The call to Bill Andree about joining him for a warden’s-eye view of Colorado’s snowy big game hunt met with an unexpected reply.
“I’d like to, but I don’t know if I’ve got enough hours left,” the veteran district wildlife manager said. “I’ll have to check and get back to you.”
Welcome to the brave new world of wildlife law enforcement.
With the most intense week of the most important event of the year exploding all around him, Andree had to check his time card to see whether he could participate.
In a recent compromise under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, Colorado Division of Wildlife field personnel now are bound by hourly work restrictions during the most critical times of the year.
Traditionally, Colorado’s 135 DWMs – game wardens, if you prefer – had no limitation on the hours they worked. During big game season, this often resulted in linked 20-hour days, weeks at a time, while officers chased after scofflaws, rescued stranded hunters and performed myriad other duties that seemingly had no end.
“I put in a lot of 80-hour weeks,” said Andree, a 26-year veteran whose territory blankets the many drainages from Vail Pass to Eagle.
When an unidentified officer, miffed at not being given earned compensatory time off, blew the whistle, it brought the Department of Labor bloodhounds into the fray. After protracted negotiations, DOW officials gained this compromise: During two separate 28-day periods during the calendar years representing the most demanding time frame for an individual officer, DWMs can work no more than 171 hours without added compensation. The load cannot exceed 200 hours under any circumstances, and hours more than 171 must be matched with time off at the rate of time and a half.
During the remainder of the year, officers are free to follow their impulses regarding how much extra time they devote to the most demanding – and, often, most satisfying – job on the DOW payroll.
In its early stages, no one can be certain what influence the restriction will have on the agency’s ability to perform key tasks.
“This is our first year to go through this. It’s hard to assess, but we know it’s going to have an impact,” said John Bredehoft, DOW’s chief of field operations. “We’re trying to make certain there’s a balance in this.
“Back in the old days when I was a DWM, I was working 300 to 350 hours some months. I know that was hard on me and my family. I try to encourage people not to put in those huge hours.”
For Andree, the hunt-season restriction means he seldom has time to poke around more obscure sideroads or wander far into the backcountry. Like most wardens, he would gladly give up his time to cover more ground.
“I can’t go off on horseback because that’s a 16-hour day,” said Andree, who last week lost 18 key hours while participating in the hunt for a man who shot a state patrolman.
Rob Firth, DOW’s law enforcement chief, laments a system which requires supervisors to tell officers to go home and save hours for later.
“We’re juggling to provide coverage and see that we have a work force available at all times,” Firth said. “Will this compromise law enforcement? That’s our concern. I’m not saying it has, but I’m concerned that it will.”
To take up some of the slack, Bredehoft is pushing to hire a dozen new field personnel, including three DWMs, four land use specialists, four energy specialists and a technician.
This strategy is designed to reduce the time DWMs spend on resource issues against the backdrop of the energy boom and rampant land development. Under current guidelines, DWMs are encouraged to divide their time equally among law enforcement, customer service and habitat – with no more than 50 percent ever allocated to enforcement.
“How can you ever keep track of that?” wondered Andree, who also noted the difficulty making space to take earned time off. “It’s already hard enough finding time to take vacation and holidays.
“I’d say we’re going to have some pretty good growing pains associated with all this.”
Meanwhile, Bredehoft keeps sharpening his pencil for what increasingly becomes an administrative balancing act.
“We’re getting the high-priority stuff done,” he said. “We’ll just have to deal with it.”
