The River Rat

Nate Hoogeveen was jobless and freelancing articles to magazines when opportunity floated his way.

Learning to whitewater kayak on a Wisconsin river in 2002, Hoogeveen had dumped his kayak, necessitating a rescue by instructors. An article he wrote about his learning experience in Hooked on Outdoors magazine caught the attention of a Wisconsin book publisher, Trails Media, which suggested he write a guide to Iowa rivers.

Hoogeveen bought a 14-foot kayak, spent 2003 padding 1,800 miles of Iowa waterways, and wrote Paddling Iowa, a guide to Iowa’s rivers and streams for canoeists and kayakers published in 2004.

When the Iowa Department of Natural Resources created the job of water trails coordinator in 2005, Hoogeveen, who seems to live and breathe river issues, emerged as a natural fit.

“By now I’ve paddled 2,200 to 2,300 unique river miles in Iowa,” he said. “It’s time well spent.”

Hoogeveen also founded Otter Run Media, a company that promotes Iowa’s resources as a recreational destination through the production of maps, websites, guidebooks, and recreation consulting.

With his hair in a ponytail, the 34-year-old Hoogeveen does not fit the stereotype of a government employee. He calls his state agency “an interesting system” and said that for a bureaucracy, its remarkably efficient.

The job enables him to enjoy what he does best. “I’ve always enjoyed getting outdoors, particularly streams,” he said. “Growing up in LeMars it was the Floyd River. Ever since I was able to drive I was going to different streams, whether to fish or to jump off a bridge.”

Even on the subject of Iowa’s most contaminated waterways, Hoogeveen is remarkably optimistic. “These rivers, particularly the Iowa, are not so far gone,” he said. “It’s a river with a lot of redeeming qualities.”

— John Goodlove