I, and most if not all of the people working in F&W in the past, probably through the 70s anyway, were field people. You worked your way up, starting in the field. Education included field work, late work, hands on stuff. And, there was the hunting, fishing, wild animal pets, and so on that gave one a real "feel" for the resource, land, and water.

Now, I am not sure how many hands-on course there are. I spent hours in Doc's pond; the UW does not even run that any more. The resources are managed by folks who take their job seriously but see it as simply numbers. Success is measured by a number, which is "real".

One year I recall calling my costa ct to ask him about my update for pinks. His response was "you want the real number or what run-reconstruction will show?" The actual number was as updated. Problem was that after spawning there was a big freshet that blew the carcasses to PA and beyond. Since the escapement estimate was based on carcass counts, we were going to get a "low" number. You have to actually know what is going on out there and not take any number as gospel until proven as such.