First of the Natural Sciences Seminars

By Ray Coffey

On Friday September 2nd Chad Eyler, Chief of Special Permits from the Division in the Bureau of Wildlife Protection in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, visited Paul Smith’s College to talk to students about the history of conservation law in Pennsylvania in a talk titled “Conservation Law Enforcement in Pennsylvania.”   Chief Eyler talked about the history of natural resource agencies – the stewards of state parks and forests -as well as history on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. This seminar was full of history lessons that those who are going into, or even thinking about pursuing a career in the environmental law enforcement field, should know about.  Chief Eyler’s enthusiasm for the history of natural resource conservation was apparent

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Over the course of Chief Eyler’s career, he has been a uniformed game warden in PA, become a chief, and has seen many first hand encounters with humans and wildlife. He discussed many interesting facts about wildlife management techniques as well as what it was like to be a part of such a well-known department. As many future graduates seek out to become game wardens across the states, Chief Eyler made sure to tell the students to not overlook the PA Game Commission.

The seminar was informative, but still too short. He covered the early history well and students commented that they would have enjoyed hearing that much detail about more recent history, too.  In addition, it would have been nice to hear about personal aspects of the job. Many of us would like to know more about what it is like to be an Environmental Conservation Officer and what it means to them.

The presentation was part of the “Natural Sciences Seminar” (formerly known as the Fisheries and Wildlife Science seminar), which take place the first Friday of the month in the Freer Auditorium.  The Oct 7 seminar will be Curt Karboski (a 2007 FWSF alum of PSC) talking about “The Battle for Lake Ontario: Native and Invasive Species Interactions in the Great Lakes.”  The November 4 talk will be Kevin Hynes talking about “Wildlife Forensic Pathology: Typical Casework from New York.”