Career Bureaucrats Hinder Conservation Work

Career bureaucrats hinder conservation work
By Tony Dean
For the Argus Leader
Published: May 2, 2007

Dick Kroger's book, "Choosing a Conservation Vocation or a Bureaucratic Career," ought to be required reading for anyone seeking a career in the natural resource field.

This is a subject Kroger knows well. A retired biologist, he worked for three federal agencies - the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service with his career winding down after 40 years.

He said it took him 15 years to understand that something was profoundly wrong with the decision-making process and the system of training, recognizing and promoting those within various conservation fields.

Kroger wrote his book to explain the reasons government and environmental agencies do such a poor job of managing and protecting natural resources.

He notes there are two types of workers within these agencies - "career vocationists" who often take risks because they want to do a good job with resource protection, but they are hindered by "career bureaucrats" who because of their own selfish interests stand in their way and nearly always conform to big money special interests.

And after nearly four decades of watching state and federal agencies function, I have little trouble placing those I have observed in either category. Unfortunately, too many become bureaucrats.

Somebody I watched was Dean Fisher, the NRCS State Conservationist. Several years ago, he tried to lower South Dakota's wetland delineation standards to equal those of Minnesota and other states to our east where most wetlands have been drained. If successful, the move could have resulted in most eastern Dakota fields being tile drained.

In spite of the seriousness of the issue, the public didn't hear anything from the USFWS or the S.D. Department of Game, Fish & Parks (SDGFP). Thanks to a few gutsy career vocationists within those organizations, the news finally got out to the public, but it was opposed by a coalition of conservation interests that included the S.D. and National Wildlife Federations, the Izaak Walton League, the Santee Sioux Tribe, S.D. Resources Coalition and the Audubon Society.

Eventually, the conservation groups sought a court decision but, before a decision was reached, the competing interests reached a settlement which resulted in a 6-state experimental program where wetlands were treated like CRP. The effort was shepherded through the Congress by Sen. Tim Johnson.

Kroger's book details numerous examples and he outlines ways in which government and private vocation conservationists and agencies can become more effective in getting bureaucratic careerist-dominated agencies to better manage natural resources. He says vocation conservationists are at a disadvantage because bureaucrats know how to play the system.

Carl Madson of Brookings, who recently retired after an illustrious career with the USFWS, seemingly always figured a way to deal with special interests. Madson knew the system and how to work around it.

Dr. Gary Pearson, another career vocationist, saw his career with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service come to an end after he raised significant questions about the proposed Garrison Diversion project in North Dakota. He lost his job because he refused to knuckle under, and pressure from former North Dakota Sen. Milton Young, then the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, resulted in Pearson getting the ax.

But, shortly thereafter, he received the highest awards given to citizens in conservation from the Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation. Today, Dr. Pearson is a successful veterinarian in Jamestown, N.D., and continues to speak out on environmental problems. He's a real thorn to bureaucrats because he understands how to play the games needed to protect resources.

Another is Tony DeToy who manages the 116-thousand acre Fort Pierre National Grasslands. In an agency where Range Conservationists too often cater to every public land grazing permit holder's whim, DeToy stands firm and manages the grasslands under a true multiple-use concept. The result is the finest public land prairie grouse hunting in the nation.

Copies of Kroger's book can be ordered on line at Trafford.com.

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