Profile: Anita Schmidt - Camrose District

After surviving most of her life overseas (Trinidad, Iran, Egypt, and Scotland) as an ‘oil brat’, Anita came back to Canada and went to the University of Alberta. After the usual gruelling 4 years, she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry in 1990 and later completed an honours diploma in Landscape Architecture from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in 1992. Schooled and trained to be a ‘landscape forester’ (design pretty cutblocks), she was reviewing the bulletin boards her last year of University. The advertisement for a Seasonal Park Ranger was pointed out to her. On a lark, she applied for the job and has never really looked back.

Hired in 1990 as a Seasonal Park Ranger at Vermilion Provincial Park, she always wondered how a forestry graduate could be placed in a location with, comparatively speaking, not a heck of a lot of trees. Was it something she said in the interview?

Regardless, she survived her first summer and went to NAIT to continue with her schooling. The Seasonal Park Ranger gig was great and in 1991, she found a summer position at Pigeon Lake Provincial Park close to her family (aunts, uncle, cousins, etc.) on the other side of the lake in the Thorsby community.

After graduating from NAIT in 1992, Anita was at a bit of a loss as to where to go to become a landscape forester. It was back to Pigeon Lake for another adventure filled summer. For the winter, she volunteered to help with the development of new trails and stayed in one of the park residences. Time passed and before she knew it, Anita had worked for the summer of 1993 and was volunteering for a second winter period. Waaaay back then, the volunteering way of life was easier to come by and worked out great for on the job training. It also put one in the position to take on jobs that occasionally showed up.

In 1994, Anita was offered the Park Ranger II position at Pigeon Lake for the summer. This is where she started to learn some of the ins and outs of supervising. In August of 1994, Anita was approached and asked to consider a position at Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary. Hmmm…a full time position. Not a lot of thought required there. It was off to Calgary and a big city way of life.

With ticket book in hand and sitting proudly in the golf cart, the once shy and not overly assertive Anita got over herself the first two days at Fish Creek. Through a variety of events, eventually Anita took on a position as the Park Ranger for the Ghost and Waiparous area. Now that was a blast. Mountains, trees, winding gravel roads and pretty much alone…what more could a girl ask for? A year later, she was assigned back at Fish Creek. Amazing what a difference a year could make. Parks was now amalgamating with Fish and Wildlife. The job was changing and Anita was being introduced to a whole new way of doing business.

In March of 1999, Anita was called into the area manager’s office. The position was now permanent. No more ‘super wage’ as it was known at the time. It was also time to consider moving on. With the amalgamation and switch to Conservation Officer, positions were opening throughout the province. Almost through a comedy of errors, Anita found herself packing up and moving to Manning, Alberta right in time for the hunting season. Now we are talking trees…and lots of them! More than once that first year, the culture shock brought about comments of her being totally out of her element. From the big city to the far corner of Alberta at Bistcho Lake doing commercial fishing checks. It doesn’t get much different than that.

Wow…now a home owner too! Mobile home, but all Anita’s none the less. And a dog too! Life up north was wonderful. So much time spent outdoors. This is also where Anita got hooked on Search and Rescue and dog training. The bear work, seeing wolves, seeing the Chinchaga caribou, seeing a live lynx, communicating with hunters and trappers, and lots of driving…the north country was amazing. Writing this now brings a strong feeling of nostalgia.

But life must go on!! More changes occurred and Fish & Wildlife separated from Parks. With the changes came a new location in 2004. Literally having the house picked up and moved to Camrose, Anita is now the officer in charge of Miquelon Lake Provincial Park. As of June 2009, she will have been here for 5 years. That is the longest she has ever lived in one place since leaving Egypt in 1985. 2009 also marks her 20th summer with Parks. Not so bad for throwing your name in a hat and seeing what happens.

Anita is a member of Wetaskiwin Search and Rescue and also holds the Vice President position with Search and Rescue Dog Association of Alberta. One day, she hopes to become a search dog handler. She has maintained her interest in dog training and is the instructor for dog bite prevention for Conservation Officers and field staff for Alberta Parks. Anita is currently the Member at Large representative for ANROA and has filled the secretary position for one term.

Quote:
“By mistake, I have found my passion. This has been an incredible career that I continue to look forward to going to work every day. I have no regrets and highly recommend it.”