Environmental Conservation Officer
I. JOB SUMMARY
Main Topic: Physical Geography
Secondary Topic: Environment and Society
Overview: Environmental conservation officer promotes the appreciation and conservation of the natural world. Responsibilities include elaborating strategies and plans to protect wildlife and water resources; raising awareness of the ways in which the local community can enjoy its settings without having a negative impact; patrolling parks, lakes or other wildlife areas to enforce fish and wildlife laws. Other duties include pesticide control, wildlife research, fighting forest fires and capturing animals in residential areas. Sometimes the role of the environmental conservation officer includes developing policy with local and national impacts, setting and promoting targets within national biodiversity action plans. Environmental conservation officer needs to understand the natural environment and how it affects, as well as affected by, people. Important physical geography knowledge includes climatology (study of climate), biogeography (the varieties of life on earth), hydrology (study of water and natural water resources) and oceanography (study of oceans and seas). Other useful skills include sustainable management, conducting fieldwork, working with maps and satellite images.
Geographers at Work: Physical Geographers, Environmental Geographers
Recommended College Courses: Physical Geography, Geographic Information Science, Remote Sensing, Environmental Management
Skills: Human-environmental relationships, environmental analysis, biogeography and hydrology, sustainability, mapping, remote sensing
Occupation Group: Life, Physical, and Social Science
Learn more about Environmental Conservation Officer from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/environmental-scientists-and-specialists.htm