Big Muddy Speaker Series Nov 2025
2025-11-12 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S. Riverside Dr, Saint Charles, MO, 63301, United States
A Community Conversation on Data Centers – Presentation by Natalie Johnson, Executive Director, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, for Missouri River Relief’s Big Muddy Speaker Series, hosted in St Charles by Greenway Network.
7 p.m. presentation (6 p.m. Social Hour)
Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S Riverside Dr, St Charles, MO 63301
Across Missouri, data centers are rapidly expanding – bringing with them big questions about water use, energy demand, and environmental impact. These developments are reshaping our landscape and our policies faster than most communities can keep up.
Join Natalie Johnson, Executive Director of Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, for a conversation about what this growth means for our shared environment, our big rivers, and the people who call it home. While this isn’t a topic we have all the answers to yet, Natalie brings years of experience advocating for communities and the environment, helping translate complex issues into collective action.
This dialogue marks an important step in understanding and responding to one of Missouri’s most pressing emerging challenges—ensuring that innovation and economic development move forward with transparency, accountability, and care for our natural resources.
Natalie Johnson is the Executive Director of Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, Missouri’s only nonprofit public-interest environmental law firm. With more than 20 years of experience advancing environmental protection and community-driven advocacy across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, Natalie leads the Center’s work to safeguard the region’s air, water, land, and communities through strategic legal action and deep partnership with the people most impacted by environmental decisions. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and a Master of Science in Natural Resources and Environmental Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.

Annual Meeting 2025
2026-01-06 18:30 - 20:00
Annual Meeting at Shamrocks Pub & Grill to review 2025 and plan 2026. https://www.shamrocks-pubandgrill.com/

Big Muddy Speaker Series Jan. 2026
2026-01-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S. Riverside Dr, Saint Charles, MO, 63301, United States
Presentation by Emily Young, Advocacy Outreach Coordinator, Stream Teams United, for Missouri River Relief’s Big Muddy Speaker Series, hosted in St Charles by Greenway Network.7 p.m. presentation (6 p.m. Social Hour)Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S Riverside Dr, St Charles, MO 63301

Did you know that more than 460 million metric tons of plastic are produced each year—and about 40% of it is designed for single use? Despite decades of recycling efforts, only 9% of all plastic has ever been effectively recycled. The rest ends up in landfills (49%), is incinerated (19%), or escapes into our environment (22%). This presentation will explore how we got to this point, the far-reaching impacts of plastic on our environment, health, climate, and global equity, and how community organizing can drive real, source-based solutions to reduce plastic use and waste.

Emily is a Pennsylvania native who attended Juniata College and received a BS in Environmental Chemistry in 2022. During her time at Juniata, she completed an immersive learning semester focused on Aquatic Ecology at the Raystown Field Station and wrote an undergraduate thesis investigating total phosphorus sequestration in Raystown Lake, a US Army Corps of Engineers reservoir located in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Following graduation, Emily worked as a Watershed Specialist at the Franklin County Conservation District in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where she coordinated watershed restoration projects in the county and organized several conservation education programs and events for children and adults. In this role, Emily also worked closely with local, state, and federal partners and stakeholders to implement Franklin County’s Chesapeake Bay Countywide Action Plan. Emily served in this role for just over two years before moving to Waynesville, Missouri in 2024. She joined Stream Teams United as an Advocacy Outreach Coordinator in August 2024 to work on the Show-Me Less Plastic project, which aims to reduce plastic pollution in the waterways of the Great Rivers State. To get a Facebook reminder, RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/2267295920415185

MLK Day of Service Clean-up CANCELED
2026-01-19 08:30 - 12:00
THIS EVENT IS CANCELED due to extreme temperature …was to assist the residents of the Academy – Sherman Park community in St Louis with continued tornado and trash clean up. We are facilitating a grant provided to the community, so it is a little different from what you may be used to. Dumpsters will be placed along the Hodiamont Tracks Alley starting on Friday January 16. We will be assisting residents with trash pick up and dumpster loading on both Saturday, 10am-noon (check in 9:30) and Monday, 9am-11am (check in 8:30). But if you can come late and/or stay late, we will need help until probably 1 pm. For details and to register, CLICK HERE. We are working to reschedule, possibly in mid-March.

