Fish and Game Employees Honored

Two Salmon region Fish and Game employees were honored recently at the agency's In-Service Training School in Boise. Senior Conservation Officer Tony Latham and Senior Research Fishery Biologist Jon Hansen each received awards for their service to Idaho's wildlife resources. Latham received the prestigious Shikar Safari International Wildlife Officer of the Year award for Idaho. His nomination cited Latham's outstanding dedication to protecting Idaho's wildlife resources. In addition, his exceptional investigative skills, desire to improve his knowledge and skills, exceptional training programs, and willingness to work with other agency personnel in the Salmon region were noted. In the words of District Conservation Officer Justin Williams, "Tony is an exemplary Conservation Officer. . . His innovative approaches in detecting and apprehending wildlife violators have made him a great asset not only to the Salmon region but to the entire state as well." Jon Hansen received the Idaho Conservation Officer's Association Non-enforcement Employee of the Year award, given to an agency employee who provides exceptional assistance to enforcement staff. Hansen, a fishery research biologist working with anadromous fish, is also a Level 1 enforcement officer. He felt that this additional training would be valuable when violations were found at steelhead check stations and conservation officers were busy elsewhere. Hansen has also been called upon to provide assistance with other enforcement efforts. Most notably, his help in the fall of 2004 resulted in two hunters receiving five citations for an over-limit of bear, waste of a bear, waste of a deer, and failure to tag a deer. As Senior Conservation Officer Dane Cook says "Jon is very much an asset to the Salmon Region enforcement effort." The Salmon region staff is very proud of these awards to their co-workers. Salmon Regional Supervisor Jim Lukens commented "Both of these gentlemen are extremely deserving of their awards and I am proud to have them in our region."