Inside the Wisconsin conservation warden program, employees allege 'a terrible, toxic culture'

MADISON – Wisconsin's conservation warden program — long a career magnet for Wisconsinites passionate about sporting and the outdoors — is struggling to retain employees and contending with concerns about a toxic work environment rife with with discrimination and retaliation.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talked to five current and former Department of Natural Resources conservation wardens who said they endured or witnessed harassment while working there. They described a culture where sexual harassment was unchecked, management mistreated employees because of their sexual orientation, and leadership routinely retaliated against people for questioning harassment or mistreatment.

At least four employees over the last four years have filed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints, with some cases ending up in court.

DNR leadership and Chief Warden Casey Krueger did not make themselves available for interviews despite numerous requests by the Journal Sentinel. Katie Grant, a spokesperson from the DNR, said they were aware of discrimination and retaliation complaints and cases but were unable to discuss specific cases.

"The DNR will continue to prioritize creating an inclusive workplace for all and responding to allegations based upon facts, providing all involved with due process," she said in an emailed statement.

Gov. Tony Evers' spokesperson Britt Cudaback said work has been done across state agencies to create a better environment for employees.

"Gov. Evers is committed to leading a diverse and inclusive workplace, which is why he made it a priority as one of his first acts in office to establish expectations around respecting our state employees and prohibiting discrimination, including taking steps to prevent and stop discrimination and sexual harassment," she said in a statement. "The Department of Administration is tasked with assisting all state agencies in meeting these standards, and our administration regularly seeks feedback from and has conversations with state employees, including conservation wardens."

The conservation warden program in Wisconsin historically has been a sought-after employment for those with a passion for the outdoors. Wisconsin's 220 sworn wardens are responsible for enforcing the rules of hunting, fishing and trapping, as well as investigating environmental spills, monitoring ATV and snowmobile trails, and sometimes overseeing safety in state parks.

Still, the warden program has struggled to recruit and retain qualified people in recent years.

According to a Law Enforcement Market Study of the warden program last year, the retention rate for wardens has dropped from about 73% in 2007 to 66% in 2022. The study was compiled in response to the conservation warden program's under-recruitment of diverse applicants, decreasing staff retention and financial losses to the state.

According to data from the department between 2000 and 2022, the retention rate of the program is about 64%.

Currently, there are 13 unfilled jobs in the conservation warden program for which the agency is not recruiting, after accounting for expected incoming recruits, according to Katie Grant, a DNR spokesperson.

That market study showed that Wisconsin's conservation warden program has one of the lowest retention rates in the Midwest. While the wardens in Wisconsin are paid less than wardens in surrounding states, that isn't viewed as the only driving issue behind people leaving the program, the study said. Wisconsin wardens make between $25.40 and $34.90 an hour, while Illinois wardens range from $25.93 to $61.82 an hour and Minnesota wardens make between $33.81 an $45.42 an hour, according to DNR information.

Current and former wardens say the retention problem is due to the "toxic" culture within the program, which has persisted for years.

More: DNR Sec. Adam Payne resigns less than one year after appointment, citing aging parents

'I don't think the DNR has acted in good faith'

For Andy Dryja, becoming a warden was a dream come true.

He knew from a young age he wanted to be a warden and followed that path to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he studied resources management. He interned under wardens throughout his time in university, before he was able to apply to the program after graduation. He was hired in December 1999.

He worked for the program for 19 years, patrolling during hunting season, ensuring safety during fishing season and working closely with local law enforcement. He loved the job as did most of his colleagues, he said.

Dryja's time in the program was largely spent as a field warden, with a brief stint in a more specific special operations unit. He reveled in the connections he made within the community, interacting with local youth and teaching hunting seminars. He earned accolades in some years, receiving a $2,500 bonus for his work.

But his time with the program ended abruptly in 2018, after he applied for a promotion to lieutenant.

Dryja was told he was the top contender for the position, but did not receive a job offer — a much younger and less experienced warden did, he said. Dryja approached management and asked why he had been passed over, and why typical promotional protocols — in which experience and years with the department are weighed heavily — weren't followed.

"And that was the start of everything," he said.

Shortly after the exchange, Dryja was warned about issues, ultimately leading to his dismissal. In his termination letter, the agency cited that he had worked hours without clocking them, transported his children in his state-issued truck, stored a boat and space heater in the warden station, and failed to repair an ATV used in warden work.

"The things that they used against me were incredibly petty," he said.

He acknowledges he did occasionally take calls during off hours and not clock in for it. Or he'd fill up his work truck with gas after clocking out, on his drive home. He said he had transported his kids in his truck on occasion, something he said was unavoidable due to being a single dad but permitted under policy. The boat was used for warden business, he said, which is why he kept it in the station. He said he kept the space heater for cold days and disputed the claim he neglected the ATV.

Dryja appealed the firing decision with the agency. The appeal upheld the agency's decision, but a circuit court judge overturned that and said Dryja should be allowed to return to work. But the agency didn't make things easy on him.

The DNR required that he report to Madison for a short period of time, and then do three months of administrative work in a place on the opposite side of the state from where he had worked previously, which he said wasn't feasible with his children.

"It was more punishment," he said.

Dryja and his lawyer went back to court because of the terms of his rehiring. But the DNR fired him again before he could return to the job.