Big Muddy Speaker Series Feb. 2026
2026-02-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S. Riverside Dr, Saint Charles, MO, 63301, United States
Big Medicine: York Outdoors, for Missouri River Relief’s Big Muddy Speaker Series, hosted in St Charles County by Greenway Network.7 p.m. presentation (6 p.m. Social Hour)Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S Riverside Drive, St. Charles, MO 63301

View then discuss Big Medicine: York Outdoors. This 25-minute film is a collaborative effort between the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and NEW Multimedia, as part of Big Medicine: The York Project, an initiative to bring York’s legacy to the foreground. It follows eight Black educators and environmental stewards as they retrace the steps of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, reflecting on York’s legacy and the importance of outdoor recreation on a four-day river trip through Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. A frontiersman, hunter, and likely the first African American to cross the continent, York was an American explorer who made important contributions to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was enslaved by Captain William Clark and after the expedition’s return was denied his payment and his freedom. Learn more at https://www.nps.gov/lecl/york.htm

Team Leader Academy Feb. 2026
2026-02-28 09:00 - 16:00 | Beyond Housing, 6506 Wright Way, St. Louis, MO, 63121, United States
Greenway Network’s 2026 Team Leader Academy will be hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Stream Team at the Beyond Housing Headquarters in North St Louis County on February 28, 9am-4pm. The goal is to train leaders to head up stewardship activities within the Missouri Stream Team program, along with anyone who leads groups of volunteers on outdoor clean ups or adventures. It provides trip leaders with the knowledge necessary to host a safe and organized experience for volunteers. Both trainings are offered free of charge, with the second half as a hands-on large-scale cleanup event where the newly trained trip leaders can get practical experience working with volunteers on a project. The cleanup part of 2026’s training is scheduled for March 21.
Register here- https://greenwaynetwork.org/team-leader-academy/

Big Muddy Speaker Series - Mar. 2026
2026-03-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S. Riverside Dr, Saint Charles, MO, 63301, United States
Big Trails, Big Rivers, presentation by Brett Dufur, Author, for Missouri River Relief’s Big Muddy Speaker Series, hosted in St Charles County by Greenway Network.7 p.m. presentation (6 p.m. Social Hour)Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S Riverside Drive, St. Charles, MO 63301

Guidebook author Brett Dufur will explore the possibilities of having the Katy and the upcoming Rock Island Trails create a 450-mile trail loop destination through unique, picturesque, and historic towns and countryside around mid-Missouri. He will also explore adventures on the Missouri River, namely local paddling adventures and the MR340, which he has completed 8 times. He will be signing his Katy Trail Guidebooks and Rock Island Trail Guidebooks as well as his collection of poetry, Endless River.
Brett loves exploring Missouri and writing about our trails and rivers. His most recent books include a guidebook to the Rock Island Trail and a book of river poetry entitled Endless River. His Katy Trail Guidebook is now in its 11th edition. He is a former writer and editor for the Missouri Department of Conservation. He operated Mighty Mo Canoe Rentals on the Missouri River for 15 years and also the Katy Trail Bed & Breakfast in Rocheport.

Academy Sherman Park Cleanup March 14
2026-03-14 08:30 - 13:30
Join the community of Academy Sherman Park to continue working on the clean up they started in January. We will gather on Hodiamont Tracks between Clarendon and Kingshighway. Check-in starts at 8:30. Bags and gloves will be provided. Dress for the weather including sturdy shoes. Bring a water bottle. A community celebration will start at noon, so plan to stay and join us for hot dogs, snacks, and prizes. Register HERE.

