Why Overland Park wants you to know more about the Blue River

Overland Park is celebrating the role the Blue River plays in its local ecosystem, even as concerns linger about the waterway’s long term health.

Earlier this week, city officials and community members gathered at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens to officially mark September as Blue River Discovery Days.

As part of that event, attendees hiked from the new LongHouse Visitor Center to Wolf Creek, a tributary of the Blue River that runs through the arboretum’s grounds.

The Blue River starts near the Overland Park Arboretum

• The Blue River, sometimes called the Big Blue, begins near 175th Street and Antioch Road in Overland Park, where two tributaries, Wolf Creek and Coffee Creek, join it.
• It flows more than 40 miles, traveling north, cutting into Missouri and eventually flowing into the Missouri River.
• It touches multiple different ecosystems around the Kansas City region, including natural wetlands and grasslands.

The Blue River touches much of the Kansas City metro area

• According to the Nature Conservancy, the Blue River touches 20 different municipalities and multiple counties, including Johnson County.
• Indian, Tomahawk and Brush Creek are also in the Blue River basin.
• The basin itself spans nearly 300 square miles and more than half a million people live in that area.

There are concerns about the Blue River’s health

• In 2021, the Blue River received a “C” grade in a report put together by the Heartland Conservation Alliance and the Nature Conservancy.
• That grade was based on six criteria, including water quality, habitat, development and recreation.
• The river scored lowest in the governance and habitat categories, with specific concerns about a lack of collaboration between different jurisdictions through which the river runs.
• The full report card is available here. (Starts on Pg. 3)

First Blue River festival will be this weekend

• The Heartland Conservation Alliance is hosting the inaugural Blue River Discovery Days Festival this weekend.
• The free event, in Minor Park in Kansas City, Missouri, is on Saturday and runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Find more information here.

More on this: This river that starts in Johnson County is in trouble, but people are trying to help it