Over the decades, local author and river-running legend Eugene Buchanan has written riveting tales from far flung waters. “I don’t know if I’m more of a writer or a paddler,” he says. “Fortunately, I’ve been able to combine the two for most of my career.” Now, with the release of his new book, “Yampa Yearnings,” Eugene is making a personal and compelling case for his hometown stretch of river.

“Yampa Yearnings” is full of humorous tales, climate change observations, conservation policy, agriculture and access issues, the quirks of water rights, saving endangered fish and protecting riparian zones. It’s wrapped up in a wholly accessible ode to the Yampa River that flows from the Flat Tops Wilderness, through downtown Steamboat Springs, and west into Dinosaur National Monument – anecdotes from the last remaining free-flowing tributary to the Colorado River system that still retains its natural hydrograph. “I’ve definitely done some reporting. But never for something this close to my heart and passion,” Eugene says. “It felt pretty seamless to tie in my own personal experiences with the Yampa as a sort of narrative flowing through it.”

Eugene lays down some legendary tales from adventures on the Yampa. Once upon a time, he and his kayak pals assisted a cowboy in Dinosaur with a cattle rescue. “He needed to get them to the other side, so he’d round them up along the bank with his horse to a cliff, and then we’d peel out of the eddy and “hee-yah” them across the river like we were in City Slickers,” Eugene recalls. Another time, “my buddy Pete Van De Carr kayaked the entire Yampa from the town of Yampa all the way to Jensen, Utah, with a package of Twinkies in his Pelican box and then sold them to the outfitter there to prove you can conduct interstate commerce on the Yampa, and so it’s a navigable waterway when it comes to access issues."

There are all kinds of life lessons that the Yampa has taught Eugene and his family over the years. In his new book, he shares these anecdotes generously along with some lofty wisdom as a local river guru: “I’ve always used the Yampa as a metaphor for life. Life’s decisions and twists and turns can come at you just like any turbulence on the river does, forcing you into ‘read it and run it’ mode,” Eugene says. “In life, as on the river, make the best decisions you can based on the information you have and what you see, know and feel. Then run with it. You can always adjust your course. But go with life’s flow. Take the wrong route? Put in a couple of correctional strokes to get back on the right path. And don’t be afraid to eddy out every once in a while, to take it all in.”

Jennie Lay: After decades of writing about river adventures all over the planet, why do you think telling the story of Northwest Colorado’s backyard river may be more powerful now than ever before?

Eugene Buchanan: While it still flows downhill, the Yampa is facing an uphill battle when it comes to climate change and the fact that we’re dealing with less water in the West. These lower flows affect everything from its riparian zones and the fish – endangered and other – that rely on it, to the birds that come here every year, the wildlife, and the farmers and ranchers that rely on it. I think its story resonates now more than ever with people because this news is becoming top of mind for everyone; more people are aware of how climate change is affecting the planet, from warmer temps and stronger hurricanes to glaciers receding and, for us out West, less snowpack feeding our rivers. Rivers like the Yampa are at the forefront of all this.

J.L.: What does the Yampa do better than all the rest of the rivers you’ve encountered?

E.B.: It’s not like the Yampa is better than any other river. There are waterways that are longer, larger, prettier, cleaner and facing even bigger problems all over the planet. But the Yampa’s story is representative of all of them. I’ve been lucky enough to have paddled rivers all over the world and the Yampa is working just as hard as any of them and facing similar plights ... But it has what many others don’t anymore: a free-flowing hydrograph supporting unique aquatic life, riparian zones and more.

J.L.: You first floated the Yampa with your family when you were 10 years old. When you look back now, what experience from that childhood encounter became most meaningful while writing this book?

E.B.: I don’t remember too much from that trip, other than getting a raw lip from kissing desert-varnish-striped Tiger Wall for good luck as we floated by. The wall is overhung, making it hard to cock your head to the side and muster up a good pucker as the oarsman rows by. Not that I was good at puckering-up then anyways, but I planted a smooch on the wall, perhaps a hair too close, and had a sore on my upper lip for the rest of the trip from romancing the stone. Casanova that I was, I also remember giving my mom a bouquet of Indian paintbrush flowers that I hand-picked at camp. Before I could deliver them, a female guide saw me carrying them and said “how cute” it was. My face reddened like the flower’s petals. But mostly I remember how beautiful the canyon was, instilling in me the notion that rivers, and the Yampa in particular, are pretty powerful forces.

J.L.: You raised two daughters on the shores (and in the rapids) of the Yampa. How did becoming a parent change the way you think about stewardship, advocacy and the urgency of protecting this river?

E.B.: One of the best decisions I’ve made in my life, I believe, is raising my two girls in a small mountain and river town like Steamboat. The community, of course, is the main component of that, but also its access to the outdoors, which includes the river. I always knew how important and valuable the river was to town, but I realized it more once I had kids. In the summer, they’d go to it every day, swimming in the C and D holes. I’d pick them up from soccer practice in a raft. I’d take them R4ing (four-man raft) up on the Elk and, when older, even Cross Mountain Canyon downstream. And when we were lucky enough to land a permit, we’d float multi-day trips down Yampa Canyon or Gates of Lodore with them and their friends. I think it all helped instill a notion of how important and valuable a resource the Yampa is. I wasn’t raised along its banks, but I got to enjoy something even better: raising my kids alongside it. And it makes me hope that maybe they can someday too.

J.L.: If readers walk away with just one new way of thinking about Steamboat’s local river, what do you hope that is?

E.B.: To see it glitter differently. To not take it for granted, appreciate what it does, and join the fight to protect it, whether it’s donating to groups like Friends of the Yampa or Yampa River Fund, picking up trash along its banks, respecting its closures for the sake of its fish, or simply just taking a moment to enjoy it and everything it stands for as one of the last wild rivers in the West.

J.L.: Favorite stretch of the Yampa: upper, middle or Dinosaur?

E.B.: I’d have to say Dinosaur and its 46-mile run to its confluence with the Green, as well as Cross Mountain Canyon just upstream.

J.L.: Favorite month on the Yampa, and why?

E.B.: Probably June ... that’s when it often peaks, if not in town, then down in Dinosaur. And later in the month, it turns clear and the temperature warms up, bringing out all sorts of river lovers. Later still, once the two brown patches on Storm Peak Face meet, it offers that perfect window of clear water and enough flow to float-fish it through town.

J.L.: If you had to name a rapid after yourself, what would it be?

E.B.: Hopefully, that won’t happen because a lot of rapids are named after someone’s misfortune on them. But, since we do have the A, C and D Holes in town, how about the E Hole?

J.L.: One word to describe the future you hope for the Yampa River?

E.B.: Protected.

Meet the Author: Eugene Buchanan will be live at the Bud Werner Library talking about "Yampa Yearnings" on Thursday, March 12. https://steamboatlibrary.org/events/eugene-buchanan