Shooting the Meramec by Jim Karpowitz, videographer, The Documentary Group

I was delighted to begin work with my colleague John Baker on a new video concerning the Meramec for the Open Space Council. The first portion of our assignment: to video tape the August Media Float from Meramec State Park to the City of Arnold. Of course I vaguely remembered the Meramec from my childhood growing up in St. Louis. Since then many rivers have flowed though my life: Ozark float streams, western whitewater and the incredible Missouri River. The Meramec was a fond but distant memory. That was about to change.

In my first meeting with Ron Coleman from the Open Space Council, I inquired about archival images of the Meramec; old photos, home movies, that sort of thing. Suddenly I have this vision from my families own home movie collection. There’s my dad, way younger than I am now, sitting on a willow branch, the river running beneath his feet. The film is all scratches and flicker, with this quality of deep nostalgia that can only be found on 8mm home movies. The branch cracks; there’s my dad laughing, desperately trying to keep his cigar above water. The only soundtrack is the clatter of an old projector, but you can almost hear the echoes of laughter from four decades ago. My father climbs out of the Meramec with his cigar intact. The memory flickers and fades to black.

The Meramec was my river, my first river. It was the place I first experienced wild nature. Indian Springs Lodge, float trips with my family, laying in riffles with my brother—the water rushing over us with barely our noses out for air. Turtles, frogs, catching fish, and all those wild sounds filling the summer nights. I fell in love with the natural world at an early age. Much of my professional career has involved nature and conservation. That connection started for me on the Meramec River.

The float started on a busy weekend at Meramec State Park. The put in was packed. Buses began to unload huge masses of people. The smell of sunscreen was in the air as people toted their multi colored coolers down to the waiting watercraft, ready for a day of river fun. What a rainbow coalition of people; black, white, yellow, brown. It was evident that this was a true urban resource, a joyful urban oasis on a very hot day. We scoot through the tangle of canoes and rafts in our over the top jet boat, hired to ensure smooth on-the-water shots. Passing a raft full of women in burkas, I realize that this is a level of diversity unmatched in my experience. The people of St. Louis love this river. They use this river. The story of the Meramec was taking on wider implications. It was my personal story, yet it involved the huge concept of how desperately urban communities need to connect with wild nature. Things were getting interesting.

The trip continued for many days under a hot August sky. Bill and Jody Miles put together an incredible program of naturalists, activists and river boosters to tell the story of the Meramec as we proceeded downstream. Mussels, hellbenders, bats and botany, it was informative journey….and it made good pictures as well. I’m looking forward to the completion of our Meramec presentation soon. It’s an important story; how citizens banded together to save this resource, how they continue to maintain and protect it. I’m excited because I now realize that it’s my story too.