Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
After 29 years as an officer for the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, Matthew Barkley has decided to retire – and he’s been busier than ever with his retirement plan.
Barkley began his career with the DNR in 1995. He went to school for business, but an elective class in criminal justice led him to pursue a law enforcement degree. He took a natural resources class and realized he wanted to join the DNR.
“Out of the academy, they sent me to Hardy County,” he said. “I was there for three months and then they had a shortage of officers in Boone County, so I went there for three months. Then, Doddridge [County] came open, and I wanted to go north.”
Barkley spent 14 years in Doddridge County which became a home away from home.
“The people are a lot like they are here,” he said. “I still talk to a lot of them there.”
After those 14 years, Barkley returned home to Pocahontas County and spent 15 years as a DNR officer here.
The misconception about the DNR is that it’s only concerned with hunting and fishing violations, but there’s more to the natural resources than that.
“We do a lot of different things,” he said. “We mainly focus on fish and wildlife, but we also handle solid waste – just household trash. The main parts of that is if somebody dumps illegally on somebody else, we’ll handle the investigation or if somebody isn’t handling the solid waste in their home correctly, like burning trash or letting trash build up, we investigate that, as well.
“We do all the boating and waterways stuff, too,” he added.
In Pocahontas County, the DNR monitors the rivers and lakes, making sure everyone is licensed and safe. With several large events taking place in the Ohio Valley, the waterways were a big part of Barkley’s work when he was in Doddridge County.
“In Doddridge County, I worked the hunting seasons and then in the summer, I was usually on the Ohio River on a boat,” he said. “I worked most weekend for the different river events. Lot of boating – Parkersburg Homecoming, Stonewheel Regata, river races and Fourth of July weekend. Those were the big ones.”
While there is some boating coverage in the summertime, Barkley said most of his summer was spent dealing with bear and deer damage. Bears have a tendency to get into people’s trash while the deer prefer gardens.
After spending 29 years with the DNR, Barkley said his favorite part of his career was working with the people and being part of the communities.
“You get to know a lot of people,” he said. “Doddridge was the same way. They roughly had the same population. I did a lot of stuff with the schools – with hunter education and 4-H. I’ve taught air rifles at our 4-H camp up here ever since I moved back. I did it in Doddridge County, too.”
Barkley started his retirement in July by using up leave time, but he hasn’t slowed down. In fact, he may be busier now with his new adventure.
His retirement plan is to work at Cass Scenic Railroad State Park – a place that is in the Barkley blood.
“I’ve worked for John [Smith] for a little over three years – part-time mainly – as compliance and police officer,” Barkley said. “When I started burning up leave toward the end of July, I’ve been working full-time for him – mainly here around Cass, but I go over to Elkins some and Staunton, Virginia, too.
“I’ve always liked working on the train,” he continued. “My retirement thing was, I would be police a little bit and just be a conductor some, but that’s all blown up. I do a little bit of everything. Actually, two weeks ago, I started engineering the castaway cabooses. John has gone with me to help me learn the diesel engine – to take them down and out. You’ve got to learn to do it all.”
Barkley’s son, Noah, is an engineer on the Bald Knob run at Cass and several of his family members have worked there in the past.
“My great-granddad Lee, he had the house at the end of the street,” he said. “My granddad Barkley and grandma lived in this corner house when dad was younger. Dad did work at the mill. Then back in the late 80s, early 90s, granddad was a brakeman here, I was a brakeman here, [his cousin] Cameron came in the 90s as a brakeman and [uncle] Artie was engineer. Then [aunt] Diane, Artie’s wife, was commentator. We had a bunch over here.”
Cass isn’t all that Barkley has in store for retirement. He has plans to do a lot more, such as travel and help Noah with his farming business.
“He shows purebred sheep,” he said. “We go to Petersburg once a year, and we usually do the state fair. Noah is vice president of the American North Country Cheviot Sheep Association. They got us into the big North American International Sheep Show in Louisville, Kentucky. We’re going to go to that in November.
“That’s going to be my retirement trip,” he added.
At this time, the DNR has yet to find someone to take Barkley’s position, either through lateral transfers or a new hire. To those interested, Barkley offers a bit of advice.
“It’s a different type of law enforcement where you’ve got to learn the back roads well,” he said. “That’s where your locals help you out a lot.”