If you created a roster of wildlife professionals working in North Dakota, a good share of them would claim their degrees from the University of North Dakota, or North Dakota State University – myself included.
In fact, while the athletic rivalry between the state’s two largest universities is temporarily on the shelf, the good-natured rivalry between UND and NDSU biology/wildlife graduates will likely carry on for some time.
While the two schools have somewhat different programs, many graduates share a common bond: they started their quest for a wildlife-related degree at a two-year college in Bottineau, and studied under Al Aufforth, who for nearly 30 years has prepared countless students for careers in the natural resources field.
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Students banding ducks
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Situated at the base of the forested Turtle Mountains in north central North Dakota, the Bottineau school is sometimes referred to as the State School of Foresty. More formally, it is now Minot State University-Bottineau, but at one time it was affiliated with NDSU.
From game wardens to fisheries and wildlife biologists to foresters, the legacy of Al Aufforth and Bottineau is carried alongside badges and binoculars throughout the entire United States as fleets of his students put knowledge to work on the landscape and across the waters.
For example, Jeremy Rakcowicz, an Iowa native and South Dakota State grad, is a South Dakota Game Fish and Parks conservation officer. Kevin Kading, from NDSU is the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s private lands coordinator. Mick Erickson, Grand Forks and UND, oversees the Chase Lake Prairie Project and Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
I too attended college in Bottineau, and even spent my first year as a game warden patrolling the same area in which I learned the basics of wildlife management.
I spent my first year of college at North Dakota State in Fargo, then realized a hands-on approach to learning the fundamentals would provide a needed foundation. My sophomore and part of my junior year were spent learning under Aufforth’s tutelage.
His passion for the outdoors is evident in the array of recognition he has received from the likes of Ducks Unlimited, the North Dakota Wildlife Federation. and academia.
Not your ordinary college instruction
Few college students – or instructors – relish the thought of arising at 4 a.m., but each fall dozens of prospective biologists and other students with an interest in waterfowl accompany Aufforth to J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles west and south of Bottineau.
After the sun rises, students spend hours banding ducks, determining sexes and documenting biological data.
I remember the bus packed with sleepy students laughing as we rolled back to campus and dodged fellow students, still in a zombie state despite having have spent the previous five hours sleeping, while we were gathering valuable waterfowl data and even more significantly—hands on work experience.
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Students banding ducks
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Banding ducks is just one example of the field opportunities needed to advance forward to a career in natural resources management. Another field experience involved documenting dissolved oxygen levels beneath the ice of Bottineau County’s Strawberry Lake. While I’ve never put this technique to work, I learned more than just reading instructions in a manual.
I still understand some of the obstacles fisheries personnel must overcome. Just getting to some lakes during winter is challenging, not to mention frozen fingers, drifts of snow and cutting through three feet of ice to secure a water sample. All of this is also related in text, but is best learned when the words are put into action.
Such experiences allow students and prospective wildlife managers to tell future employers that yes, indeed, I have banded ducks. It’s more than simply learning scientific name, which is certainly important, but in a career full of aspiring biologists, any field training is an advantage.
As we enter the holiday season, this is my word of thanks to Al Aufforth and the other instructors at universities and laboratories who help thousands of students who learn the value of a healthy environment, and take the knowledge and skills they learn and apply them in the field, making a difference each and every day.
Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Dept. He can be reached via email: dleier@state.nd.us
Photo credits to the ND Game and Fish Department
