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WHEN IS THIS PROGRAM COMING TO THE DELTA?

Department of Fish and Game graduates eighth class of Senior Volunteers in San Diego area

Oct. 13 , 200 8 -- Nine Californians became official senior volunteers for the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) in San Diego today. The eight men and one woman graduated from the DFG Senior Volunteer Academy following extensive training in an 80-hour course, follow-up field training, and a six month probationary period.

A commencement ceremony was held today at Buena Vista Ecological Reserve in Oceanside, honoring new senior volunteers Mandi Burch, Richard Mellem, Patrick De La Hunt, Joseph Mundine, Barry Gaffney, Gene Nelson, John Knox, Gerald Radford and Jim Sink. Two previous Academy graduates, Rebecca Decker and Tony Richards, also received their certificates at today’s event.

These new volunteers all attended an 80-hour training academy and were monitored during a field training program through their probationary period. Since the program’s inception, senior volunteers have logged more than 80,000 hours of valuable time, energy, knowledge and experience assisting DFG.

“We are extremely thankful for the senior volunteers,” said Director Donald Koch. “The precious time and energy they devote to being part of our work force enhances the ability of our wardens, biologists, educators, and others to protect and manage the state’s valuable fish and wildlife resources.”

Senior volunteers can deliver routine patrol citations to the courts, respond to nuisance wildlife calls and assist at DFG hunting season check points and Chronic Wasting Disease inspection stations. They also monitor vandalism and habitat destruction at ecological reserves and distribute fishing and hunting regulations and invasive species literature to the public. To date, they have trained more than 400 hunter education students in California.

These volunteers also transport enforcement vehicles for maintenance or relocation and answer routine calls from the public at DFG offices - a task that, in the past, was often done by a warden. That warden can now be out in the field, enforcing California’s environmental laws.

The senior volunteer program was initiated in 2002 in San Diego County, and later expanded to Orange and Riverside counties. The program’s mission is to assist DFG, primarily by providing conservation and law enforcement education to the public. The program has assisted in community outreach at fairs and expositions, state lands monitoring, habitat and pollution awareness, animal welfare and assistance with administrative tasks.

For more information on the DFG senior volunteer program, please visit our Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/volunteer/svp.

Contact:
Lt. Kent Smirl, 714-638-8488
DFG Office of Communications, 916-322-8911