Senior Conservation Management Training

21. September 2007 by Ranger.

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The academic training of successful game wardens, wildlife and fisheries biologists, State and Federal Park or Forest Rangers, habitat managers and other conservation professionals are personnel who have completed college level courses relative to the field work required of those occupations. More and more states are requiring an associates or bachelor’s degree in the natural sciences, typically field level biology or wildlife and/or fisheries management, for their fish and game wardens. Some states conduct their own resident academy training for their game wardens. Pennsylvania’s Ross Leffler School of Conservation, requires 48 weeks of training for its newly hired Wildlife Conservation Officer Cadets.

Research positions in the conservation professions require a minimum of a graduate degree, or extensive field level experience, to perform studies of wildlife, fisheries or forest resources. Typically these outdoor professionals hold graduate degrees in forestry, wildlife or fisheries management, ecology, zoology or a specialization in some aspect of those studies. The studies completed are directly applicable to the nature of their work at the operational and scientific field level position of their chosen profession.

As in most professions, the senior level supervisors, managers, directors, and superintendents (those responsible for the overall direction and leadership of an organization) ascend over time from the field level ranks to more responsible positions that direct the work of others. Ultimately, some of those senior level supervisors reach the level of authority where they are setting the goals and direction for the agency. That is, they are responsible for all aspects of a geographical portion of the agency’s jurisdiction or the entire agency on a statewide or national scale.

At those higher authority levels the education, skills and knowledge that were needed to perform at the full performance technical level becomes less important for positions in the senior command levels. Those years of experience at the field level is important for the senior managers to understand and communicate intelligently with those under their authority, but now they need a different set of skills and knowledge to motivate employees, influence, interact or placate special interest groups, the general public, the news media, politicians or anyone else who might challenge or disagree with their management goals and direction.

For example, they might be pressured by politicians who are responding to an organized influential group who disagrees with their professional direction. The influence of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) comes to mind here, but there are many special interest groups that appeal to their representatives in hope of exercising some modification or change to some policies of land and resource management professionals. Or, the results of field research might be publicly challenged by organized conservation groups or hunters who disagree with the policies derived as a result of the agency’s research. It is not uncommon to find people who have purchased their hunting or fishing license who then believe they know more about the management of fish or wildlife species than the professional research biologists. Political pressure and influence is pervasive within all the agencies responsible for parks, fish or wildlife management, forest resources and minerals management due to the powerful efforts of special interest conservation groups, radical environmentalists, resource extraction companies and a host of others that stand to gain in some fashion or another. Ill informed or naive individuals, especially the more wealthy folks, might exercise influence because they believe their point of view is correct and the agency’s policy in question is misguided, unduly influenced in the wrong direction, or they disagree because the agency or responsible resource manager doesn’t fully understand the long term effects of the stated policy.

Thousands of readers of influential magazines and newspaper articles written by respected writers might be misinformed or naive on a particular issue. The media might be representing their own personal bias. A poor explanation of a policy by the resource manager can cause the resource manager untold time and grief trying to correct a misunderstanding.

Some years ago at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, I enlisted the aid of Dr. Walter Vannette, a cultural anthropologist, and the assistant to the university President, Ray Newton, an eminent scholar and well known writer, former journalist and media specialist. We invited senior level conservation managers from the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and several national conservation organizations. All of those participants had been originally educated as biologists, foresters, or range managers and rose through the ranks of their agency or organization.

We asked each of them to briefly outline the duties and responsibilities for the position they currently held. Their descriptions were remarkably similar. The majority of their time was devoted to human resources management, preparing budget justifications and analyses, negotiating contracts, legal matters associated with the resources they were managing, responding to legislators and critics, conducting meetings on a wide variety of topics, developing and reviewing plans, and dealing with the media representatives of newspapers, radio and television.

The next question they were asked was “What undergraduate, graduate or other training have you attended that prepared you for the job you now hold as a senior administrator?”
Their answers were essentially “None.” Most respondents felt they had good mentors as they ascended the ladder of responsibility. One wonders if these successful administrators are the lucky ones because of their associations with excellent mentors. If so, were there more highly qualified potential leaders and administrators within their various agencies and organizations who haven’t had the benefit of excellent mentors during their career?

We then asked each participant to write on a sheet of paper a description of the type of training they wished they had before they became a senior administrator, or that they would be interested in attending now if it was available. The in-depth discussion and examination of their written responses led me to develop the graduate program now recommended by the Ranger Institute. Interested universities, American or foreign state or federal agencies or businesses should contact me at clay@rangerinstitute.com for further information.

Visit The Ranger’s Cache web store for Clay’s recommended books, cameras, and outdoor gear.

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