River Map into the Future
Springtime Baby Map Turtle Hatch on the Lower Mississippi River!
Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 937 "Voice of the Lower Mississippi River" Memphis, TN ~ Wilson, AR ~ Clarksdale, MS ~ Vicksburg, MS Quapaw Canoe Company ~ Celebrating 25 Years of Service ~ ~Winner of the SBA 2024 Small Business of the Year Award~
QCC Fundraiser Update:
Fundraiser 43% Complete! We are washed away with waves of muddy emotion... by your generosity... wow! incredible... Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has donated to the QCC survival fund. Details: we have reached 43% of goal ($10,770 raised of $25,000 goal). Our purpose being the creation of long-term sustainability as pathway into the next quarter century. Big river love & wishes to all! click here if you want to donate
Songbird Community Canoe Sunday, April 21st, Island 62 Roundtrip 1-6pm
Songbird Community Canoe: due to rain, we have moved community canoe to Sunday, April 21, 1-6pm, from Clarksdale (or meet at Quapaw Landing at 1:30pm). Advance reservations required. 1/4 price ($25) for teachers, free for youth under 18, 1/2 price ($50) for all others who have never been on Mississippi River!
Full Frog Moon, Monday April 22nd and Tuesday April 23rd — Seats now open!
Full Frog Moon is Here! The weather is looking great for Full Frog Moon Monday & Tuesday. (Especially Monday, cool, calm & clear. Tuesday night is forecast to be warmer, breezy, and partly cloudy). Full Frog Moon: Join us for one of the most subliminal experiences possible in the mid south, 1) as we board the big canoe and 2) follow sunset into moonrise, with 3) bonfire supper, and then 4) back into the canoe to trace the moonlight meandering across the face of the water back to our landing. Our backdrop is the Milky Way above, and the big Mama Mississippi below. Spring's first lighting bugs spark up the forest silhouette, and spring's frogs eagerly chant from nearby wetlands, as owls call back & forth, and a clans of coyote call from island to island. Take your choice (or do both!) Full Frog Moon #1 Monday April 22 3pm - 10pm from Clarksdale, MS Full Frog Moon #2 Tuesday April 23 3pm - 10pm from Clarksdale, MS For more info, or to reserve seat in Frog Moon Voyageur Canoe, please respond to this email, or send to john@island63.com
River Map into the Future with Western Colorado University School of Environment & Sustainability
Last week we paddled into the Muddy Waters Wilderness with a group of grad students from the Western Colorado University School of Environment & Sustainability. Creation was overflowing in springtime jubilation -- thriving with frenzied flights of migrating songbirds (freshly arrived after crossing the Gulf of Mexico from South America) -- and all-night froggy fertility sing-a-long-love-songs. Baby Map Turtles:
After exploring Mellwood Chute, and Jackson Cutoff, we cordelled up the back channel of Island 64 (Sean Rowe Island) and were enchanted by a lively near-shore nursery of baby Mississippi Map Turtles, (and Red-Eared also). Most were alive, swimming in the shallow water close to shore, and some walking near water's edge on dry sand. But unfortunately we also discovered some empty, hollowed out shells close to shore. Poor babies, evidently eaten by something as they emerged from sandbar egg hatcheries, and crawled to water's edge for the perilous journey to the safety of the water. Only to be captured and consumed by some hungry shorebird or mammal, like maybe a raccoon or river otter. We definitely saw more alive than dead. So this seems to be a good sign. I am sure some years it is the opposite. Maybe this a favorable year so far for the turtle nation. Lord knows all layers of creation need all the help they can get. The river last week rose higher than it's been in a while (hovering around 31 Helena Gage, rising from 12 in March, which rose from another historic low -4 in Nov/Dec 2023). Good thing the baby turtles waited until medium high water to hatch. The carnage would have been much, much worse in low water (much, much longer sandbar crossing!)
Each turtle has a unique pattern, like our own fingerprints, except the patterns cover their whole bodies, like some elaborate tattoo -- their entire shells are covered top and bottom by swirling flowing lines of green, yellow, white & black, kind the lines of a USGS topo map of hill or mountain country. Hence the name (I believe). 
