BEAR TRAP

winning record. A late-season injury left him with broken ribs and then pneumonia, and the physical toll simply wore him out and left him just short of earning a trip to the 2006 state tournament.

e drive that powered him to persevere didn’t stop with his prep wrestling career, and he has often leaned into its lessons. “I use and bene t from the mental toughness that sport requires on a daily basis,” he says. “You know how to dig deep. If I have a hard project or physically demanding task, I go back to my wrestling experience.

“It’s the same attitude when you’re ghting a guy and you’re on your back. Just never give up. You gotta just keep trying until something works. I apply that subconsciously to everything I do.” e way he gured it, the job essentially amounted to farming and ranching for the government, a means to spend a career immersed in the work and lifestyle he loved. From that moment, he adopted a single-minded focus: One day, he would land a job with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. e most direct route might have been to pursue a college degree, but Belveal, though a more than respectable student, didn’t gure he was cut out for that. He noticed that the agency’s job requirements o ered him a loophole — a college degree or relevant work experience.

His other passion — the outdoors — led him to volunteer for work building trails and helping with other conservation projects. One experience in particular left a lasting impression: a stint shadowing a CPW wildlife technician.

Finals

“I chose what was most natural to me, which was working, and I went for the relevant experience route,” he says. “And everything I did for those years leading up to getting a full-time job was focused on getting experience that would translate to my hireability with Parks and Wildlife.”

Belveal volunteered almost daily with CPW for years, intent on impressing the agency with his work ethic. He started down a professional path by taking a job with El Paso County Parks. Still, he felt he also needed to establish some trade skills to bolster his résumé. When his dad opened his own steel fabrication shop, Belveal worked for him full time from 2009-12 to get his certi cation as a structural steel welder.

He melded that experience with his continued CPW volunteer work. After six or seven tries — and rejections, at a time when an open CPW position drew hundreds of applicants — he gures his perseverance eventually just overwhelmed the agency.

“I got to know the HR gals and you know, they were rooting for me because I tried so many times it was kind of embarrassing,” Belveal says. “But every time I applied I learned something and would come back, you know, a little better the next time.” e bear trap project has cemented his credentials. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

In 2012, he nally got full time CPW work as a resource technician at Lake Pueblo State Park. Five years later, he landed his dream job, transferring to the Eastern Plains to live and work as a wildlife technician on a state-owned property just east of Flagler.