The Carroll County Board of Supervisors has approved a request from Carroll County Conservation to expand the staff in the environmental education department. The county currently employs a single naturalist, Kristen Bieret, who took over the role in April 2022. Conservation Director Jason Christensen says county leaders had initially planned for two naturalists when the Conservation Center was built in 2005, but that never came to pass.
Christensen notes staffing levels at Carroll County Conservation have not changed in nearly three decades, but the services and programming they offer have expanded considerably.
He says the need for another full-time employee was made apparent this summer when Bieret was left to prepare and host programs without a summer intern. Summer camps typically fill up within an hour of registration opening every year. Christensen says a second naturalist would allow Carroll County Conservation to increase the number of available slots each year. Bieret says another full-time member of the team would allow them to bring more environmental education to students throughout the county.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to change Bieret’s title to Environmental Education Coordinator and begin the search for a second naturalist. They anticipate a hire will be announced no sooner than Feb. 1, 2023.
