International game wardens honor former Cusick man

Former Cusick resident Andrew Smith, 29, will be honored this week by the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association as a standout “up and coming” game warden.

Smith, an Idaho Fish and Game Department conservation officer in the Salmon Region, is being given the Torch Award as the standout officer with under five years of service in the 14 Western states and Canadian provinces.

Smith, a livelong sportsman and 2000 graduate of Cusick High School, has wanted to be a game warden since he was about 8 years old, his mom said.

“I like working to protect the resources and the sportsmen,” he said in a phone interview as he was loading a plane for a wilderness patrol.

Smith said people would be surprised at the wide range of training an officer undergoes. Smith works part time in the front country from a computer-equipped pickup truck; the rest of his time is in and near the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

“I do a lot of patrols by air, or by horseback or by raft,” he said.

“I appreciate what I’m getting to do, because there are very few places in the country where you can do all the old-time game warden stuff.”

Apparently he’s doing it well.

“I was surprised to get a wonderful letter from David Silcock, regional conservation officer in Salmon, notifying me of Andy’s award,” his mom, Bernice Smith, said.

“He told me what a great son I had, and that he told Andy he would be famous some day, and now he is.”