The case landed back in court, where Oconto County Judge Jay Conley called the firing "absurd" in a March 2023 hearing. In court transcripts, Conley points out that no one else at the DNR has been fired for having children in their work vehicle, and the other claims the DNR brought forward were not enough to result in the treatment Dryja received.

"I don't think the DNR has acted in good faith at all throughout this matter," he said in the court transcript.

"The DNR has basically said, 'OK, we lost the court case. OK, you've got your job back, but you are going to crawl through fields of broken glass to get there.' And that may be a bit too harsh, but it's absolutely absurd everything they're requiring him to do."

The court sided with Dryja. The DNR appealed the decision.

Dryja now works for the Oconto County Sheriff's Department but he longs for his warden job back.

"I've been asking for my job back since day one," he said.

The ordeal has taken a toll, he said, including on his children who are now teenagers.

"How do you put an emotional name to having to move your kids out of your house, to having to start over a new career, to having to defend yourself in the public settings and private settings?" he said. "I was betrayed by the people that swore they'd have my back through some of the toughest times."

According to documents, at least two other wardens in recent years made equal employment discrimination filings after they applied for promotions and questioned the process.

Those two employees, after going through the discrimination filing, were given raises that put their pay at a level typical of a captain instead of their rank as lieutenant.

More: 'Do not lose sight of the citizens': Residents ask DNR to consider health impacts of PFAS

'A terrible, toxic culture'

Jamie Dins followed her passion for the outdoors into the conservation warden program in 2019, after working for years as an ecologist and an outdoor instructor.

It didn't turn out to be what she expected.

She entered the program in 2019. COVID hit shortly after, changing the timeline for training and graduation.

There were also things she said she witnessed and experienced as a woman that made her experience unbearable.

"I didn't realize how sexist so many of them were, so that was all very eye-opening for me," she said. "I was kind of a doe caught in the headlights."

Some men, including superiors, in the academy would remark about her body or the way her clothes fit, she said. They would make jokes about her gender and mock her desire to be a warden, she said.

"It was terrible. Many of my male counterparts were questioning why I was there and what I was doing. All the women in my academy were subjected to and experienced the same."

One man in particular would ask them to get them coffee or tell them that a woman's place was in the kitchen, she said.

"And when I did bring concerns up...I was told to trust no one and talk to no one and keep my head down," she said. "And to just get through the academy, that it was going to be terrible."

During her time at the academy, Dins started dating someone new after separating from her now ex-husband. Her new partner also worked for the DNR.

That person happened to be a woman, something that seemingly intensified the level of attention that was being paid to Dins. She said she was unexpectedly pulled into HR and interrogated about the relationship by a woman who asked her highly personal questions about her relationship status, her off-duty time and her sexual orientation. She was told it was a requirement to answer.

There was no policy against dating someone else within the program, Dins said, and the two were not in the same chain of command.

Meanwhile, Dins said she never acted unprofessionally, was never late and continued to rank at the top of her class.

"There wasn't anything I couldn't do," she said.

The DNR launched an investigation into Dins and her partner, interviewing them both, along with other people, such as Dins' roommates and a friend she made in the academy. Less than a month later, she was asked to turn in her gear, she said.

"It seems very obvious to me, and it was very unfortunate for them to be so close-minded, but my take was that the good ol’ boys club didn't have room for two women who like each other," she said.

Dins filed a complaint in 2020 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding her treatment, but never reached a resolution or successful mediation, she said.

Dins now works in law enforcement and in private conflict management.

"The DNR has no diversity. They don't support, they don't encourage. They have a terrible, toxic culture. They don't want diversity," she said. "I think girls with guns intimidate them. I think boobs intimidate them. It's just not a great environment, and I wouldn't go back."

More: Senate Republicans vote down appointees to Natural Resources Board; Evers appoints new members

'We have faith this is important'

Several other past and current DNR employees spoke with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on the condition of not being named in this story, about treatment they'd either witnessed or experienced.

One employee was fired for minor infractions that turned out to be not true, after speaking up on behalf of colleagues being mistreated. The person was reinstated after a lawyer challenged the firing, according to interviews with the employee.

A different former employee recalls watching women quit the academy due to the treatment they received.

"It made me uncomfortable to see how others were being treated," they said.

Ben Gruber, president of Conservation Wardens Local 1215, said he's heard similar complaints of mistreatment, retaliation or disparate treatment of Wisconsin wardens. He said some people have told him they've experienced such stress and anxiety being a part of the warden program, that they start to struggle with mental health, all the while trying to keep their heads down and remain employed.

Though wardens have a union, most of its power was stripped down by Act 10 in 2011, the law that curtailed collective bargaining for public employees. Gruber highlighted that issue as one of the biggest in improving the culture situation within the program.

Being a warden is already a demanding and stressful job on its own, Gruber said, but leadership that refuses to listen and retaliates when employees ask for help or report issues makes it much, much worse.

Gruber is hoping to see DNR leadership or Evers come to the table to work on potential resolutions, so conservation wardens feel they have a voice and the opportunity to put the toxic workplace culture behind them.

"We're working to reach out to people and resolve this," he said. "And we have faith that this is important to them, too."

Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on X at @SchulteLaura.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin conservation warden program fraught with sexism, retaliation