Wise Women - 12.06.22

NATALIE WARREN

A lifelong paddler and river lover, Natalie was one of the first two women to paddle over 2,000 miles from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. From Miami, FL, Natalie’s first overnight camping experience was a two-week canoe trip through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota through YMCA Camp Menogyn. At Menogyn, Natalie canoed for 30-days in Wabakimi Provincial Park in Ontario and 50-days on the Kazan and Kunwak Inuit Heritage Rivers in Nunavut, Canada through the arctic tundra. She has since canoed the length of the Mississippi River and won first place in the Yukon River Quest in the women’s voyageur division, paddling 444 miles in fifty-three hours. A contributing writer to outdoor publications, she has worked with Bancroft Arnesen Explore, St. Croix River Association, and River Management Society, and she started a nonprofit to present urban rivers as natural, dynamic classrooms for youth. Natalie is currently a PhD candidate researching environmental communication at the University of Minnesota, where she studies the human-nature relationship and works with the publication Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place, and Community. She enjoys playing music with her husband under the band name QAWALA, growing more vegetables than she can eat, and paddling the Mississippi River during sunset. Natalie lives in Minneapolis with her husband, daughter, and dog.

Follow Natalie @nwarren_writes (Instagram)

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