Conservation patrols taking hit

Conservation officers are feeling the current economic pinch.

Since January, the state's 200 officers have been told to cut back their mileage by 3,000 miles through June 30 -- which means less patrolling and fewer "saturation" patrols in which several officers target an area with intensive law enforcement for a day or two. Other nonessential travel, such as for training or conferences, also has been trimmed.

Officers still will respond to reports of violations, they just might not patrol areas as much, officials said last week.

"I don't think the general public will see diminished [law enforcement] activity out there," Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Holsten said.

Julie Siems, a conservation officer in Rice County and president of the state Conservation Officers Association, said the travel restrictions will have some impact.

"It significantly changes how you do your job," she said. "It will hurt coverage."

The travel cuts are being made because of a decision by Holsten to reimburse the Game and Fish Fund more than $200,000 that was spent on a controversial international game warden conference two years ago. To make up that money, the DNR cut travel, delayed training, suspended out-of-state travel and deferred purchases and maintenance of some equipment for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Fewer officers One thing appears certain: The number of conservation officers will continue to drop because of the budget woes.

For the first time since 2004, no officers will be hired this year or in 2010 and 2011, said Capt. Jim Konrad, who last week was named director of the DNR's Enforcement Division.

Enforcement has 17 vacancies, including 11 field officer openings.

"We intend to leave those stations vacant," Konrad said. He said about 10 more officers will be eligible to retire in the next two years, likely adding to the vacancies.

While being short-staffed isn't desirable, it is common, Konrad said. The division has had as many as 38 field stations vacant.

Konrad, 52, lives in Plymouth, is a 26-year veteran of the DNR and was a conservation officer for 22 years in the Lake Minnetonka area. He grew up in Bismarck, N.D., and began his law enforcement career as a cop in Moorhead.

"I always wanted to be a game warden," he said. He replaces Col. Mike Hamm, who resigned last year. "Through this turmoil we've been through, he rose to the occasion," Holsten said.

Pheasant losses Winter is fading, but heavy snow and cold weather this season clearly have impacted wildlife, particularly pheasants.

"We lost birds in December, during those series of blizzards," said Dave Trauba, DNR area wildlife manager at Lac qui Parle in western Minnesota.

"We came across a number of hens buried in snowdrifts, and we saw some scavenged carcasses. It was not a huge loss. But we were on the brink. One more blizzard in January and we would have been in dire straits," Trauba said.

"We were carrying a high pheasant population," he said. The key is successful spring nesting. "That will make or break our hunting season," he said.

Did you know? • Conservation officer Tom Hemker of Winona recently encountered a person with an arm full of antlers who explained he had trained his dog to retrieve the shed antlers.

• Officer Gary Nordseth of Worthington handled a call about coyotes that were coming onto a rural landowner's lawn and harassing the family dog. The landowner doesn't own a firearm and told Nordseth he had been using fireworks to scare off the coyotes.