COMPARISON OF PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS AND DUTIES BETWEEN STATE PARK PEACE OFFICERS AND GAME WARDENS FOR TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT by Richard G. Powe, B. B. A. Accounting; B. S. Geog Resource & Enviro Stdies A directed research project submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Geography with a Major in Geog Resource & Enviro Stdies May 2021 Committee Chair Directed Research Advisor: Dr. Andrew Sansom Committee Member: Dr. Jennifer Devine Texas State University Graduate Program in Geography i COPYRIGHT by Richard G. Powe 2021 ii FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Richard G. Powe, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. iii DEDICATION The devotion and sense of appreciation goes out to those people who have assisted during the pursuit of this academic goal and endeavor. Most know who they are, yet the specific person would be the author’s father, Richard E. Powe, who is the first to help in the initial education about nature and how to catch a fish, many years in the past, only to look and find the path found here, and now. Never could have figured out the way of fishing, if it were not for the dedication and instruction. May peace always be found over the spirit whom blessed us at his time of departure. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people influenced this project's structure and the development of the Comparison of Professional Positions and Duties Between State Park Pease Officers and Game Wardens for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department construction. For their collaboration and contributions, special thanks are given to Chief Wes Masur, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Leader of the State Park Police Officers, Colonel Chad Jones (TPWD) Lieutenant Colonel of the prestigious Texas Game Wardens, along with the peace officers who took the survey. Texas State University provided many folks who were critical to the work: Dr. Andrew Sansom Professor of Practice, Parks and Protected Places, Conservation Leadership/Problems in Applied Geography, and Directed Research Advisor, Dr. Jennifer A. Devine Assistant Professor, and Committee Member, Dr. John P. Tiefenbacher Professor Natural Use and Resources, Applied Research Design, and Air Quality Management, Dr. Christi G. Townsend Senior Lecturer Physical Geography, Richard A. Earl Retired Professor Water Resources, Environmental Management, Mr. Neil Kucera Lecturer, Energy Resource Management, Elements of Environmental Law, Dr. Colleen C. Myles Associate Professor, Interpretive Environmental Geography, Dr. Alberto Giordano Professor Applied Human Geography, Dr. Nathan A. Currit, Environmental Problems on the US/Mexico Border, Dr. Osvaldo Muniz-Solari and Dr. Michael Solem, Dr. Ronald R. Hagelmam, Dr. Kimberly M. Meitzen, Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Savelyev, Marc Carter, Shelly Plant, Dr. Zhan, and special thanks to Ayodeji E Iyanda Ph. D. Candidate (Texas State University). Additional thanks to my wife, Belsa O. Powe, for putting up with many days of my struggles with pressures and then a debilitating injury that we bore along with my mother, Luann Powe, and friends Roberto Garcia, John Walker, and S. Brent Brotzman, MD, without their help, this endeavor would have never completed. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………... v TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………………….. vi LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………viii LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………………… x ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………… xi INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………… 1 BACKGROUND ……………………………………………………………………….. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………………. 3 Green Crimes …………………………………………………………… 3 Protecting the Environment …………………………………………...... 5 Peace Officer Roles …………………………………………………….. 6 Volunteer Engagement …………………………………………………. 8 Educational Requirements ……………………………………………… 9 Former Game Warden Interviews Texas Parks and Wildlife …………... 9 Agency Review of Law Enforcement Structure ……………………….. 13 Project Management ………………………………………………….... 15 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………... 16 METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………………….. 17 DATA Analytical Approach ………………………………………………………….... 30 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page INTERVIEW AND SURVEY RESULTS with DISCUSSION ……………………….. 32 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………..... 94 APPEDICES ………………………………………………………………………........ 97 A. Salary Table 16 Texas Game Wardens .…………………………………....... 97 Salary Table 17 SPPO ……………………………………………………...... 