Game Warden Job Description
Location: Statewide
Grade: 20
Code: 9511
Position: Multiple
Salary Range: $16.80 – 22.35/hr. - Rate includes a $0.85 per hour Market Pay Adjustment.
Benefits: Value of State-paid Health and Dental Insurance: $336.80 biweekly - Value of State’s share of Employee’s Retirement: 27.32% of pay
Agency/Bureau: Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife/Warden Service
General Information:
The Maine Warden Service dates back to 1880, when the first wardens were appointed to enforce laws giving Maine’s moose and deer their first legal protection. The service’s first enforcement action occurred on March 12, 1880 when two men were apprehended for killing a doe in closed season.
From this modest beginning, the Maine Warden Service now has a complement of 124 uniformed members and is the largest of three bureaus in the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. It consists of a control headquarters located in Augusta and two divisions with a varying number of districts. Regional headquarters are located in Gray, Sidney, Bangor, Greenville, and Ashland. Each division is administered and supervised by a Lieutenant and sectional Sergeants. Warden districts cover the entire state; they are generally geographically smaller in southern Maine where the population is higher, and larger in the more sparsely populated Northern sections.
Today, the Maine Warden Service is a modern, professional, highly effective law enforcement agency. Members are certified law enforcement officers who use state-of-the-art equipment, including four-wheel drive trucks, boats, snowmobiles, ATV’s, personal computers, a two-way radio repeater network, portable radios, fixed wing aircraft, and night vision equipment, in carrying out their responsibilities. In addition, the service maintains its own forensic laboratory, dive team, K-9 unit, and aircraft. These aircraft enable Wardens to patrol remote sections of their assigned districts, effectively respond to emergency situations, participate in fish stocking, conduct angler surveys, and oversee boating activity.
Job Description:
This is certified, uniformed, law enforcement work as a member of the Maine Warden Service, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, protecting inland fish and wildlife resources and the safety of the public. A Game Warden’s work includes:
- patrolling an assigned area called a district. Patrolling is usually done alone in areas where there is a concentration of hunting, fishing, and trapping activity. While on patrol, Wardens inspect licenses as well as fish and wildlife possessed by individuals, and explain fish and wildlife, recreation, and environmental laws, rules, and regulations. Patrol may be conducted on foot or by truck, boat, canoe, snowmobile, all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s), or airplane.
- issuing warnings and summonses, and making arrests as necessary. In addition to enforcing fish and wildlife, recreation, and environmental laws, Wardens are empowered to enforce all other state laws.
- conducting investigations, gathering evidence, writing reports, and testifying in court. Investigations may stem from citizen complaints or observed incidents of law violations, and may include complaints involving ATV’s, sick or nuisance wildlife, and landowner issues.
- investigating accidents involving hunting, boats, wildlife, and off-highway snowmobiles and ATV’s.
- organizing, directing, and/or participating in search and rescue operations. This is a priority requirement and may entail working on the recovery of drowning victims and other deceased persons.
- working with biologists, animal control agents, and/or wildlife rehabilitators.
To be a successful Maine Game Warden, an individual must possess considerable knowledge of wildlife, hunting, fishing, trapping, and other related outdoor sports; a strong desire to work in law enforcement; self initiative; and a willingness to work out-of-doors in adverse weather conditions, often times without assistance. In all cases, a Warden seeks to promote good public relations and compliance with all fish and wildlife regulations.
Minimum Requirements:
In order to qualify, you must:
- have a high school diploma or equivalent;
- be at least 21 years old by December 12, 2008 -OR- can be only 20 years old and have completed an Associate’s Degree or 60 credit hours of post-secondary education by December 12, 2008;
- have successfully passed the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s ALERT examination; (see below for scheduling)
- have successfully passed the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s Pre-Employment Physical Fitness Test within the past year; see below for scheduling)
- have or be able to obtain a valid Maine Class C motor vehicle operator’s license;
- be willing to locate anywhere within the State of Maine.
Important notes:
You must attach within the application:
- proof of age (copy of birth certificate or driver’s license);
- a copy of your high school diploma or GED certificate;
- a letter from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy showing your ALERT examination score;
- a letter from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy showing your Pre-Employment Physical Fitness Test results.
- Answers to Supplemental Qualifications form.
- If you are only age 20, you must attach within the application proof of your Associate’s Degree or completed 60 credit hours of post-secondary education.
- FAILURE TO PROVIDE ANY OF THESE MATERIALS WILL RESULT IN FAILURE OF THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.
The State of Maine is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified women and minorities are encouraged to apply.
