DNR recognizes 7 Northern MN conservation officers as lifesavers

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Enforcement Division recently recognized nine of its conservation officers for lifesaving efforts in the past few months.

Five of those officers were responding to incidents in Northern Minnesota: Coby Fontes, stationed in the Warroad area; Nick Bruesewitz, Karlstad area; Danielle Reuss, Benson area; Jamus Veit, Bemidji area; and Brice Vollbrecht, Blackduck area.

On Sept. 1, Fontes learned of a boat overturned on Lake of the Woods. He immediately responded to the two anglers, whose life jackets were trapped underneath the boat. One of the men was atop the boat and the other was in the 68-degree water.

The man in the water appeared to be in early stages of hypothermia, and Fontes provided him with dry clothing before transporting both to awaiting medical personnel on shore. Fontes then returned to their overturned boat and recovered some of the equipment floating away.

On the first day of Minnesota’s firearms deer season Nov. 8, Bruesewitz responded to a hunter with a gunshot wound in Marshall County. Bruesewitz applied two makeshift tourniquets to the man’s wound on his thigh and ensured he remained conscious and aware until an ambulance arrived.

On Nov. 21, Vollbrecht, Reuss and Veit, along with a Beltrami County sheriff’s deputy, responded to a call about a lost hunter in Beltrami County. Vollbrecht and Reuss headed to the last known general location of the hunter on all-terrain vehicles, while Veit and the deputy deployed a drone and located the hunter in a remote, hard-to-reach area.

With the use of the drone, Veit was able to communicate a precise location for the missing hunter. The terrain for the last half-mile was too thick and rugged for ATVs, so Vollbrecht and Reuss located the hunter on foot. The hunter was found lethargic and tired and without food or water. Vollbrecht and Reuss got him back to a waiting ambulance and his family.

The man’s body temperature was 93 degrees, even after the exertion of navigating through thick brush and steep embankments.

Conservation Officers Matt Brodin of the Brainerd area and Levi Brown of the Staples area were also recognized for their response to a Nov. 9 incident in Todd County.

The air temperature was 18 degrees and a strong wind was blowing the morning of Nov. 9, 2025, when Brodin and Brown responded to a report of two waterfowl hunters whose boat had capsized in Todd County.

While en route, they were told that a fire department boat on the scene was having mechanical problems and could not get to the hunters. Brodin and Brown arrived and learned the only access to the water was via a steep embankment, so they enlisted help from firefighters to carry their boat from the road to the water.

They found the hunters and their overturned boat in a boggy area. The hunters’ outer clothing had water and ice buildup and the two were extremely cold. After one of the hunters gave them a hug of thanks, Brodin and Brown gave them life jackets and transported them to shore.

“When calls come in about people in perilous situations, conservation officers and their law enforcement partners don’t have time for elaborate planning — they have to trust their training, use the equipment that’s available, and put others’ need before their own,” stated Col. Rodmen Smith, director of the DNR Enforcement Division, in a news release.

“I’m proud to acknowledge the lifesaving efforts of these officers and highlight their commitment to protecting and serving the people of Minnesota.”