Leith Konyndyk, holding his award, is pictured with (from left) his supervisor Cpt. Jeff Skelton, TWRA Executive Director Ed Carter, and Col. Darren Rider, TWRA’s Chief of Boating and Law Enforcement.
Leith Konyndyk has received the prestigious honor of being named the Wildlife Officer of the Year for the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA). He received the award at the annual SEAFWA Conference in Asheville, N.C.
Mr. Konyndyk had earlier been named the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency SEAFWA Wildlife Officer of the Yea. He serves as a wildlife officer in TWRA Region II’s Lincoln County. He is also the second TWRA wildlife officer to win the award in the past three years. Rutherford County wildlife officer Jonathan Lee won the award in 2013.
SEAFWA is an organization whose members are the state agencies with primary responsibility for management and protection of the fish and wildlife resources in 15 states, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. The wildlife officers selected to attend the conference were judged for their ability to communicate with the public, create educational opportunities about the outdoors, and providing law enforcement that helps assure sound wildlife and fish management.
Among Mr. Konyndyk’s activities during the year, he conducted educational and outreach events for more than 3,300 participants that included a youth fishing rodeo, Scholastic Clay Target Program, sportsman groups and an ATV safety at Tennessee Outdoor Youth Summit. He also coordinated a Kid’s Hunting for a Cure deer hunt that raised more than $50,000 that was donated to St. Jude Hospital. He taught and certified 109 students in hunter education.
Mr. Konyndyk’s enforcement duties resulted in the inspection of hundreds sportsmen for compliance. These efforts produced than 200 court citations.
He has been trained in Individual and Group Crisis Prevention Management, Concerns of Police Survivors and Traumas for Law Enforcement through the American Police Chaplains Association and has become a chaplain for the Agency.
Mr. Konyndyk is very active as an instructor for the agency. He teaches ATV safety for not only Agency officers but for the National Guard, Drug Task Force, ABC, THP and the U.S Forest Service. He recently completed FTO training where he instructs new officers in ethics, community relationships, search warrants, subpoenas, arrest warrants and suspect interviewing.