A new Department of Natural Resources conservation warden is settling into a position that has been vacant for two years.
Alyssa Gove, 25, of Mishicot, began her work in Shawano County last week with 29-year DNR veteran Jim Horne.
“It is good to have help, and right now our team is shorthanded,” Horne said.
Gove is filling a slot that has been open since Mark Schraufnagel transferred to Waupaca County in 2013.
Gove’s primary coverage area will be eastern Shawano County. She will also patrol a small portion of Menominee County around Legend Lake.
She was hired by the DNR last year and completed 12 months of training before taking the role in Shawano. A four-month session at Fort McCoy was followed by stops in Columbia, Wood and Florence counties.
“I love the outdoors just as much as any other person that lives here and I want to make sure that the environment and our wildlife and recreation activities are done correctly so hundreds of years from now … we are going to still have those resources,” Gove said.
Gove spent her first week meeting local police and sheriff’s department personnel. She plans to visit local schools to educate students about hunting safety.
She said she is looking forward to witnessing the annual sturgeon run along the Wolf River in the spring and will meet with Sturgeon for Tomorrow, the nonprofit organization responsible for organizing the sturgeon guard.
“That is going to be a huge part of my job, going out and making sure people are not stealing the sturgeon, or violating the sturgeon,” Gove said.
However, her job entails more than being an enforcer, she said.
“The misconception is that we are mean people, and we are out to get everyone in trouble, and that is not the case,” Gove said. “Yes, there are rules we need to follow, and, yes, there are enforcement that we have to do, but on a daily basis we educate just as much as enforce.”
Gove has been involved with archery and bow hunting since she was 12 and participates in the spring turkey season.
Prior to joining the DNR, she served as a State Patrol officer.
The former summer employee of the state parks department in Door County obtained an associate degree in law enforcement from Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland and is working toward her bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
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