FWP AT WORK Laura Hajek, Volunteer Wrangler

LAURA HAJEK

One of my many duties is to coordinate volunteers for our region. Each year that ends up being about 165 volunteers, who do everything from helping with kids’ fishing clinics to driving shuttles for our wardens and fisheries crews when they work on rivers.

The biggest volunteer event of the year by far is the Montana State Fair, held in Great Falls each year for 10 days starting in late July. FWP is in charge of the Nature’s Den building, and that alone requires about 50 helpers. The work starts in mid-July, when we get volunteers to help clean out the building and then lay live sod inside. Boy Scout volunteers bring in fragrant, fresh-cut ponderosa pines that we use to line the inside of the building. Volunteers also help us set up displays.

During the week and a half of the state fair, I’ve got pairs of volunteers working three-hour shifts staffing booths, handing out posters and brochures, and running kids’ activities—like making animal tracks with ink and rubber stamps. When the fair ends, volunteers then help us take all the displays down, haul items back to the FWP office, and then clean up.

The volunteers—which include my parents, brothers, and even my grandmother, who works every single day at the Nature’s Den— are fantastic. Most of them are retired, but we also have some as young as middle-schoolers. Everyone loves helping out. One fellow actually thanks me every time for letting him volunteer for FWP. It’s really rewarding for me to work on something people enjoy so much that at the same time helps our department. It’s definitely the best part of my job.