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Conservation Agents Tackle Varied Work Days

With an average of one per county, many Missourians may never meet a conservation agent. But that wasn’t the case for Agent Adam Doerhoff.

“My uncle was a conservation agent in Morgan County, and I grew up in Cole County so that’s just one county over,” Doerhoff said. “So I was always able to hear stories and had the opportunity to do ride-alongs.”

Doerhoff and his partner, Agent Lucas McClamroch are the conservation agents for Boone County. Being nature’s law enforcement is a varied job, McClamroch said.

“You can start out an early morning of work in waterfowl hunters,” He said, “into the afternoon you can be doing you know a bird ID program for third graders at a conservation area, and then that evening be set on a field out of the middle of nowhere looking for roadhunters and spotlighters.”

From vehicle stops to wildlife code to tactile training, conservation agents train for all sorts of situations they could come across on the job. They have to be jacks of all trades, Doerhoff.

We certainly can call for backup if needed,” Doerhoff said. “But for the most part, we work by ourselves. Lucas and I work together a lot, (and) we work by ourselves a lot. But unlike what you may see on TV where if another cop needs help there are all kinds of cop cars there in just a minute or two, often times that’s not a possibility

Additionally, part of Doerhoff and McClamroch’s job is to inform Missourians about wildlife and conservation. They give a presentation to schools, hold workshops and even host a radio show about conservation.

There's something for everybody when it comes to conservation,” Doerhoff said. “It may be hunting or fishing…it may be hiking; it may be something else. There's a lot of ways that you can get plugged in.”

Beatriz Costa-Lima is originally from São Paulo, Brazil, and is a student newscaster at KBIA. She is a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism studying documentary journalism.