BACKGROUND OF THE KANSAS
AREA WATERSHED (KAW) COUNCIL
A
SHORT HISTORY OF KAW
'The
Kansas Area Watershed (KAW) Council is the second-oldest bioregional
organization in the United States, founded in 1982 out of the
Appropriate Technology Center (AT Center) in Lawrence, KS.
The
story is that some members of the AT Center -- a not-for-profit focused
on self-reliance in energy, food, health and housing -- attended the
second Ozark Area Community Congress (OACC) in the fall of 1981, and
came home inspired to begin bioregional congresses of and on the
prairie. The first KAW Council was held May-day
weekend in 1982 at Camp Hammond (located between Lawrence and Topeka).
Since
that time, KAW Council has held annual gatherings every spring (always
the last weekend of April or first weekend of May). In the
early
years, we focused a great deal on mapping our watershed and learning
more about the prairie bioregion, of which the Kansas Area Watershed is
part. The Kansas area watershed extends from the headwaters
of
the Missouri river confluence with the Kaw (or Kansas) river in Kansas
City, MO. westward into CO. and North into Nebraska. The main
river of the water, the Kaw (or Kansas), is named for the Kaw (or
Kansa, or Konza) Indian Tribe, which lived in this area of the country
before being pushed south by the Federal government onto a reservation
in OK. KAW Council brings together those who resonate with living
artfully and sustainability on the prairie. Past gatherings,
events, potlucks, lectures, performances and publications abound (please scroll down to see more).
KAW COUNCIL
FOCUS
We
see ourselves as a group formed to foster greater community among those
concerned about the ecological health of the prairie region and its
inhabitants, and we also are committed to growing the kind of community
that can keep unfolding and growing through many generations.
To
that end, one of the main focuses throughout the years has been the
children who have grown up through KAW Council, and the ones who have
come along in recent years. KAW kids often remark about how
meaningful KAW gatherings have been in their lives, and many have gone
on to do important bioregional work and craft ecologically-sound lives.
Another eternal focus for KAW, because of our commitment to local food
and building community, has been food, and almost all of our events
feature breaking bread together.
KAW Council is also deeply
commited to an inclusive, sane and effective group process. Many of us
have -- through our involvement with KAW -- studied group process and
facilitation over the years, and we're happy to pass on what we've
learned to other local organizations. The model of group process we
favor comes frm the bioregional movement by way of the Quaker's form of
"meeting" in which all are heard. We believe that group
process
can be joyful, efficient and life-giving.
KAW has also looked
toward the arts as a way of learning more about how to live in our
eco-places. Through the publication of Konza, our
newsletter (LINK for next issue on-line) over two decades, we've
brought together important voices on many aspects of bioregional
living, including organic gardening, eco-poetics, community organizing,
food co-operatives, mapping, historical research, all manner of the
arts and much more. We've also participated in readings,
celebrations and other arts-oriented events.
Finally, KAW has
been an important presence for the bioregional movement of the
Americas. Our help in organizing the first bioregional
continental bioregional congress in 1984 was key. We also
called
together bioregional organizers from the U.S., Canada and Mexico in
2000 to discuss the state of the movement, and from that meeting, we
ended up being the main organizers of the Continental Bioregional
Congress on the Prairie in 2002. KAW members have been important
guides, advisors and mentors to bioregional groups involved in
organizing the 2005 congress, and the upcoming 2009 congress, and we
also founded and help facilitate the Coordinating Council of the
Continental Bioregional Congress, which includes members from
throughout the Americas and meets monthly in phone conferences.
Click here to learn more about previous events, gatherings and presenters.