The Arkansas River pierces the heart of America, stretching 1,469 miles from the Tennessee Pass in Colorado to the Mississippi River at the eastern edge of Arkansas. As the nation’s sixth-longest river (45th longest in the world), it is both the economic engine and burden to millions of people and scores of cities bordering its banks. From raging rapids to diversion dams for irrigation ditches, to dry streambeds, and finally barge traffic, this presentation will examine the impact this wild, elusive, and embattled river has had on cities, towns and adjacent farmland, starting with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 through to the present day. 

Hannes Zacharias is the Robert A. Kipp Professor of Practice at the KU School of Public Affairs and Administration. With more than 40 years of public service experience, he has worked in federal, state, and local government, including nearly a decade as County Manager for Johnson County.