Statewide realignment to spread out game wardens' thinning ranks (CA)

A/P ^ | 8/14/04 | don thompson

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SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Department of Fish and Game is changing how it manages its game wardens because of a worsening shortage that has left some portions of the state without any protections at all against poachers. The realignment will phase out some supervisors in favor of field officers over the next three to five years, giving the department more flexibility in assigning wardens where they are needed, said spokesman Steve Martarano.

To add more wardens after a yearslong hiring freeze, the department is on the verge of establishing a permanent joint law enforcement officer training program with the state Parks Department and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection at CDF's training academy in Ione, Martarano told The Associated Press.

The hiring freeze since 2001, ongoing budget cuts that once threatened to trim wardens' ranks to 1971 levels, and the loss of wardens to retirement and better-paying jobs since the late 1990s have cut the number of wardens from 402 three years ago to 352 now.

The number had been even lower, and had been expected to drop to about 300 by year's end. However, the department recently was allowed to hire 22 new wardens to replace about 25 wardens expected to soon depart.

"It's been this sort of steady decline and, because attrition is not an even process, we had a lot of inequities," Martarano said.

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Well, let's see. Game wardens work alone, underarmed and understaffed, handcuffed by tutty fruity fluffy CA laws that treat criminals as if they were celebrities.

Game wardens have to go into areas where criminals (poachers) who are armed (that's how one poaches) for probably the same wage as a job that carries the phrase, "Would you like fries with that?"

And CA is wondering why there's a shortage?

[MineralMan]

Funny thing about CA Game Wardens. If you fish there, you have to WEAR your fishing license outside of your clothing, so the few game wardens out there can see it through their binoculars.

What's silly about this is that you have to buy some sort of holder for the flimsy paper license so you can pin it to your clothing.

Of course, when you take your jacket off when the day gets warmer, you have to move the license holder from your jacket to your shirt. Forget about fishing shirtless, I guess.

With the high fees Californians pay for hunting and fishing licenses, I think it's high time to hire more game wardens, not just to move them around.