Northern Michigan University's wildlife conservation law and policing minor is featured in a recent story by Bridge Magazine, the state's "largest nonprofit news service." The article highlights adjunct instructor Jeremy Sergey's scenario-based training that helps prepare students to become DNR officers who enforce fish, game and natural resource laws; alumnus Joseph Budnick, who graduated from the DNR's 23-week conservation officer training academy in early July and will work in Mackinac County after field training with a veteran officer; and professor Greg Warchol's research on illegal wildlife trading and poaching in Africa, which also has relevance domestically.
Sergey teaches the conservation law enforcement class and strives to immerse students in the lifestyle of his full-time career as a Michigan DNR conservation officer.
Warchol teaches Environmental Conservation Criminology, where he said students grapple with “what kind of person goes out and poaches wildlife in a national or state forest in Michigan or poaches animals in Africa and Asia” and learn about what domestic law enforcement and their international counterparts do to combat those crimes. According to the Bridge Michigan story, in 2024, the Michigan DNR generated more than 10,000 poaching complaints from 43,250 calls.
Read the full feature on NMU's program here.
