Company Profile
Bureau of Law Enforcement
Company Overview
Being a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation warden protecting the state’s natural resources and the people who enjoy them is a great career. That is, if you’re looking for challenges, hard work, camaraderie and tons of variety on top of professional growth and career advancement as a commissioned peace officer.
This is professional public service at its very best. You’ll be enforcing the state’s environmental laws, hunting and fishing regulations, and outdoor recreational rules, along with handling emergencies in sometimes dangerous situations. You’ll also be part of a larger police community that includes state, county and municipal agencies that will need your help with everything from bank robberies to floods.
Company History
We've come a long way together since the conservation warden service started 120 years ago when Rolla Baker, Wisconsin's first warden, was assigned to patrol Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas counties, and the Lake Superior fishery. Rolla had no uniform. No expense allowance. No transportation except for his horse and his own two feet. And his daily wage was about what you and I spend on a cup of coffee these days.
The early wardens faced tough challenges. Market hunters and settlers struggling to survive in the wilderness generally ignored or resisted limits on their hunting and fishing, despite the signs all around them. Elk had vanished from the land. Deer numbers were bottoming out. Fish and ducks were stacked like cordwood on the shores of Lake Michigan bound for commercial markets, and the passenger pigeon was on its way to extinction.
The change we've seen in attitudes, resource management and enforcement in 120 years has been remarkable. Deer populations are at record levels, turkey have rebounded beyond belief, elk again roam the Wisconsin woods and fishing is great.
This didn't happen by chance. It took advances in science and our understanding of the natural world around us, and hard work from fish managers, wildlife managers, pollution control staff, conservation wardens and citizens.
We are proud of the role that Rolla Baker and the 1,610 men and women who followed him in the warden service have played in this recovery, and we celebrate their accomplishments.
We are also turning to the future. Today's conservation wardens face increasingly complex challenges, their authority and responsibilities are broader than Rolla Baker could have ever imagined – wardens enforce laws regarding fish and wildlife, boating, snowmobiling, all-terrain vehicles, the environment, water regulation, shoreline protection, and forestry. At the same time, the number of people enjoying the outdoors, and enjoying new kinds of recreation, has surged. Personal watercraft and all-terrain vehicles are but two of these new activities that provide new outdoors opportunities but also create more conflict with traditional users and with others seeking beauty, and solitude in Wisconsin's outdoors.
These conflicts and demands on our natural resources will continue as our state's population increases. We, both citizens and visitors of this state, are challenged to work smarter to insure that we can continue to enjoy and pass down to our children a clean environment, abundant natural resources, and safe recreation.
Thomas L. Harelson, Chief Conservation Warden, (Retired)
Benefits
You will enjoy flexible Scheduling, empowerment, ownership, independence, and a sense of team, in addtion to what are considered your usual benefits of state government employment.