opened in the Montreal Botanical Garden. Every exhibit is created using plants. And the ingenuity shown by the participants is truly amazing. There are galloping horses with flowing manes, remarkably lifelike gorillas and baboons, a shepherd in a long green cloak, a man portaging a canoe..."

"Man grows garden in canoe"

"Like plenty of local residents, C.J. Mitchell owns a canoe.But he's not launching it into Eklutna Lake on the weekends. Instead, it serves as a large flower bed where he grows bright red poppies in front of his Eagle River home."I've got all kinds of hobbies, but this one is unique," Mitchell said on a recent sunny afternoon..."

"Flow of Guadalupe River narrows to a trickle"

"Vidal Mendoza, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologic technician, scanned the upper Guadalupe River, looking for the right spot to measure the flow of the water. Or perhaps more accurately, Mendoza was searching where the river should have been. The riverbed was mostly dry, slowly baking and cracking in the sun, and the pools of the water that remained were shallow and still. It's the third time in five years that stretches of the Guadalupe above Canyon Lake have effectively gone dry, conditions not seen in the preceding five decades. "For all intents and purposes, the river's dry," said Bill West, general manager of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority..."

"Police thwart planned kayak over falls stunt"

"Niagara Parks Police have announced they thwarted a planned kayak stunt over Niagara Falls..."

"Lionfish roar into Texas coastal waters"

"The Packery Channel is a popular fishing spot for Padre Island locals and visitors. It's also ground zero for a fish invasion. Native to Indo-Pacific waters, lionfish were found far from home off the Florida coast 20 years ago. Likely released from a personal aquarium, they spread up the Eastern seaboard and down to the Caribbean. "They have a tremendous ability to reproduce and to spread," Gilbert said. "They just have followed the currents through the Caribbean and now they're in the Gulf of Mexico..."

"Floatzilla draws characters but likely no record"

"Colorful kayaks and canoes held equally colorful crews floating in the lagoon at Rock Island's Sunset Park Saturday for the fourth annual attempt at a world record raft of paddlers. There were about 1,250 registrants as of Thursday, and she reported a few hundred more Friday and Saturday. The event has had 25 percent growth each year since it started. "We'll keep going for the record," she said. "It is getting more people paddling on the Mississippi..."

"LA River Welcomes back Paddlers"

"Encased in a concrete straightjacket for more than 70 years, the Los Angeles River has been forgotten about by many. But a newly reopened four-kilometer stretch of water is pulling paddlers back to the river and allowing locals to reconnect with nature. “People are astounded when they find out that we have a river in LA and that we were founded on a river, [but] now, there’s more and more interest in calling it a river again and bringing it back to life,” said Thea Mercouffer, director of Rock the Boat, a documentary that followed her husband, George Wolfe, as he led an expedition down the entire Los Angeles River in 2008 to prove that it is both navigable and worth protecting..."

"The Opposition Speaks: Why the Memorial Park Demonstration Project for Buffalo Bayou Is NOT the Answer"

"The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), the River Oaks Country Club, and the City of Houston propose to jointly fund a $6 million project that will strip vegetation and re-route Buffalo Bayou meanders for 1.5 miles from the South Picnic Loop through the Hogg Bird Sanctuary. The plan boosters promote the plan as a restoration project based on "Natural Channel Design". They claim that the re-designed channel will finally solve erosion problems for 1.5 miles because then the bayou will be stable - the exact opposite of a natural channel! In this case, "restoration" is not grounded in reality. It is only a marketing term. We do not need to destroy the bayou in order to restore it! There is a better solution..."

"Galveston man in kayak gets dragged miles into Gulf by shark"

"The angler's adventure began shortly after he launched his kayak into the Gulf at Jamaica Beach about 7:30 a.m. Saturday. When the boater was about a mile out, he threw out his line and hooked a 9-foot blacktip shark. The current was pulling east to west, and the shark was pulling in the same direction.  When he broke free, the fisherman found himself west of Indian Beach - about 7 miles from his launch spot..."

"Monterey Bay kayaker has close whale encounter"

"Karen Hatch got the rush of a lifetime last week when two marine giants suddenly rushed at her while she was sitting on a kayak in the middle of Monterey Bay. The Santa Cruz resident wanted a close encounter with a humpback whale, but not this close. Expecting to be dumped into the chilly waters of the bay, she clutched the side of her tiny boat when the whales suddenly dived just feet from her boat, ducking under the surface without spraying her with so much as a drop of water..."