Page 12 - Town of Newcomb Newsletter - September October 2022

The SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry (ESF) - the most distinguished institution in
the nation that focuses on the study of the environ-
ment-is proud to announce it is hosting the prestig-

ious New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) Forest Ranger Training Academy
at the College's Ranger School and Newcomb cam-
pus in the Adirondack Park.

This is the first time the Forest Ranger Academy has
been based in the Adirondacks, where ESF will host
a landmark class of nearly 40 recruits for 11 weeks
at the Ranger School in Wanakena and 16 weeks at
the College's Newcomb campus. During the six-
month training, the DEC will prepare recruits for ca-

reers protecting New York's natural resources in the
Division of Forest Protection. DEC Forest Ranger
staff and recruits will be fully engaged in academy
training through early December.

Forest Ranger duties focus on the public use of DEC-
administered state lands and easements and span
from patrolling state properties to conducting

search and rescue operations and fighting wildland
fires on undeveloped lands all over the state. In
2021, DEC Forest Rangers conducted 426 search and

rescue missions, extinguished wildfires, participated
in prescribed fires that serve to rejuvenate hun-
dreds of acres of land, and worked on cases that re-
sulted in thousands of tickets or arrests.

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