Your voice is needed

Federal agencies including Fish and Wildlife and National Parks are seeking public input on land protection planning along the Missouri River between Fort Randall Dam and Sioux City, Iowa.

Learn more or add your voice here. About 40 people attended a meeting in Vermillion, S.D. on Feb. 23, and many land owners had questions. The agencies want to hear from land owners but also from recreational users like the members of our club.

Please share the link with anyone you know who might have input on their planning.
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=40350

March 4 pool event coming up

Big thanks to all the members and new members who came out on Feb. 19. You can watch video of it above, or go here to seem more images and videos.

We still have room in our March 4 session. Same time and location. We do encourage members who haven't made a session to come out and join us. All are welcome, but we want to make it available to as many new folks as we can!

More images are on our Facebook group page, too.

Feb. 12 session full; plenty of space on Feb. 19 and March 4

What do people do at these sessions? The one-minute video above shows you.

We've nearly reached capacity on our Feb. 12 event, but have plenty of room in the Feb. 19 and March 4 sessions. Remember each is held 9-11 a.m. at the YWCA in Sioux Falls. There's a back door right to the pool.

Look forward to seeing you - you can search our past posts on this blog to get a nice map of the YWCA area for parking, unloading and more. Remember: Wipe out your boat before you bring it inside; we don't want to haul sand, mud or anything else into the host's facility!

Here's the SDCKA group link on Facebook, too! We try to update both as much as possible.

Pool Sessions Set For Feb., March

We'll host three pool training sessions at the YWCA in Sioux Falls:

Feb. 12
Feb. 19
March 4

Each session is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Come work on wet exits, rescues, or anything else you might like to try in a cozy, sand-and-mud free environment. Club members will be happy to help show what they know, but there's no formal lesson plan or agenda. These events work best with 10 or fewer paddlers; there's room for roughly 4-5 boats on the water at a time. You do not have to bring your own boat.

Cost is $10 for non-members - pay and you've got your membership!

Come out and join us; post here if you have questions. The YWCA is located near the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls. There's a back door that goes right into the pool area, take 11th Street east to Dakota Ave. Trailer parking in the bank lot just east of the YWCA is available. Make sure your boat and gear are clean as a courtesy to our hosts.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who came out today for our annual conference! We had another great turnout and a good group of presenters.

Here are a few links from today's presenters:

Erin McManus Photography: http://www.erinmcmanusphotography.com/

Greg Latza Photography: http://www.greglatza.com/

USD Missouri River Institute: http://www.usd.edu/missouri-river-institute/

South Dakota Kayak Challenge: http://sdkayakchallenge.org/

Camping & Cooking with the Bare Essentials: http://www.amazon.com/Camping-Cooking-Bare-Essentials-Complete/dp/0975301608/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327799832&sr=1-1

Team River Runner: http://www.teamriverrunner.org/

Here's the video that Steve was working to show during his presentation: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-20128743/freeing-disabled-vets-with-kayaks/

Thanks again - and see you on the water!

SDCKA Conference Schedule

South Dakota Canoe & Kayak Association Annual Conference

Saturday, January 28, 2012
12:00 – 4:00 p.m.

The Outdoor Campus
4500 S. Oxbow Ave
Sioux Falls, S.D.

12:00 Welcome & Year in Review
Steven Dahlmeier, President SDCKA

12:20 White River Memories
Greg Latza & Erin McManus

12:40 Camping & Cooking with the Bare Essentials
Tony Keller, Author

1:00 Canoeing with the Cree Revisited
Dave Greenlee, SDCKA Member

1:30 Business meeting

2:00 Break

2:20 Team River Runner
Stephen Bruggeman - South Dakota Chapter Representative, Team River Runner

2:45 The Missouri River Flood of 2011: Causes, Impacts, and Post-Flood River Management
Tim Cowman - Director, USD Missouri River Institute

3:25 South Dakota Kayak Challenge
Jarett Bies & Steven Dahlmeier – Race Co-Founders

SDCKA By-Laws

During our upcoming conference on January 28, 2012, SDCKA members will vote on making changes to the SDCKA by-laws. Below is the current version and the version with proposed changes. The highlighted changes have been voted and approved by the board.

Current by-laws: http://www.sdkayakchallenge.org/pdf/SDCKACurrentBy-Laws.pdf

Proposed by-laws: http://www.sdkayakchallenge.org/pdf/SDCKAProposedBy-Laws.pdf