# Can I ask u something?



## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Hey boehr,
I was just wondering if I could ask u a few question's about your job. I would liek to get in the DNR, so i have a lot of question. If u want i will email u if u dont want everyone to know. thanks

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Stelmon, the only one.
Becareful out there..


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

stelmon, you can e-mail or post, whatever you wish. As far as everyone knowing, there are no secrets so your choice.


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

1. DO u like your job?

2. What do u liek about your job?

3. What else do u do besides protect nature?

4. How much do u get paid?(this y i thought u might wanted it to be emailed)

5. What are the bennifits?

Right now, this is it, but i wll have more in the future.

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Stelmon, the only one.
Becareful out there..


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

> Originally posted by stelmon:
> *1. DO u like your job?
> 2. What do u liek about your job?
> 3. What else do u do besides protect nature?
> ...


I love my job. Since I have been a CO I have had 3 opportunities to change careers. Took me about 1 second to think about it. The City of Wayne Police Department had contacted me and wanted to hire me. State Police wanted me to transfer to them and while being laid off in 1982 I worked for the police department in Menominee and when I was recalled they wanted me to stay, lot of nice guys but answered the recall as fast as I could. If I did it all over again, I would do the same thing.

Conservation Officers are state peace officers, our primary duty is to protect the natural resources and enforcement of recreational laws such as snowmobile, ORV, marine, etc., of this state and educate the public about the natural resources and recreational activities. Our secondary duty is to ensure the safety of the public, that includes catching drunk drivers, reckless drivers, people that B&E cabins and houses, steal cars or whatever. Obviously we do not become involved in the secondary duties much because we have out hands full with out primary function and that's what we have state troops, deputies, and local police for but we do enforce all laws. 

As far as pay for a conservation officer, this is public information and is also posted on the internet. A conservation officer after having 5 years on will make right around $45,000 to $46,000 per year. After 5 years you are at the top of the scale and the only raises you get after that are the same ones that all state employees get (except the legislature and State Police), it will be 2% come Oct 1. That is a little more than $20 per hour which the above total includes all overtime and emergency response pay that an officer gets too. Now obvisously, those officers that go up the ladder to sergeant and so on make more.

Benefits are health, dental, vision insurance, which pretty good insurance policies too. You ear 4 hours sick time every two weeks, you earn a certain amount of vacation time every two weeks which goes up with the number of years an officer has, a new officer starts out at 4.1 hours every two weeks, myself, with over 20 years get 7.1 hours vacation time every two weeks. Vacation time does have caps so if you don't keep you time under the cap you lose it. There are deferred comp programs you can get into to assist your retirement etc. All equipment you need is issued, uniforms, everything.

A conservation officer and sergeants work out of their house, they don't have an office to report to. All of us above sergeant have to work out of a office.  Officers are assigned a patrol vehicle which they keep at their residence along with other types of equipment that they use for work, boats, ORV's, snowmobiles etc. (All that equipment can only be used for work, never for personal use). Working out of your house is nice to a point. CO's don't mind good sportsmen calling or stopping by but sometimes it can be not so great too depending on who's calling and stopping by. Some people forget an officer's home is not a DNR Office and the officer's wife and kids live there too. I fortunately never had a problem, some officers have had some bad problems.


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Cool, another question would be, do u know any where where i could get involved with the DNR in southeastern MI. If you don't i understand...Thanks for everything.

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Stelmon, the only one.
Becareful out there..


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

You are not going to be able to get to involved until you are at least 18. Then you might want to check on part-time employment with parks or fisheries. Any involvement with law enforcement the first thing is your going to have to be at least 21. Check with local state parks in your area and with the Northville Office when you are 18.

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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Thanks boehr for now...I am sure I woll have more question's in the future

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Stelmon, the only one.
Becareful out there..


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

hey boehr, what college would u recomend for getting a degree in natural resource...or what ever it is called?


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

There are a lot of good colleges and universities out there. Colleges are also continously changing. Michigan State has a good Natrual Resource Program. A lot of small colleges have very good criminal justice programs. A lot of colleges have good fisheries programs. Just depends what subject matter you want to major in and checking out what different colleges have to offer.


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