Rozmus named new conservation director

Marr Park ranger/tech Zach Rozmus is the choice of the Washington County Conservation Board to assume the mantle of conservation director after longtime director Steve Anderson retires at the end of 2018.

Rozmus confirmed that on Friday afternoon the board voted to accept him as director. The ranger and former member of the Washington County Sheriff's office said he is excited to step into the role in a couple short months and that he is working hard to be ready for the challenges the role brings.

'I have been a ranger/tech for about seven months now and I love every minute of it,” he said. 'I enjoy going to work every day. I've had the pleasure of working with Steve for those seven months in kind of an apprenticeship situation. I think the county is in good hands moving forward.”

He chose to seek the role of director, saying he is always looking for an opportunity to advance. In conservation, he remarked, there are only so many jobs. When the opportunity came up, he decided to try to fill the role.

Rozmus admits this is the first time he will be overseeing a county department, but said he has overseen crews and has worked as a team member many times. He has a degree in criminal justice and a strong background in law enforcement. Hailing from Riverside, he said Washington County is a big part of his life and he intends to keep it that way moving forward.

'It all comes down to working with people and I think I'm good at that,” he said.

While working at the sheriff's office, he said he had always seen himself moving into conservation when the opportunity was there. An avid outdoorsman, he spends much of his free time outdoors hunting, fishing or hiking. He felt the move to the conservation department was a great change because it gave him the chance to work outdoors.

Anderson has great confidence Rozmus will do a good job as conservation director.

'I think the county is in good hands,” Anderson said. 'I think the department is going to continue to move forward in a very positive direction and I think the future will be very bright for the department.”

Anderson's last day as director before his retirement is Dec. 31, bringing to an end 37 years of service with the department. He is only the second director in the history of the department.

As director, Anderson helped to grow and shape the program. He said during his tenure the mission of the department had remained the same, but the job has changed. Many additional landholdings have been acquired in that time, as well as a greater expansion into patrolling. There also has been a healthy increase in the amount of administrative duties as the department has expanded.

'There is a lot of evolution,” Anderson said. 'There always has been and always will be.”

The department has also spent a large amount of time doing projects to expand or improve its offerings. Rozmus said he hopes to continue the advancement.

'I don't have a specific plan in place already,” Rozmus said. 'There is nothing wrong with the day to day operations. Steve is leaving the department on very good footing moving forward. We have lots of projects that are going to carry over. We are always trying to expand. If we can find the funding for our county parks we are going to continue to try and update them as much as possible, but we will keep in mind we do that when the funding is available.”