Chadd Yoder
"Since I was a kid, a 12-year-old kid, I just started hunting myself,"Trooper Chadd Yoder said. "My parents didn't hunt, so to start legally hunting I took my mom with me. I educated myself about hunting and got out there and did it. That started my love for the outdoors."
Yoder, 33, said he is enjoying his dream job as Wrangell's new state wildlife trooper.
He and his wife and three kids moved to Wrangell mid-April from Wasilla. He has been a trooper since 2019. Before that, he worked as a carpenter for 14 years. He decided to pursue a career with the troopers because of his love of the outdoors, he said, and also because he wanted bigger things out of his work.
"I was kind of a rough-and-tumble kid, and I wanted a
career where you could do cool things,"he said. "Fourteen years into it (contracting as a carpenter) I'm like, 'I'm ready for something different. I'm tired of talking about the color of the paint on the walls, or what countertops to go with, I want some bigger choices to make.' I wanted something meaningful and important."
His career as wildlife trooper has been challenging, Yoder said, but worth the effort. Moving to Wrangell also proved to be a challenge, but he said the community stepped up and made him and his family feel welcome.
From packing up in Wasilla to getting their household goods delivered to Wrangell took 41 days, he said. They had a house, but nothing to fill it with for some time. Thankfully, neighbors stepped in to loan them bedding, pots and pans and other household items until their goods arrived.
"We got through that period of no stuff,"Yoder said. "We had a house, but no stuff. So that was our taste of Wrangell. ... This is a generous community."
Yoder grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a town of about 60,000 people, moving to Alaska in 2015.
Yoder said he and his family are enjoying the convenience and the slower pace of life in Wrangell compared to Wasilla, particularly the shorter commutes to school and work.
Having settled into his new position these past two months, Yoder said that he wants to give the community some stability and an open relationship with the wildlife troopers. He wants to end the trend of troopers rotating in and out of the Wrangell job, and said he and his family intend to stay for a while.
He also wants people to see him as a resource for information, not just as law enforcement.
"I try to be very approachable,"he said. "If I'm out there and you see me, don't hesitate to come talk to me about the questions you might have."
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