Come behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation (DOC).
Today we profile Siobain Browning, Community Relations Ranger in the Sounds Area Office.
InDOCtrinating my daughter Lajla – “see how great it would be to be a ranger”
At work
Some things I do in my job include … preparing education material, talking to schools, leading guided walks, assisting community groups in their wonderful work, looking after volunteers, writing articles, keeping track of the hundreds of relationships the office needs to maintain, and taking opportunities to escape the office and get out in the field occasionally.
This helps achieve DOC’s vision by … helping people engage with conservation and value its benefit.
The best bit about my job is … doing something I really care about as part of an awesome and supportive team.
The awesomest DOC moment I’ve had so far is … having over 100 people turn up to a walk/talk to see the long tailed bats at Pelorus Bridge. It was awesome and a bit scary! I was so happy to see the level of interest (which was also due to excellent promotion of the event) and very relieved when the bats actually showed up and gave people the chance to hear them!
My first ever hunting expedition in the Sounds
The DOC (or previous DOC) employee that inspires or enthuses me most is … everybody has something inspirational about them, but Gen Spargo and Chelsea Hall have particularly inspired me by having a dream of a different lifestyle that they wanted and then working hard to make it a reality.
On a personal note
My best ever holiday was … during the summer when I was 18, my parents had the courage and trust to let me go to Greece on my own to volunteer on a turtle conservation project. I spent the whole summer on the beach monitoring and checking turtle nests as well as talking to tourists about conservation. One of the best memories is of sitting on the beach at sunrise watching a nest of turtle hatchlings emerge and race to the sea. It was an amazing summer and confirmed to me that I was on the right path.
One of those special days out of the office – this was a weeding trip to Brothers Island with some of the team
If I could be any New Zealand native species I’d be … a long-tailed bat. I’d find out where all my batty friends were hanging out in the Sounds so that we can work to protect them.
My secret indulgence is … not very secret—cream doughnuts.
If I wasn’t working at DOC, I’d like to … in the real world I would probably be a stay at home mum for a while. But in a parallel life I would be doing research in some remote part of the world about some wonderful creature or combining conservation and vet nursing at a wildlife hospital.
The tiny Kihansi spray toad (declared extinct in the wild in 2008)
Before working at DOC I … spent several years working on a project to protect the critically endangered Kihansi spray toad in Tanzania. The species was only discovered in 1996 after construction had started on a hydropower project so we had to learn about the frog’s requirements and put in mitigation measures to protect it.
It was an amazing time, camping in the Udzungwa Mountains, researching the frog and other species in the wetland, looking for other waterfalls where the frog might live (which it didn’t – the entire global habitat was just a few hundred square metres).
It wasn’t looking good for the toad and by 2003 I was so disillusioned with the aid industry and conservation that I retrained as a vet nurse. When I came home to New Zealand in 2006 I realised that I had to go back to conservation though!
The waterfall where I spent five years studying the Kihansi spray toad
Deep and meaningful
My favourite quote is … I recently saw the seeds of hope exhibition and liked the quote, “We must realise that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more”.
The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is … by my Dad – “If it were easy, everybody would do it”.
In work and life I am motivated by … my daughter, positive people, cream doughnuts.…
My conservation advice to New Zealanders is … consume less and DO more!
Question of the week
What is your biggest pet peeve? People using “I” or “myself” when they actually mean “me”.
I spent eight years in Norway—a lovely country with many similarities to New Zealand (but much richer!)
Glad you liked Norway — we’re going there for our honeymoon in a couple of months! Love the look of the coniferous forests over there.