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CONTROLLING bird populations around peat lakes, cutting tracks on Mt Pirongia and writing project schematics for predator control in Te Awamutu bush were just some of the duties Cam Hann took on during his apprenticeship.
Cam was one of the first to sign up for the two-year Predator Free Apprenticeship Programme in 2020 and was part of the first group to graduate at the end of last year.
The programme was supported by Government Jobs for Nature funding and aimed to create a clear career path for people wanting to enter the predator control space, with an ultimate goal of supporting the Predator Free 2050 mission.
Two years on, Predator Free New Zealand Trust chief executive officer Jessi Morgan has heralded it as a success in getting young people engaged in the broader purpose of their predator control work.
Instead of thinking about their job being to kill possums or rats, they could apply their actions to the biodiversity outcome, like bringing native species back to an area.
Jessi said growing a sector was a game of chicken and egg.
“In the predator free space, we’ve got all these large landscape-scale projects that need experienced people on the ground – and those people don’t tend to exist.”
As a result, projects had to hire brand new people and train them up, Jessi said, putting them on the backfoot from the very start.
Apprentices like Cam have contributed to changing that.
Cam grew up in Canterbury, went to the University of Otago and earned a Bachelor of Science in zoology before going on to complete a postgraduate degree in marine science.
Like many searching for jobs in the past few years, 2019-graduate Cam found his plans, which included heading to the United Kingdom, hamstrung by Covid.
“So, I set my sights closer to home.”
An ideal situation would have been jumping straight into a career as a zoologist, but with that also proving unattainable, Cam looked laterally at his career options and found a pest control opportunity in Ōtorohanga at EcoFX.
“I thought, why not? It would be quite cool to go work in the North Island and see all the different sights,” he said.
He now works as a team leader with a focus on bait work, currently based in an area south of Auckland.
At the end of 2020, boss Kevin Christie offered him the opportunity to be part of the Predator Free apprenticeship programme.
EcoFX hosted multiple apprentices during the two years, with some yet to complete the programme.
Kevin was trained through a similar cadetship scheme “many years ago” and knew the value of similar programmes.
He knew many of the industry’s leaders were of an age that they would retire in the not-too-distant future and saw the potential in the cohort of apprentices to develop into future leaders.
Cam decided to seize the opportunity to learn even more about making the country predator free.
Every second Friday, 10% of his work time, the apprenticeship programme saw Cam leave his usual work and contribute to different conservation projects.
The first year he tackled the sparrow and starling problem at Lake Rotopiko, near Ōhaupō.
“There’s half a million birds in the trees there and they’re basically acidifying the soil and acidifying the peat lake in the centre, killing all the fish,” he said.
He and another apprentice in the scheme checked mouse tunnels for footprints and cleaned the old infrastructure that got buried under starling droppings – work he could only describe as “disgusting.”
His duties also included checking and tidying any portions of the predator free fence that needed it, until a proper fix could be completed.
Cam wrote a report on methods to get rid of the sparrows, using bait that would cause them to lose consciousness.
The birds would be alive but not actually awake, allowing conservationists to collect and humanely dispose of them.
Cam also wrote the project schematic for predator control in Yarndley’s Bush, north of Te Awamutu.
The trapping project is going ahead as part of a five-year partnership with Waipā District Council, though Cam is no longer involved after graduating from the apprenticeship programme.
For about the last eight months of his apprenticeship, Cam transferred to Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Trust.
His job there, along with three others, was to lead track cutting operations, completed only with secateurs.
“We had 14 lines that we needed to cut down through the forest in a certain area,” Cam said.
“It took four, maybe five months. It took a long time.”
After the tracks were complete, they installed bait stations that volunteers could refill.
Despite the work being tedious and gross at times, Cam thought highly of the apprenticeship scheme.
“I think it was a worthwhile opportunity.”
During the two years he travelled to the Wellington region to attend Predator Free apprentice conferences, along with every other young person in the programme and expert guest speakers.
Cam described the conferences as a highlight of the experience which provided more context to how his work was contributing to the goal of eradicating possums, stoats and rats by 2050.
“You know, we focus on what we’re doing around here, but this isn’t the centre of the world as much as it feels like it. There are other people doing amazing work around the country and when you get together all the apprentices and the companies that are doing it, you get a sense of what they’re doing and how that fits into the greater effect of the project.”
Cam had a straightforward piece of advice for others: get involved in conservation, even if you’re not part of the programme.
“There are always community groups looking for people to come and help doing volunteer work wherever they are.
“We’re the front line, but everyone can play their part in helping out. The smallest things help.”