We were entranced by the swirling patterns etched on the backs and bellies of these precious cute creatures, each it's own unique pattern and expression, like a series of mandalas, or some unique artistic medallion.
You can see why the Hindus believe the universe is etched on the back of a turtle. Turtle Island is a sacred birth-spring in some of the creation mythology of Native America.
PS: In Hindu mythology, the earth is supported by four elephants standing on the back of a turtle. The Hindu deity Vishnu was reincarnated as the turtle Kachhapa that carried the weight of the world on its back.Note: no turtles were harmed in our exploration & documentation last week. (Nor any other creatures for that matter on any of our trips!) 
Species Count:
45 Bird Species sighted in 4 days in the vicinity of Is 64, Is 65, Mellwood Chute, DeSoto Chute and De Soto Lake, of the Lower Mississippi River:
Prothonotary Warbler
Red tailed Hawk
Fish Crow
Red-headed woodpecker
Red-bellied woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
Carolina wren
Indigo bunting
Red-winged blackbird
Osprey
Yellow-throated vireo
Chimney swift
Warbling vireo
Swamp Warbler
bald eagle
white pelican
long-legged shorebird (no ID)
great homed owl
barred owl (song)
Killdeer
Spotted sandpiper
Brown-headed cowbird
Grackle
Great Blue Heron
Wood Duck
Bank swallow
Barn swallow
Canada Goose
Orchard Oriole
Greater Yellowlegs
Tree Swallows solitary Saudeer
Cattle Egret
Double Crested Comorant
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Blve- gray gnatcatcher
Carolina chickadee
Northern Parula
Tafted Titmouse
Hairy Woodpecker
wild turkey
snow goose (evidence of)
24 other species sighted
24 other species sighted (or heard or tracks of): White tailed deer Eastern coyote river otter(tracks) raccoon (tracks) leopard toad Leopard frog tree frog Fowlers frog (song) wolf spider parachute spider Monarch butterfly Viceroy butterfly map turtle red-eared turthe mosquitoes (various) Buffalo gnats Sand spider Ladybug cottonmouth green water snake Blue swallowtail butterfly Tiger swallowtail butterfly Zebra swallowtail butterfly harlequin butterfly Flora: We also witnessed & experienced incredible springtime flora, including many trees, bushes, berries, grasses, weeds, herbs, vines, algae, slimes, lichens, and fungi (notably one of the so-called "funkiest of fungi," the mutinus elegans AKA "Devil's Dipstick" -- see below photo:)
Want to get out there with us? There are still a few openings in our calendar: Plan your Spring or Summertime Adventure on the Biggest & Wildest River in North America!
Want to experience the wonders of the wild river? Go to www.island63.com and book your trip! All we need is the dates you prefer, and get you on the calendar. We will figure out the rest!
Introducing our newest Mighty Quapaw guides, Ceílì Hale and Sarah Lent!
Y'all, it's finally happened: for the first time in our 26-year history, Mark River and I are in the minority(!) We now operate with a majority of female guides in our giant voyageur style canoes. Our Big Momma Mississippi is quite happy with this change of guard. So are we. Men have had their chance. Over the millennium. We seem to be failing our dear Mother Earth. Now, there is no time to lose -- whatever makes our queen happy -- we do! Now, when you Book a Trip with us -- Ceili & Sarah might be your guides. (Not to mention our beloved "Red River Otter" Heather Crosse -- also! PS: Google Heather, or Heavy Suga & the Sweetones. You'll be amazed at all she's done and been part of. I can't believe how much talent flows through her. She's truly an unsung hero of the modern Arkansas-Louisiana-Mississippian age.) And our new guides -- more about Sarah & Ceili in upcoming issues.
Ongoing Fundraiser: Sustainable Future for Quapaw Canoe Company for Healthy Communities — and a Healthy River!
