OutdoorNebraska

46 2017 Annual Report LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY C O N S E R V A T I O N O F F I C E R S W E A R M A N Y H A T S When fi res broke out at near Lake McConaughy in March, conservation offi cers were quick to respond. Conservation Offi cer Bryce Streger, for one, immediately began assisting with evacuations, even though his residence was in the path of the fi re. Streger arrived at one home in time to help an elderly man – a double amputee – to his car. As the man's wife went back in the house to retrieve a prized possession, Streger noticed the fl ames moving closer. He immediately ran into the house and helped the woman to her car, and the couple escaped to safety. Streger lost everything he owned in this fi re, which destroyed eight homes and damaged 800 acres, but he and his dog were unharmed. With Streger's help, others in the fi re's path made it to safety, too. Nebraska's conservation offi cers enforce the state's hunting and fi shing laws, and also help maintain public safety at state parks and recreation areas. Annually, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission sells more than 900,000 permits, licenses and stamps, and each permit sold represents a possible need for intervention by a conservation offi cer. Over the past 20 years, the top two citations given by conservation offi cers have been for failure to purchase a state park permit and hunting, fi shing and harvest fur without the required permit. Conservation offi cers also patrol more than 300,000 acres of land as well as miles and miles of rivers and streams across the state. But conservation offi cers do so much more than enforce fi sh and game laws and patrol public land. They help with fi sh and wildlife survey work, investigate fi sh kills and wildlife damage complaints, and work with landowners interested in enrolling their land in the Open Fields and Waters public access program. Many are trained as boater or hunter education instructors, or give presentations about wildlife to elementary and high school students. And as law enforcement offi cers, conservation offi cers respond to emergency situations – such as fi res – in the communities where they live. CONSERVATION OFFICER TEACHES AT THE MISSOURI RIVER EXPO AT PONCA STATE PARK.

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