For as long as I can remember my dream job has been to be a DEC officer. I grew up hunting, fishing, and loving nature and animals and I still do so, as I got old enough to be able to actually tell people what I want to be when I get older (a more realistic job other than being a pro baseball player) I told them that I wanted to be a DEC officer. For those that don't know what DEC means, it stands for the Department of Environmental Conservation.

This one time, I was down south (Ithaca, NY) at my family's hunting camp with my dad, uncle, grandparents, and my cousins hunting for the week of Thanksgiving like we did every other year. My dad and I had just got off of morning watch and were walking down the road with our guns and heading to my grandparents truck so we all could go back and grab some lunch before we went back out on afternoon watch. As my dad and I were walking a DEC officer pulled over and stopped us to check for our hunting license and to make sure our guns were unloaded while were walking down the road. After talking for what seemed like forever and the officer calling me a boy and seeing how much he truly loved his job, that moment in time is when I truly knew being a DEC officer was the perfect job for me.

The Department of Environmental Conservation was created in 1970 with hopes to protect and enhance the environment. Before the DEC was officially created, the attitudes about nature and environment began to change, people began to set aside their ideas on how to conquer nature and started to think on ways on how they could nurture and preserve nature. July 1, 1970 the DEC doors finally opened and started working on the urgent problems such as pesticides, mercury pollution, and solid waste.

DEC officers are certified peace officers who are often also called; conservation officers, game protectors, wildlife control agents, wildlife officers, and fish and game wardens. Conservation officers dedicate their lives to conserve, improve and protect New York’s natural resources and environment. Conservation officers also have many other duties such as; patrolling forests and conservation areas, providing conservation education, providing hunter safety courses, enforcing conservation laws, checking hunting and other conservation licenses, enforcing hunting limits, general law enforcement functions, report writing, providing courtroom testimony, and making arrests.

Now that I am almost done with my college experience, I honestly cannot wait to be able to start my career as a DEC officer. I absolutely love nature and animals. I love knowing that I will be able to be that one person who can possibly change the world/help save the environment. A lot people give me weird looks when I tell them that I want to work with the law enforcement and work with nature as well. In all honestly this type of job isn’t for everyone, it’s for those that have been connected with nature and animals since the very beginning and have the urge to help preserve nature as well.