West Virginia’s natural resources are about to suffer a hard hit and few sportsmen and women in our state realize it. Over the course of the next couple of months at least 20 longtime game and fish biologists, wildlife managers, or assistant chiefs will retire from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Some have already left.
The average employee wearing the gold watch has been with the agency more than 30 years. The exodus will carry roughly 600 years of wildlife and fisheries management experience out the door of an agency which is extremely important to hunters, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts in West Virginia.
“It’s not unique to West Virginia. It’s happening all over the country,” said DNR Wildlife Chief Curtis Taylor who joked he probably didn’t have enough time to attend all of the retirement luncheons he’s been invited to in the weeks ahead.
Taylor himself has 36 years with the agency.
“It’s the baby boomers. Our dad’s all came home from World War II, got married, started working, raised us and we all went into wildlife biology,” Taylor said. “In our outfit, you’re not likely to leave. Unfortunately our vocation is our avocation.”
The wave of retirements would seemingly clear the decks for a new generation of those interested in game and fish management in a state where the opening day of deer season is an unofficial state holiday and wildlife resources puts one BILLION dollars a year into the state economy. However, that is not the case.
“We need to fill jobs top to bottom,” Taylor said. “But we’re in competition for the best minds with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, the Corps of Engineers, every other state wildlife agency, and private companies who now need wildlife and fisheries people on their staffs.”
The obstacle is all of those pay far better than the state of West Virginia. During the recent National Hunting and Fishing Days at Stonewall Resort, I had a chance to talk to a lot of the biologists I’ve known for years. The morale was low. Although dedicated to their jobs, the dedication can only go so far. Former Governor Joe Manchin instituted a freeze on merit raises throughout state government as a fiscal measure when the economy turned south. The Tomblin Administration kept the moratorium in place. As a result, many of those with advanced degrees in their fields haven’t had a merit based raise in a decade.
“The reason we keep people is they love what they do and love where they live,” said Taylor who is the lowest paid of his counterparts in the United States.”I’ll put my people up against anybody. We are absolutely the best at what we do, for what we have to work with.”
The ironic part of the story is money isn’t the problem. The Division of Natural Resources runs almost exclusively off the revenue of hunting and fishing license. There’s presently no push for an increase in the price of a license. The Wildlife Endowment Fund, which is made up of a variety of funds dedicated to wildlife and fisheries conservation, has more than $40 Million. Interest from the endowment fund is shared equally for wildlife and law enforcement duties. The money is there to keep sound wildlife management in place. However, because they are a state agency, they are still under the moratorium and are not allowed to increase pay based on performance.
There’s plenty of legitimate criticism at all levels of government about wasteful spending. But we have been fortunate in West Virginia with the management of wildlife resources, when compared to other states. It has been an amazing bargain. Those celebrating retirement parties this month started their careers in a state where deer, bear, and turkey had almost disappeared from the landscape. They leave with the state’s fauna flourishing.
We don’t necessarily need the Rolls Royce of wildlife management, but we shouldn’t have it sitting on blocks in the front yard either.