LOCAL HEROES: Serving the outdoors

One day you might find Phil Nale winding his way through the Hoosier National Forest on an all-terrain vehicle, checking campsites.

The next day he could be kayaking down the Muscatatuck River looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Later, he might be stopping a vehicle on U.S. 50 for speeding. Or he could get a call to help rescue someone caught in the current of the East Fork of the White River.

As a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Nale's job is anything but ordinary.

"It's the most varied law enforcement job out there," Nale said. "And I love it."

Nale, 48, has spent 23 years enforcing conservation laws, emphasizing the importance of safety and imparting his love and knowledge of the outdoors on others. For the last 10 years, he has served Jackson County.

He also works in Washington, Brown and Jennings counties.

"We go wherever we are needed," he said.

A love of the great outdoors is what first attracted Nale to the field.

"I love the outdoors and nature, and I thought I ought to be able to do something good for what I love," he said. "At first I thought I was going to save the world, but now I know I just have to protect my corner of the world as best I can."

In the early days, the job was known as game warden, but in 1971, the state gave the department full police power.

"We are police officers just like Seymour or Brownstown officers or state troopers," he said. "We can write tickets and we can arrest people. A lot of people don't realize that.

"We keep our eye on environmental issues and pollution," he added. "Our main goals are enforcing the laws when it comes to hunting and fishing, trapping, boating and use of off-road vehicles, but we enforce any and all state statutes."Along with state policing duties, conservation officers are also federally deputized.

"Some of the laws we enforce are federal," he said. "We are the only ones who have law enforcement jurisdiction for Muscatatuck (National Wildlife Refuge) and other national parks."

As a conservation officer, or CO, Nale said he is able to do a lot of good, but with the good comes the bad.

"There's a lot of tough aspects of this job," he said.

One of the hardest parts, Nale said, is having to work drownings.

"On average, we see about three or four drownings a year," he said.

Several years ago, Nale was called out to help recover the body of a little girl who had drowned at Rockford.

"I still see her face today," Nale said.

"It's hard to have to be the one to notify the family, but I think we do a good job of being sensitive to their needs."

It's not just the ones he couldn't save that Nale remembers.

One winter, Nale said he responded to a call that a man had fallen through ice while fishing. After the rescue, Nale met the man's wife, who was pregnant at the time.

Later on, he received a special thank you.

"I was in line at CVS and I saw a woman standing with a little girl. The woman came over to me and said, ‘you're Phil Nale, right?' And I said, ‘yes, ma'm, I am.' She then told me someone wanted to tell me something. The little girl came over, gave me a hug and said, ‘Thank you for saving my Daddy.' I still get choked up about that."

Nale said one aspect of his job that has grown over the years is his involvement with finding drug labs.

"I found my first meth lab in Hoosier National Forest in 1999 while out patrolling on an ATV," he said. "That's when I realized the problem was so big."

Other areas he's been involved with include swift water and cave rescues.

"I initiated a cave rescue team and stuck with it for 10 years," he said.

Becoming a CO is not an easy road to take, but it's one Nale says he will never regret.

Graduating from conservation recruit school was an accomplishment in and of itself, he said.

"Out of hundreds of applications, they took 30 in my class, and 15, counting myself, graduated," he said. "It was a tough military-based school, a lot like boot camp."

As a backup plan, Nale also attended Indiana University Southeast in New Albany and obtained a degree in business. While working on his education, he worked construction.

"I'm probably the only conservation officer with a business degree, but I didn't think a degree in conservation law would go very far," he said.

For Nale, the best way to do his job is to get out and meet the people he serves.

"Half of law enforcement should be talking to people," he said. "It's how I find out what is going on. When people refer me to as ‘my CO', I love that, because it's like they think of me as their law enforcement. The ability to talk to people of all types is my main weapon."

Originally from Salem, Nale now lives in Brownstown with his wife, Gina, and four daughters, Tonya, 20, twins Heather and Taylor, 15, and Cassie, 11.

Like most officers of the law, Nale doesn't think of himself as a hero.

"Helping people and saving lives is just part of the job," he said. "You get so accustomed to that you don't think of it as anything different or out of the ordinary."

He may not like to brag on himself, but Nale has received two Gold Eagle National Lifesaving a-wards. One in 2002 and the other during the June flood when he helped rescue six people from a vehicle in high waters.

Nale said he also likes to educate young children on conservation issues. He specializes in programs on local Indiana artifacts and snakes.

"I love to do programs with kids," he said. "It's not work if you enjoy it."

But there are dangers that come with the job.

"I have had a gun stuck in my face before," he said. "While I was checking a cabin for a farmer, the door opened and I was peering down the barrel of a .22. It looked like a cannon."

The person with the gun turned out to be a transient.

"I felt sorry for him, so I took him into town and got him some help at a church," Nale said.

Although the man didn't shoot, Nale said the situation can escalate quickly.

As for why he has stuck with it for so many years, Nale says he can't imagine doing anything else.

"A lot of our job is hiding and waiting," he said. "There's still a mystique about being a conservation officer, and I like that."