The state Department of Environmental Conservation has unveiled its upcoming academies for the newest classes of Forest Rangers and Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs). The six-month training academies will prepare 58 of DEC’s newest recruits for careers protecting New York’s natural resources in the Divisions of Forest Protection and Law Enforcement.
ECOs, originally called Game Protectors, were first appointed for service in 1880. The first Forest Rangers, originally known as Fire Wardens, were put into service in 1885 when the New York State Legislature established the Forest Preserve of New York State.
The Forest Ranger training starts May 19 at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) campus in the hamlet of Wanakena. The ECO training begins June 2 at the Pulaski Academy, which has served as the home for these trainings for the last several academies.
ECO job duties are centered on the 71 chapters of New York State Environmental Conservation Law and range from deer poaching to solid waste dumping, illegal mining, the black market pet trade, and emissions violations. In 2023, ECOs and Investigators across the state responded to nearly 31,000 calls and worked on cases that resulted in nearly 16,900 tickets or arrests.
Forest Ranger duties focus on the public’s use of DEC-administered State lands and easements and can span from patrolling State properties to conducting search-and-rescue operations to fighting wildland fires. In 2023, DEC Forest Rangers conducted 370 search and rescue missions, extinguished 146 wildfires, participated in 52 prescribed fires that served to rejuvenate more than 1,000 acres, and worked on cases that resulted in hundreds of tickets or arrests.
ECOs and Forest Rangers are full-fledged New York State Police Officers, often called upon to support critical police deployments. Forest Rangers and ECOs were among the first responders on the scene to help in the aftermath of Sept. 11, assisted in the response to Superstorm Sandy, helped in the 2015 search for two escaped felons from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, supported New York’s statewide response to COVID-19 at testing and vaccination sites, and have traveled to battle wildfires in western states and Canada. Upon graduation, recruits will be assigned patrol areas and join the ranks of hundreds of ECOs and Forest Rangers currently serving across the state.
The recruits in this newest class will be selected from an eligible list of qualifications and passing scores generated from the most recent Civil Service exam, which became active in December 2022. To view job qualifications for ECOs, visit the Environmental Conservation Police Officer job description webpage; for Forest Rangers, visit the Forest Ranger job description webpage
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