CMPS Nominee for Board Member At-Large - Rick Warhurst

NDCTWS Past-President Rick Warhurst is running for CMPS Board Member At-Large. All NDCTWS Members are eligible to vote in CMPS elections. Voting (at Survey Monkey) will end July 15. Rick’s Nominee statement is below, all other nominee statements can be viewed in the CMPS NEWSLETTER. GO VOTE!

Warhurst came to the North Dakota’s Natural Resources Trust after retiring from a 31-year career at Ducks Unlimited (DU), where he served as a biologist at the Great Plains Regional Office in Bismarck. Through his work on the delivery of waterfowl habitat on public and private lands, he worked on projects in Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, and Iowa. Prior to working for DU, he was employed by the Kansas Fish and Game Commission as the manager of the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Management Area in Kansas and before that, as the assistant state waterfowl biologist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Warhurst is originally from Kansas. His interest for waterfowl, especially ducks, came from his dad, who was an avid duck hunter. “He would go duck hunting on Saturday mornings during the fall and I would wait for him to return home so I could handle and play with the ducks that he brought home. When I became older, I started going hunting with him, and when I was old enough, I began duck hunting with him.” This passion for waterfowl carried over into his college years, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in wildlife management from Kansas State University and master’s degree in zoology from Ohio State University. Warhurst says he is enjoying his new position at the Trust. “I am looking forward to continuing to assist the Trust in addressing wetland projects, wetland issues, wetland management, and wetland education in North Dakota,” he says. “The Trust attempts to coordinate and facilitate with numerous partners the management of natural resources in North Dakota, including wetlands, and to bring together entities that might be at odds with one another to find compromises that provide win-win solutions for everyone. I’ve been involved with wetlands and waterfowl my whole career, and I’m very fortunate that I will be able to stay involved with these in my role as the North American Wetlands Conservation Act Council’s staff representative for the Central Flyway.”