An Iowa State University study on the "Economic Value of Iowa's
Natural Resources" estimates the activity within the state's
parks, lakes, and trail systems generate about $2.63 billion
annually in spending. The study added, the multiplier effect of
such activities could translate to more than 27,400 jobs and
$580 million in income. Not included in the 2007 study was the
recreational use on Iowa's rivers. This summer's floods have
brought attention to the waterways, but not the kind of
attention river enthusiasts and state lawmakers wanted to see or
promote. Before the floods, the legislature this past session
passed, and the governor signed, a $12 million investment for
communities to improve their riverfronts and use these "natural"
assets to their economic benefit. There are 72,000 miles of
rivers and streams in Iowa ... many of them navigable by owners
of the some 34,000 registered small, non-motorized watercraft in
the state. To help make rivers more attractive and accessible to
current river users -- an