By Audrey Posten
Ean Popenhagen has been selected as the next executive director of the Clayton County Conservation Board. He will officially take over the role at the start of the next fiscal year, on July 1.
Popenhagen grew up in Wadena and graduated from North Fayette Valley High School. He’s had a lifelong love of the outdoors, including fishing from an early age. He recalled class visits from county naturalists—similar to programs Clayton County offers.
“I always thought, ‘Wow, that would be cool to be able to do something like that.’ So that’s kind of what got me interested,” Popenhagen said.
He even visited the Osborne Nature Center near Elkader as a child.
“When I was younger, my mom would bring me out here and I remember going through the animal exhibit and seeing the bear. That’s always stuck out to me, and it’s really cool to be able to work here as an adult now,” Popenhagen said.
He also values conservation. His grandfather was a Fayette County farmer and served on the soil and water conservation district. Popenhagen’s grandparents had property in the Conservation Reserve Program, which he and his father would help burn.
After high school, Popenhagen enlisted in the Marines, then later graduated from Hawkeye Community College and Upper Iowa University with a degree in conservation management.
In June 2021, Popenhagen began working at Clayton County Conservation as office assistant/director of sales. Duties included manning the office and wholesale ordering for the gift shop. When his plate was lighter, Van Meeteren allowed Popenhagen to get outside and assist maintenance staff.
“So I still had the opportunity to get out in the field and do work that way, which was awesome,” he shared.
Popenhagen was promoted to deputy director this past year and became a certified peace officer in the state of Iowa in December.
As deputy director, Popenhagen assisted Van Meeteren, patrolled campgrounds and took more of an active role with staff trainings and meetings and overall staff management. That included posting for, interviewing and hiring seasonal positions.
He valued learning under Van Meeteren, who’s served as executive director since April 2015. Under her leadership, the conservation board has undertaken several capital projects, including the Osborne Shop, Motor Mill Trail, Inn at Motor Mill, Osborne Campground and the soon-to-be-completed Pony Hollow Trail Expansion.
“I definitely feel like I have some really big shoes to fill,” Popenhagen said. “But I feel really fortunate that I’ve been able to work alongside her for as long as I have and learn how our county conservation department operates as a whole, what agencies we work with often, scheduled operations that we have to maintain, that sort of thing.”
As executive director, Popenhagen will oversee Clayton County Conservation, including—but not limited to—department budgeting and grant writing; law enforcement presence; maintaining parks and trail systems; assisting with environmental education programs as needed; working with partners, attending regional meetings and networking with other conservation directors around the state.
“It’s a lot more jumping around than what you might think,” he said. “But doing the best I can for us here in Clayton County.”
Popenhagen currently has no plans to undertake any larger projects similar to what Clayton County Conservation has focused on in recent years.
“Part of what Jenna’s going to continue doing up until July is finishing out the Pony Hollow Trail extension. I’m really excited for that, and I think that will be a great opportunity for everyone in the community to have that trail complete,” Popenhagen said. “I really want to focus on the basics and really hammering down on our maintenance in our parks, having a presence as far as law enforcement goes and maintaining our trail systems. Resource management is a big priority for me.”
So is continuing environmental education.
“I feel like, for such a small staff, we’re at nine full-time employees, we do a ton of outreach with schools and field trips here at Osborne. Making sure that continues and maybe even expanding upon that is a goal of mine,” Popenhagen said.
Additionally, Popenhagen hopes to generate more activity at the Osborne Campground, which opened last year.
“For our first year being open, we felt like we had a decent amount of people. We had a few weekends where it was completely full, but it would be awesome if we could get there every weekend,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a matter of continuing to keep that really well maintained and using our social media outlets to get it out there that it is open.”
Popenhagen is honored to be one of those in Clayton County entrusted to oversee the natural resources valued by both residents and visitors.
“There’s a lot of opportunities to get out and enjoy the outdoors here. One of the things I enjoy the most has been working with the public and getting to talk to people about what brings them to our area,” he said. “It’s a big responsibility, but it’s also an honor to be entrusted to do that.”
