Wildland sentinel Field notes from an Iowa conservation officer

Erika Billerbeck, 1974-

Book - 2020

"Erika Billerbeck's work of creative nonfiction, Green Law in the Heartland, recounts intertwining stories from her life as an Iowa conservation officer. In America's Midwest, where "wilderness" is in short supply, working to defend what's left of Iowa's natural resources while keeping its users safe can be both a daunting and an entertaining task. In her two decades of service, Billerbeck has sifted through countless lies during wildlife poaching investigations, worked on body recovery teams in the dead of winter, chased sex offenders down gravel roads, hauled drunk boaters to jail, and found calm during the chaos of disaster response. However, the biggest challenges she has faced in her career did not en...tail facing down gun wielding poachers. The most salient trials were those she encountered as a woman (and, later, a mother) working in the historically male-dominated field of fish and game law enforcement. Green Law in the Heartland details her personal stories and thoughts as she made her way from hiring, through training, and into the first 20 years of her career"-- more