The Next Step. High school students ages 16 to 18 with an interest in an outdoors career can apply through Mar. 22 for the new Explorer Program with the North Dakota Game & Fish Department. This program helps the participants get immersed in the agency’s work in game and fisheries management, enforcement, communications and other daily and seasonal activities which sustain and promote hunting and fishing in the state. Simonson Photo.
By Nick Simonson
In an effort to connect high school students with an early eye toward a career in fisheries, game management, wildlife enforcement and other related employment, the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) has initiated the agency’s new Explorer Program designed to help those young people get a better understanding of wildlife and fisheries careers, and help the department identify potential employees down the road. The new program kicks off this summer, and will offer an array of exposures to various game, fish, biology, enforcement and communications aspects of the agency to participants, according to Bill Haase, NDG&F Wildlife Division Chief.
“It’s for those high school age students, 16-to-18-years old that are really looking to get into the natural resource field. Maybe they love hunting, love fishing, outdoors and all of that, and want to learn more about what it takes to work for the Game and Fish Department and also a little bit more about what we do,” Haase states, adding, “and so this program for those that will be accepted into it has five different days. One day they would ride along with one of our wildlife biologists and do an upland game survey. Another day, they’ll go along with our fisheries staff and do some test netting on some of our lakes. They’ll also have a day where they’ll be brought into one area and meet with our enforcement staff.”
Similar to a farm system for a Major League Baseball team, the Explorer Program provides early game and fish management exposure to students, and a bit of training to help them get a better understanding of not only the positions available with the agency, but also provide them with experience to help them differentiate themselves down the road when applying for fish and game related jobs, building their resume. Ahead of college level enforcement, biology or veterinary education programs, the Explorer Program will provide participants with a leg up on what those careers and the paths that lead to them will require. The expectation is that the participants will benefit through that knowledge, the agency will benefit by being able to identify well-trained future seasonal and full-time employees with ties to the department, and hunters and anglers will benefit from having stewards of the resources who are better trained, more familiar with the state’s fish and game resources and biomes, and more deeply invested in their chosen field.
“We see this program benefitting all three. For us, outreach and employee recruitment are two of our top priorities. So that is one of the big driving forces for us. Most of our staff actually work for the department as a seasonal employee throughout the summers. And so this program works to take the next step, looking at those high school kids to where they can get exposed to what we’re doing, but also we get to know them a little bit,” Haase explains, continuing “I think that this is another program that will help us recruit top tier employees, and then for those students, it’s a great opportunity to see what we do, develop those connections, and get involved.”
The Explorer Program is open to applicants ages 16-18, who are available for all program interactions with various department employees from April to August and will likely be a competitive process which requires a letter of recommendation from an instructor, along with short answer questions in the application which can be requested online. The application period is open until Mar. 22, and after department review, 12 students will be selected with two to four of the selected individuals from each quadrant of the state paired with local staff. The program does require some travel with events in Bismarck and Minot throughout the summer. More information on the Explorer Program can be found online at gf.nd.gov/education/youth/explorer-program or by calling NDG&F at 701-328-6305.
Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.