DULUTH, Minn. _ Leah Kampa approached the trap, set for fisher or marten, that was sitting on top of a horizontal fallen tree about 18 inches above the ground.
"This one looks good. It's legal," she said as she got closer. Inside a small wooden box a conibear 120 trap was set, ready to grab one of the forest furbearers that are open to harvest for just six days each year.
At this site, north of Island Lake, the trap was legally placed and marked with the trapper's name and address. That wasn't the case the day before when Kampa, a Minnesota Conservation Officer in training, and her veteran partner, Kipp Duncan, found two illegal traps.
With their pelts valued at over $100 each, fisher and marten are worth the while for trappers to go after this year. Trappers can take two of the animals each season. But because of a special rule in Northeastern Minnesota's "lynx management area," aimed at protecting the small forest cat, fisher/marten traps must be a specific size in an effort to keep lynx out.
"The opening is clearly too big," Kampa said measuring the non-conforming box the trap was set into. "And the setback is too much ... They also didn't have the proper identification on it."
The trapper in question did respond to a note left on the trap by Kampa to call her, so the officers now know the guilty party. If the case is prosecuted it could cost the trapper their trapping privileges for a year, along with a hefty fine.
"We'll see where it goes," Kampa said.
For the last few weeks Kampa has been in full uniform in the woods and now frozen waters north of Duluth, patrolling firearms deer season, trapping and early ice fishing along with other outdoor related activities. Duncan meanwhile has been in civilian clothes, dressed like a hunter or trapper, sitting in their patrol truck's passenger seat and staying in the background at stops, incognito, as Kampa dealt with the public. He's watching how she carries herself, how she interacts with the public, how she sorts legal from illegal activities and how she makes sure to protect herself from any dangers.
"She runs the show. The goal is that she is in charge. I'm just observing," Duncan said.
"The problem is that everyone up here knows him and wants to talk with him," Kampa said with a smile.
Duncan is Kampa's primary field training officer. She spent a month with him in late summer before going off to spend four weeks each with veteran officers in Sauk Center and Willow River then returning for her last month of training with Duncan.
It's pretty clear Kampa has passed muster and, after her last day with Duncan on Tuesday, she will assume her permanent new post in Hutchinson in central Minnesota on Wednesday _ one of 18 new conservation officers statewide that will help fill some of the DNR's 40 open positions.
"She's on her way," Duncan said.
But not all candidates get this far. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people might apply. Only 21 made it through the intensive selection process to attend the Department of Natural Resources conservation officer training academy over the summer. Only the 18 are moving on to a permanent job.
"It's a really long process," said Tony Elwell, a conservation officer in training from Cold Spring, Minn. who has been training this fall in the Duluth area with veteran officer Matt Miller.
"You'd be surprised how many people just aren't cut out for this. It's not your normal 9-to-5 job. It's consuming. Sometimes too consuming," Miller said. "People wash out in the psych test. Some go out in the physical test. Others, they may be great people but when you get them out here (in field training) they just can't communicate. And that's the most important skill for this job."
Officers joke that the job involves so much interaction with the public they should be called "Conversation Officers."
Like many applicants who seek to become conservation officers, Kampa is already a cop. She's served with county sheriff's offices and with a tribal natural resource agency, with eight years of law enforcement already under her duty belt. The Sauk Rapids, Minn., native says she's been trying to gain as much varied experience as possible with the goal of becoming a warden.
"I grew up in an outdoor family ... hunting, fishing, a lot of camping," she said. "This is what my career goal has always been. I just took my time and tried to make sure I had the right skill set before I went for it."
Kampa will be moving from Pine County, where her husband is a deputy sheriff, and starting her warden career in new territory. But she's been looking forward to it for a long time.
"It's all been worth it," she said of the process. "It's a great opportunity for people who want to be outdoors."
