Re: [Killietalk] The future for conservation assessed as bleak

["Edd Kray" <edd at catfishnthecrawlers_com>]

Nick,

Money does not solve all problems. It's been decades now that I've
listened to the Am. Fed of Teachers scream that more funding will make
your kids finally read and write with literacy. The most recent data
here in town shows that that is non-sense. The school districts
receiving the most funding here in CO were recently shown to still have
the poorest test results.

I worked in the Catholic schools for a decade. We received ($) 50% or
less of what the public schools did. Nevertheless, our product was 100%
better. It takes dedication and desire not money.

Same thing for conservation.

________________________________________________________________________


----Original Message-----
From: killietalk-bounces at aka_org [mailto:killietalk-bounces at aka_org] On
Behalf Of Nick Ternes
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:19 AM
To: killifish discussion list
Subject: Re: [Killietalk] The future for conservation assessed as bleak

>From 1980 to 2003, undergraduate enrollment in natural resource
>programs
has fallen, according to research conducted at Utah >State University.
Interpreting hard statistics prior to 1980 are >problematic, says Terry
Sharik, a professor at Utah State's >College of Natural Resources. But
he
estimates that if the '70s >are factored in, enrollment may have fallen
by
half.

Interest in the natural world isn't the only reason for this.  There
aren't
enough jobs for even those who are graduating in the natural resources
field.  The positions available typically don't pay well enough to
support
anyone not living with their parents.  Even entry level positions that
do
pay well enough typically require a masters.  My wife has a BS in
Wildlife
Management and Biology, she works as a LTE Part time customer service
rep at
the DNR.  While it is with a gov't organization dealing with
conservation,
anyone could do her job, as it's basically office work.  Also take note
that
gov't orgs like the WI DNR survive off of LTE positions because they
don't
have the funding to hire full time employees.

I would also say the future of conservation is bleak, not due to the
disinterest of today's youth, but the disregard for it by those in the
government. (Natural resource orgs. are usually the first ones to have
gov't funding cut, all hail king george)

Nick Ternes
Port Washington, WI
WAKO
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