Minnesota DNR recognizes nine conservation officers for lifesaving efforts

St. Paul — The Minnesota DNR Enforcement Division recently recognized nine conservation officers for their lifesaving efforts in the past few months.

The COs receiving lifesaving awards are Matt Brodin, Brainerd area; Levi Brown, Staples area; Nick Bruesewitz, Karlstad area; Emily Douvier, Morris area; Coby Fontes, Warroad area; Jake Homan, Alexandria area; Danielle Reuss, Benson area; Jamus Veit, Bemidji area; and Brice Vollbrecht, Blackduck area.

“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,” said Col. Rodmen Smith, director of the DNR Enforcement Division. “I’m proud to acknowledge the lifesaving efforts of these officers and highlight their commitment to protecting and serving the people of Minnesota.”

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Following are brief descriptions of their lifesaving efforts:

COs Matt Brodin and Levi Brown

The air temperature was 18 degrees and a strong wind was blowing the morning of Nov. 9, 2025, when COs Matt Brodin and Levi 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.

Once the COs launched, they found ice as thick as 2 inches and water as shallow as 4 inches in some areas. They picked up a firefighter who knew the hunters’ location. 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.

CO Nick Bruesewitz

On Nov. 8, 2025, the opening day of Minnesota’s firearms deer season, CO Nick Bruesewitz responded to a call in Marshall County about a hunter who’d sustained a gunshot wound. Upon arrival, Bruesewitz saw a wound in the man’s upper thigh, and a makeshift tourniquet above it.

CO Bruesewitz applied two tourniquets to stop the bleeding, then ensured the man remained conscious and aware until an ambulance arrived.

CO Emily Douvier

CO Emily Douvier was checking opening-day pheasant hunters in Stevens County late in the morning of Oct. 11, 2025, when she saw a hunter collapse in a field.

Douvier quickly recognized the situation as a medical emergency, gave instructions to the individuals hunting with the man, and ran to her truck to get her automated external defibrillator.

One of the man’s sons was a first responder, so he began CPR while Douvier prepared the AED. She administered one shock, followed by another round of chest compressions, and the man began breathing on his own. Shortly thereafter, more first responders and Stevens County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived and transported the hunter to a hospital.

CO Coby Fontes

Just before 7 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2025, CO Coby Fontes learned a boat had overturned on Lake of the Woods and the two occupants’ life jackets were trapped beneath the watercraft. He responded immediately and located the anglers, one of whom was atop the boat while the other was in the 68-degree water.

He helped both men into his patrol boat and gave them life jackets. The man who’d been in the water was shaken up and appeared to be in the early stages of hypothermia. Fontes gave him a dry jacket and pants to wear.

After bringing the men to waiting emergency personnel on shore, Fontes returned to their overturned boat to recover some of their equipment that had begun floating away.

CO Jake Homan

On Nov. 23, 2025, CO Jake Homan responded to a report about two duck hunters in Douglas County whose boat had capsized. Homan was just 2 miles away and pulling his boat when the call came in and, along with a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputy, he responded immediately.

One of the hunters had made it to shore, but the other, without a life jacket, was clinging to the overturned boat in water that was near freezing. Homan and the deputy pulled the hunter into Homan’s boat, removed his wet clothing, and placed a thermal blanket on him, then transported him to an ambulance at the public access.

COs Danielle Reuss, Jamus Veit, and Brice Vollbrecht

At 3:19 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2025, COs Brice Vollbrecht and Danielle Reuss responded to a call about a lost hunter in Beltrami County. A family member reported the hunter’s general location but couldn’t track the hunter any further because the hunter’s cell phone battery was dead. CO Jamus Veit and a Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office deputy also responded.

Vollbrecht and Reuss headed to the general location on their all-terrain vehicles, while Veit stayed with the deputy, who launched a drone and located the hunter in a remote, hard-to-reach area. Veit and the deputy provided the precise location and guided Vollbrecht and Reuss to the hunter, who was lethargic, tired, and without food or water.

The terrain for the last half-mile was too thick and rugged for ATVs, so they reached the hunter on foot. They got him back to a waiting ambulance and his family. Despite the physical exertion of navigating through thick brush and steep embankments, the man’s body temperature was 93 degrees, an indication he likely wouldn’t have made it through the night without help.