2nd Annual General Membership Meeting

Please mark your calendars: Friday, February 15th, 6pm, Quapaw Canoe Company, 291 Sunflower Avenue, 2nd Annual General Membership Meeting of the Friends of the Sunflower River. $25 (Min.) Membership fee for 2008 due on or before meeting. See below for more information. Our only expenses in the past 2 years have been $65 in postage & a $20 water quality testing kit from World Water Monitoring Day (good for 30 tests).

Upcoming expenses: A high quality water-testing station so that we can begin a database for the Sunflower's water quality. Also, an online subscription to the Delta Democrat Times, which has been carrying a lot fo stories about the Yazoo Pumps (as well as other matters concerning the Big Sunflower in the Lower Delta). Also, maybe a subscription to the Deer Creek Pilot. Does anyone have an objection?

Why join the friends? Because the river needs us!

2008 will see us knee deep in the mud (hip deep in the water) cleaning up the river in downtown Clarksdale. Also, we have been coordinating a water quality workshop with MDEQ (Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality) sometime this Spring/Summer.

The illustrious Mike Clark and I will be paddling downstream the last 2 weeks of Feb, continuing the annual Sunflower River Expedition. And you can paddle with us and help us document its dark muddy mysteries. Contact me for more info. If you can't paddle with us, your membership ensures that you receive the whole story & photos from the adventure along the way! (sent to you via this e-list).

And lastly, your membership entitles you to a 25% discount in canoe rentals and shuttles from Quapaw Canoe Co. to get out & enjoy our mysterious muddy waterway yourself, this deal good only on the Sunflower River. We have a special set of canoes, paddles & lifejackets made for the slippery banks and many log jams encountered on the Sunflower River. Bring your own snake repellant! We will drop you off and pick you up. Shuttles provided by none other than Welsey Jefferson, who you probably know better as "the Mississippi Junebug" when he's playing bass & singing on stage at Red's, Ground Zero, and other jukes & festivals in the area.

Make out your check to "Friends of the Sunflower River" and bring to the meeting on Feb 15th, or send to:

John Ruskey
Friends of the Sunflower River
291 Sunflower Avenue
Clarksdale, MS 38614

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Yes! I want to _____ join or ____ renew my membership with Friends of the Sunflower River to help care for the muddy river we call home. Please find enclosed my $25 check:

Name: __________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________

Telephone_____________________Email_____________________________

___add me to the mailing list for (infrequent) updates on the river, photos, stories, news items, the annual Sunflower River Expedition, etc.

___ Please send information about Friends of the Sunflower River to my friends/family/loved ones:






___ I am particularly interested in the following activities in connection with Friends of the Sunflower River:







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Who Are We?

Friends of the Sunflower River is all about appreciating and caring for the lonely little river that winds its way through the center of the Mississippi Delta, from Friars Point to Clarksdale, from Mound Bayou & Merigold to Sunflower; from Indianola to Anguilla, from Holly Bluff to Vicksburg.

This river has the blues! Besides the many blues & gospel musicians who were born & baptized along its banks, its mussel shell beds (which are reported to be the richest such biota in the world) seem to be in constant danger of overzealous engineering. The Sunflower River has been neglected and over-worked; so much that it was proclaimed America’s “Most Endangered River” in 2003.

The good news is that its forests constitute the largest bottomland hardwood forests in the National Forest system (they also produce the highest carbon-sequestration of any forests in North America!), and its banks are home to every creature winged, webbed or otherwise, found native to the Mississippi Delta. It’s a beautiful place to get away, to reflect a moment on the rivers and woods of America, to walk along its banks, to paddle its waters, to enjoy its scenery. Most importantly, its home to all of us who live on or near its banks, and second home to many others who love it from a distance. Shouldn’t we be taking better care of our lonely muddy river?

Physical Description: The Sunflower River is born in the bayous and lakes of Northern Coahoma County and meanders South some 250 miles through the Yazoo/Mississippi Delta paralleling the Mississippi River on the West and the Yazoo on the East, (with which it confluences with 10 miles above Vicksburg). A small but dynamic river, once forested, now mostly bordered by fields, the Sunflower is a rich habitat for all creatures native to the region, including black bear and panther. Its muddy current averages 2100 cfs (cubic feet per second) at Sunflower, 3461 at the mouth of Bogue Phalia, and approximately 4500 where it empties into the Yazoo River at Steele Bayou. Its drainage includes most or all of Coahoma, Bolivar, Sunflower, Washington, Sharkey & Issaquena Counties, some 3,689 square miles, inhabited by 169,150 people.

Cultural/Historical Mélange: In its journey through the Delta, the Sunflower winds through the layers of mud and history that gave the world its first great blues singer (Charlie Patton, Dockery Plantation), the first mechanized cotton picker (Hopson Plantation), its oldest African-American founded community (Mound Bayou), rural Civil Rights era leaders (Fanny Lou Hamer, Sunflower County; Aaron Henry, Clarksdale), the Teddy Bear (Delta National Forest), King of the Chicago Blues (Muddy Waters, born in Rolling Fork, lived 25 years at Stovall) and the renowned ambassador of the blues (B.B. King, Indianola). The Rev. C.L. Franklin (Aretha’s Father) is just one of many who were baptized in her muddy waters. Bessie Smith died at the G.T. Thomas Hospital which sits on her banks in Clarksdale (now the Riverside Hotel). Today you can hear live blues along the river at juke joints Red’s and Sarah’s Kitchen. Legendary woodsman, Holt Collier (1846-1936), who cornered the Teddy Bear, reported its waters to run clear & clean, and Roosevelt started each day of the hunt with a cold-water swim. One of our long-term objectives is to make the waters safe once again for fishing and swimming.
Mission Statement: The Friends of the Sunflower River was established in 2006 to bring attention, understanding and care to the Big Sunflower River and its tributaries, The Little Sunflower, the Bogue Phalia, Mound Bayou, Indian Bayou, The Quiver River, Silver Creek, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork, Steele Bayou and the Hushpuckena River.

Board of Directors: Five members: Executive Director, Assistant Director, Secretary, Treasurer, and Attorney; to meet quarterly to discuss ideas, activities and any items concerning the health of the Big Sunflower River.

Honorary Directors: to meet annually with Board of Directors for participation in long-range planning and organizational philosophy.

Annual Membership Meeting: to be set annually by Board of Directors.

Goals: We, the members of the Sunflower River, are committed to a clean-flowing Sunflower River that provides sustainable habitat for the humans, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish that are found native to the Mississippi Delta. We dedicate ourselves to protect and restore its aquatic environment. We strive to supplement the current body of knowledge with observations, recordings and documentation of animal movement, water quality, soil quality, and other concerns of the natural science of the Mississippi Delta.

Activities: involve understanding and enjoyment of the Sunflower River and its riparian environment: paddling, clean-up, water-quality monitoring, animal tracking, bird watching, crustacean counts, amphibian and insect observations.

Membership: You can become a charter member of our fledgling organization to help us appreciate and take care of this lonely little river that winds its way through the center of the Mississippi Delta. $25/year basic membership.