Most of us have heard stories of the conservation officers who braved the elements and ignored loneliness to spend days on end in the forest, tracking illegal hunting operations and forging connections with the wildlife around them.

These officers knew the personality of the bear in their area, could tell you off the top of their head how many moose there were, noticed if rocks were displaced on a certain stretch of waterfront and would wander into hunt camps miles away from the nearest road or building – leaving hunters constantly aware someone could be watching them.

Today, those officers spend most of their time at desks. They rely on phone calls from people reporting suspicious activity to find cases where our natural resources are being thoughtlessly destroyed. Although they became conservation officers because of their love of the outdoors, a lack of cash forces them to sit inside in frustration, waiting for the phone to ring.

Meanwhile, a growing list of endangered species in Ontario is proof that things are going awry. More roads, buildings and bridges mean wildlife has to survive in smaller and smaller areas and withstand the onslaught of a growing population of residents and tourists.

Never has it been more important to have a small army of men and women ready to defend fish, mammals, marshes, forests, cliffs, lakes and waterfronts. Instead, we have three conservation officers in the Parry Sound area who, last fall, could only use nine tanks of gas a week. If a truck broke down, they’d have to spend their gas money on repairs.

OPP cruisers constantly roam highways and sideroads for a reason. Every day they stumble on people doing things they shouldn’t be, but they also provide a presence around the clock which helps dissuade those with a weaker conscience from hurting others or damaging property.

But no one roams the forests and lakes anymore. If someone sits in a small inlet out of sight catching 10 times their quota of fish, chances are that MNR boat will not come around the corner and surprise them. When someone decides to save money and dump some chemicals into a nearby small swamp, chances are there won’t be an MNR officer who will notice there are fewer birds and turtles in the area.

On Thursday, the province is expected to reveal its budget for 2007. On the same day, provincial leaders will debate MNR funding at the request of our Parry Sound Muskoka MPP Norm Miller, the opposition party’s MNR critic.

We strongly urge all provincial politicians to realize how important our natural resources are and spend money to put conservation officers back into the forests, fields, lakes and rivers where they belong.