More about our ongoing fundraiser: The goal of this fundraiser is to stabilize the future of one of Mississippi's integral businesses, the Quapaw Canoe Company. Over the decades, QCC has: 1) Opened up the wild wonders of the Mississippi River as a recreational paradise for all paddlers to enjoy. 2) Engaged thousands of young people through hands-on learning helping to foster in them a deep appreciation of the natural environment. 3) Helped set the stage for Clarksdale, Mississippi's economic recovery. Unexpectedly and regrettably, the pandemic crippled us and we have been operating in "reactionary mode," with no reserve funds to fall back on. This is hurting our staff, and the health of our infrastructure -- and crippling our ability to move forward with balanced, thoughtful intention in our dedication as the worker bees of the Lower Mississippi River.
We need your help rising above these “flood waters.” Please consider supporting this effort. Your investment in Quapaw’s future can be done one of many ways. You have a choice: it can be made anonymously, with no reward or recognition. We are not coming to you empty-handed! There are rewards, if you choose to accept: $100 or more will receive one of our hand painted watercolor map-posters, signed by artist. $500 or more will receive the previous + a finely carved Mississippi River black walnut driftwood. $1,000 or more will receive the previous + a treasure box of Mississippi gravel bar goodies like fossils, geodes, amber, crinoids, agate, marble, granite, lithified mud, and other geologic goodies carried downstream. $2,500 or more will receive the previous + credit towards a future booking on a river adventure with us. $5,000 or more will receive the previous + your choice of any one of my 18 x 24 watercolors or similar sized oils. $10,000 or more will receive the previous + your choice of any one of my giant wall-sized watercolors, or similar sized oils. Click Here to Make Donation
The "Rest of the Story:" We are celebrating our 25th Anniversary. We were also awarded the 2024 SBA Mississippi Small Business of the Year Award (check out this list of winners. It’s a national award, one business from each state of the Union, and territories also!) Regardless of our accomplishments and awards, we find our backs pressed against the wall (health emergencies, an outdated website, and other setbacks -- all at the same time). We already used emergency funds we had squirreled away to survive pandemic. While it doesn’t seem fair, that is the nature of running a small business! We have survived recessions and floods. We will survive this, with your help.
Please commit to investing in the next 25 years — in the long-term future of Quapaw Canoe Company. Your support will help us pave a sustainable pathway forward by: 1. Helping to design and build an up-to-date website. 2. Helping to hire an administrative assistant to manage day-to-day tasks allowing the rest of the team to focus on growing and stabilizing the business. 3. Helping with marketing and promotion 4. Helping with infrastructure upgrades to our 18,000 square foot downtown Clarksdale base of operations, like roof repairs and also vehicle maintenance. 5. Helping to support staff (providing necessary and well-deserved health benefits). 6. Helping to establish an emergency reserve fund. 7. Helping to find a suitable partner with a passion for healthy rivers and healthy communities, and an acute business acumen, to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the Quapaw Canoe Company!
Anyone who knows me knows that my sweat & tears, as well as my heart & soul are invested in this business. Worst case scenario — If I cannot bring this ship around, I might have to sell off our Clarksdale building, or some of our big canoes, to stay afloat, and pay off all debts. But that is like cutting off the limb you are standing on. That would probably shut down our operation. This my last choice. Thank you for helping make us who we are. And thank you from the bottom of our muddy hearts if you can assist us now in our time of need. We Mighty Quapaws, we remain faithfully yours, as friends, as family, as fellow river rat, and as worker bees to our Queen Mother Mississippi!
Big River Love from all of us,
(in order of longevity)
"Driftwood Johnnie" John Ruskey
Ellis "Smooth" Coleman
Mark "River" Peoples
"Water Opossum” Layne Logue
"Mississippi Merman" Matthew Burdine
“Red River Otter” Heather Crosse
Whit "Tumbleweeds" Smith
Ceili "Mayfly" Hale
Sarah "to be nick-named" Lent
-and all the other Mighty Quapaws!
How to Make Donation:
1. Click Here to Make Donation -OR- 2. Cut & Paste: Go Fund Me Fundraiser website address: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sustainable-future-for-quapaw-canoe-company -OR- 3. Send check made out to: Quapaw Canoe Company 291 Sunflower Avenue Clarksdale, MS 38614
Thank you from the worker bees of the Lower Mississippi River!