MOPadCo cross-post: Al-Pint Night
2026-03-24 18:00 - 20:00 | Alpine Shop, 440 N Kirkwood Rd, Kirkwood, MO, 63122, United States
Join the Missouri Paddling Coalition on Tuesday, March 24, 6-8pm, at Alpine Shop Kirkwood for Al-Pint Night. Al-Pint Nights are a monthly happy hour series where good beer meets good causes. For $10, you receive a limited-edition Alpine Shop pint glass and two pours from 4 Hands Brewing Company. Non-alcoholic options are always available. All proceeds from the evening go directly back to that night’s featured cause. We’ll serve up brews and information about all things paddling in Missouri. To volunteer, CLICK HERE.

Big Muddy Speaker Series - April 2026
2026-04-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S. Riverside Dr, Saint Charles, MO, 63301, United States
Daniel Boone’s Overlooked Role in American and Missouri History, presented by Ken Kamper, historian, for the Big Muddy Speaker Series, hosted in St. Charles County by Greenway Network — 7:00p.m. presentation (6:00p.m. social hour) at Bike Stop Cafe, 701 S Riverside Drive, St. Charles, MO 63301
Daniel Boone lived in Missouri for 21 years, longer than he lived in Kentucky. During Ken Kamper’s research, he found that Boone’s biographers mostly ignored 52 years of his adult life, even though those years were just as important and exciting as the 34 years in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Boone was in the lead and marked the trails from North Carolina to Missouri, and his son Nathan marked the trails across Missouri that “everyone” followed, except a very few, for the first 50 years when America’s settlers migrated from the East Coast to Missouri. Some of what he did besides the trails turned out to be an amazing part of America’s most important early westward history. Kamper will provide a quick overview of Daniel Boone’s life and discuss his important overlooked role in American and Missouri history, as well as the vast amount of important Missouri history that’s still unknown to the public.
Ken Kamper is a retired professional engineer who spent 50 years tracking down the factual history of Daniel Boone. Kamper located most of Boone’s trails and history-related sites in the 7 states where he lived and documented Boone’s 22 home sites. He’s a former historian for the Boone-Duden Historical Society, former Historian for the Boone Family Association of California, Historian for the National Boone Society, Historian for the Daniel Boone and Frontier Research Association, and former Historian in Residence for the Historic Daniel Boone Home and Park, near Defiance, MO. In 2006 Kamper received the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Certificate of Award for Historic Preservation. Kamper is currently writing “The Boone Book” to tell the accurate and complete account of Daniel Boone’s life.

Mission: Clean Stream on Saturday, April 11, 2026!
2026-04-11 08:00 - 14:00
Join hundreds of volunteers to work together to pick up tons of litter along our rivers and streams. Greenway Network partners with eight municipalities to host cleanup sites. Some links below will be updated soon for you to sign up for the cleanup event in your area!
St. Charles City

St. Charles County

Lake Saint Louis
City of O’Fallon
City of Dardenne Prairie

City of Cottleville
City of Wentzville
Wright City

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Before heading out, watch our brief safety video at https://youtu.be/HpD5w5JEmKo Be sure to dress for the weather. Wear sturdy shoes, and bring gloves as well as a water bottle. Be prepared to get outside and have fun while making a difference. Thanks and we hope to see you soon!

Race for the Rivers 2026
2026-08-29 08:00 - 14:30 | Blanchette Landing, 100 Olive Street, St. Charles, MO, 63301, United States
Whether you’re an avid paddler looking to get in on a competitive river race, or simply in search of laid-back family fun, Race for the Rivers is the event you’ve been searching for! With water education, restoration, and recreation as the focus, Greenway Network stages this fun Missouri River paddling event every year. Choose 20 or 30 miles, both finishing at Blanchette Landing in Saint Charles’ Historic Frenchtown District.
Registration will be available this spring at https://www.racefortherivers.org/
