Most people associate homecoming with the fall season, but a 2018 Northwest High School graduate returns to his alma mater on July 1. Conservation agent Dominick Montileone III starts his new assignment in service to Jefferson County next month.
Following graduation from the state Department of Conservation Agent Training Academy last September, Montileone was assigned to St. Francois County, where he worked with a field training agent for two months.
“I’ve been in St. Francois since October. Then some transfers occurred, and I was able to take a chance on getting to return to my home county,” Montileone said.
Among those transfers was agent Ben Bardot, who had been assigned to Jefferson County since 2021. Originally from the St. Clair, Mo., area Bardot now patrols Franklin County where he grew up. Cpl. Lexis Wilson remains as the county’s senior conservation agent with more than a decade of experience here.
Montileone, 26, is familiar with Jefferson County’s outdoor resources like Big River and the dolomite glades at Valley View, where he said he enjoys hiking through the unique topography. But it is a place outside of Jefferson County that first caught his attention and developed his affection for the outdoors.
“Growing up I was big on fishing for trout,” he said. “My family would go multiple times a year to Montauk State Park. That’s where I first interacted with conservation agents and department employees, and I always thought about it as a possible career.”
He took a different route when he graduated from Northwest and earned his degree from Lindenwood University in Paramedicine. He worked four years at Big River Ambulance District as an emergency medical technician but always felt the call of conservation, so he applied for the academy.
In addition to the Police Officer Standards Training (POST) program, he spent 26 weeks completing physical fitness requirements, fish and wildlife management instruction, lake and river boating courses, and emergency vehicle operations to earn state certification as a law enforcement officer.
Because of his familiarity with Jefferson County, he recognizes that it is a different place than where he has been in St. Francois.
“Jefferson County is a lot more urban,” Montileone said. “Down here on some of the National Forest land you might not see another person when you are out hunting, but in Jefferson County you might walk past two or three people on your way out.”
Compared to the large tracts of public land available in southern Missouri, Jefferson County is mostly in private ownership, with a few conservation areas and river accesses available as its rare public properties.
“I’m looking forward to getting out there, spending time in those areas, and getting to know the hunters, and getting their feedback,” he said. “I am going to be available and willing to take time with the people whether I’m out and about in a conservation area or just stopping at a gas station.”
He said he encourages conversations.
“I’d rather they come up to me and ask questions. Yes, we are law enforcement, but we are also educators for the Wildlife Code.”
As a native son of the county, he also knows he will cross paths with people from his past.
“In the academy they actually talked about if you work in the county where you are from,” Montileone said. “I took an oath to apply the law without fear or favor. If I have to write a citation for someone I know, I won’t enjoy it, but I’m mature enough to do it.”
Like all conservation agents, Montileone’s office is his mobile telephone. After July 1 he can be reached by text or telephone at 314-954-5697. His email address is dominick.montileone@mdc.mo.gov. For the rest of this month, he is still assigned to St. Francois County and answering that cell phone at 573-330-8038.
.John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.
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