The 2008 winter sun set on the memorable careers of long time NROs Doug Smiley, Doug Hallam, Ian Ripley, Ernie Smelski, Al Meyers and Craig Maxwell. I’m sure they’ll all agree that it seems like just yesterday they were having the time of their lives in resources colleges in the hope of pursuing careers as Game Wardens or Conservation Officers or whatever name NROs were called back in the 70s.

Some of the vacancies created by their retirements are being utilized to facilitate operational changes to traditional NRO responsibilities. Senior uniformed NROs in Provincial Park administrative positions are being replaced by Park Superintendents and Park Operations Managers. In house instructors are being formally recruited as Regional Training Officers.

Generally speaking, NROs support the movement towards utilizing civilian employees in civilian positions. For many years, utilizing uniformed, use of force trained and equipped officers as supervisors of parks maintenance employees and operations appeared to be an inefficient way of doing business. It made more sense to utilize these officers in enforcement capacities as that is what they were educated, trained and equipped for.

These civilians are presently classified as Resource Officers under the Collective Agreement. For whatever reason, the Resource Officer classification has been the “catch all” for the Department of Conservation. If a proper classification for an employee does not exist, it is with virtual certainty that the employee will be classified as a Resource Officer.

Consequently the classification lists the following as job titles: Chief Natural Resource Officer (12), District Supervisor (47), Natural Resource Officer (53), Park Superintendent (3 with at least 2 more pending), Park Operations Manager (3 with at least 2 more pending), Training and Standards Officer (1), Supervisor of Special Services (1), Enforcement Coordinator (1), Compliance and Logistics Officer (1), Provincial Recruitment Officer (1), Regional Investigator (4), Fire Control Officer (5), soon to be Regional Training Officer (3), Assistant Resource Officer and Park Patrol Officer. The latter two being seasonal positions.

Divided between all of the above are approximately 139 permanent Resource Officer Positions in Manitoba. Of that total, approximately 118 actually perform resource enforcement activities as part of their job responsibilities.

Hopefully the vacancies created by retirements will be quickly filled by new and enthusiastic officers relishing the opportunities to “walk a mile” in the patrol boots of our honourable retirees.

The MNROA thanks the recently retired for their service to natural resource management and the association. We wish you all good health and good times in your retirement years. Golfing season is on and open water fishing starts on May 10. Git-R-Done!

27th Annual conference of the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association

Great Falls, Montana

July 13-20, 2008

In 2008, Montana will be privileged to host the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers' Association (NAWEOA) Annual conference July 13-20 in Great Falls. NAWEOA is an 8,000-member organization of wildlife and fisheries enforcement officers from across North America. For more information on the organization you can go to their website www.naweoa.org. The conference is an annual event in which attendees from around the world assemble for training, information exchange, and skills competition. The conference will include several days of training along with various family activities. These meetings usually draw over 500 officers and their families. The organization was founded 26 years ago in Great Falls and has grown to include members from all across the United States and Canada.

Plans for 2008 are currently in progress so be sure to check back at this page for more details. Although a professional meeting, there will be opportunities for the public to observe and in some cases, participate. More information will be posted as soon as it is available.

Attendance: If you have questions about attending the conference, please contact Gail Brockbank at gailb@mt.net or Claire at clairei@mt.net or to reach them by phone call Premier Planning at 406-442-4141. They will be handling the registration process.

Exhibiting and Conference Sponsorship: If you have questions about becoming a sponsor of the conference contact Aaron Berg at aaronbergmt@hotmail.com or call him at 406-251-1346. To exhibit at the conference, please contact Kevin Clader at knvclader@bresnan.net.

Hotel Information: The conference will be held at the Best Western Heritage Inn in Great Falls. The phone numbers are 1-800-548-8256 or 1-406-761-1900.