98 Salary Table 18 Texas Game Wardens and SPPO (Chief Masur) …………... 99 B. Appendix B: Table 19 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department parks ………..102 C. Appendix C: Ecoregions of Texas …………………………………………. 106 D. LE Structure ………………………………………………………………… 107 State Park Law Enforcement Program Data ……………………………. 107 State Park Police Salary percentage below schedule "C" stipends …….. 107 Recommendations ………………………………………………………. 108 Conservation Law Enforcement Case Study ……………………………. 111 E. Appendix E: Interview Transcriptions …………………………………….... 112 State Park Police Officer Chief Wes Masur ……………………………….... 112 Game Warden, Colonel, Chad Jones ………………………………………... 134 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………….. 160 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Survey Questions 1 through 6, Age Range, Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Education, Income Range, Years of Service …………………………… 24 2. Survey Question Green Criminology Theory ………………………………………... 24 3. Survey Question Protecting the Environment (Agency Mission) …………………..... 25 4. Survey Question Protecting the Environment (Agency Mission) ……………………. 26 5. Survey Question Peace Officer Roles (Scope of Power) (Specialized Training) …….. 26 6. Survey Question Volunteer Engagement ……………………………………………... 27 7. Survey Question Educational Requirement …………………………………………… 28 ***COVID -19 Amendment. …………………………………………... 29 8. Survey Results Question 6. Years of Experience ties with Figure 6 ......………………. 73 9. Survey Question 7 Results. Green Criminology ……………………………………… 76 10. Survey Question 8 Results. Protecting the Environment (Agency Mission) ………… 78 11. Survey Question 9 Results. Protecting the Environment (Agency Mission) ………… 80 12. Survey Question 10 Results. Peace Officer Roles (Scope of Power) (Specialized Training) ………………………………...... 82 13. Survey Question 11 Results. Volunteer Engagement …………………………………. 84 14. Survey Question 12 Results. Educational Requirement……………………………….. 84 15. Survey Question 13 Results Kindly leave comments on experience ………………...... 89 16. Salaries for Texas Game Wardens .……………………………………………………. 97 viii LIST OF TABLES (Continued) Table Page 17. Salaries SPPO ………….……………………………………………………………. 98 17.1 Game warden and state park police officer < 4 years pay variance………………… 98 18. Salary Texas Game Wardens and SPPO (Chief Masur) …………………………….. 99 19. State Parks at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department ……………………………….. 105 20. Ecoregions of Texas ………………………………………………………………… 106 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Question 1. Survey Results. Age Range Count and Percentage, graph .……………… 68 2. Question 2. Survey Results. Income Range and Count and Percentage, graph ……… 69 3. Question 3. Survey Results. Race/Ethnicity Count and Percentage, graph …………… 70 4. Question 4. Survey Results. Gender Count and Percentage. graph …………………… 71 5. Question 5. Survey Results. Education Count and Percentage, graph ………………… 72 6. Question 6. Survey Results. Year of Experience Count and Percentage, graph ………. 74 7. Survey Question 7 Green Criminology, graph ………………………………………… 77 8. Survey Question 8. Protecting Environment (Agency Mission), graph. ………………. 79 9. Survey Question 9. Location. Protecting Environment (Agency Mission), graph………81 10. Survey Question 10. Scope of Power (Specialized Training), graph …………………83 11. Survey Question 11. Volunteer Engagement, graph …………………………………. 85 12. Survey Question 12. Educational Requirements, graph ……………………………… 88 13. Figure 13. Texas State Parks. Taken from Wikipedia ……………………………….. 102 14. Texas Counties, 254 Taken from OntheWorldmap.com …………………………….. 105 x ABSTRACT The paper discusses how the conservation officer deals with culture and today's society's duties—learning the behavioral characteristics that distinguish between a state park police officer and game warden for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). A literature review reveals data on game wardens and protection of wildlife and looking more into the data collected from qualitative formats and keeping an eye on identifying emergent themes related to criteria components. Each of these themes will be discussed in greater detail with descriptive, quantitative statistics. To better understand each peace officer experience, interviews for the State Park Police Officers (SPPO) leaders and the Game Wardens (GW) for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The survey's relationship to determine respondents' collections of questions will focus on the information and the decisions they made. This survey will focus on five areas: 1. Green criminology theory, 2. Protecting the Environment (Agency Mission), 3. Peace Officer Roles (Scope of