Lincoln County conservation agent named statewide MDC Outstanding Agent of the Year

HAWK POINT, Mo.—The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) employs 202 agents throughout the state who protect its fish, forest and wildlife resources. Each one shows commitment to that mission, but every year MDC recognizes one agent who has gone above and beyond in their duties and provided exceptional service with the Outstanding Conservation Agent of the Year award. 

For 2017, the honor was awarded to Conservation Agent Kevin Eulinger, who serves in Lincoln County.

“I chose to become a conservation agent when I was in the fourth grade and have devoted my life to becoming the best conservation agent I could possibly be,” said Eulinger, a resident of Hawk Point. He has been assigned to Lincoln County for 11 years.

“Agent Eulinger’s career can be summed up in three words:  dedication, consistency and professionalism,” said Scott Corley, MDC Protection District Supervisor.  

“Kevin continues to have one of the strongest resource law enforcement programs in the St. Louis Region,” he added. “He is always very fair and strives for quality cases.”

In addition to traditional duties of enforcing the Wildlife Code of Missouri, outreach and education are also a priority for Missouri’s conservation agents.  In this area, Eulinger has excelled with nearly 2,000 public contacts in the past year. He often works with local schools, civic organizations, and a variety of other diverse groups, and has presented 84 programs to his constituents in Lincoln County. 

Through the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, his grant writing skills secured the necessary funding for a youth frog clinic and a youth deer hunting clinic in Hawk Point. Agent Eulinger continues to introduce fishing to every first grader in Lincoln County with his annual first grade fishing event at Troy Park. This past year, the event hosted more than 600 first graders in a two week period with some of them catching their very first fish. 

“I enjoy all aspects of being a Conservation Agent, but enjoy most the opportunity to teach kids about hunting, fishing and the outdoors,” Eulinger said.

Eulinger grew up in rural Northwest Missouri and said that the great outdoors was such a major component of his life that he knew he wanted to make a career of it. He attributes his current success to working and living in Lincoln County, where he’s had the chance to develop positive relationships with local law enforcement, prosecutors and judges, landowners, outdoorsmen, local organizations and public and private schools. 

“He is a team player and is involved with many projects within his region and throughout the state,” said Corley.

Eulinger was presented with a 2017 Outstanding Conservation of the Year Award plaque and a custom-framed wildlife painting Feb. 9 at MDC Headquarters in Jefferson City. 

“I believe this is the greatest achievement a conservation agent could ever receive and I am humbly honored,” Eulinger said.