Kia ora from our ‘not an office, office’

July 31 is World Ranger Day. For us, this is a chance to celebrate our hard-working rangers across Aotearoa, and show you some snaps they took of the view from their ‘not an office, office’. Try not to be too jealous.

By the Department of Conservation

World Ranger Day acknowledges the critical work of rangers on the front-line of conservation across the globe. For us, it’s a chance to celebrate the amazing things our team do.

Being a ranger isn’t always glamorous, but there’s no denying that the work is important and some of the views are pretty neat.

Tracking matuku/bittern is no easy task, and the species are globally endangered, but our experts are developing methods for surveying bittern systematically and for restoring wetlands.

Previously for World Ranger Day, we’ve done blog interviews, and YouTube livestreams, and even made Go Pro supercuts so you could see what our rangers see, but this year we thought we’d let the pictures do the talking.

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In the course of doing their work, our team take in some incredible sights.

We’re the government agency charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage. Our work involves all sorts — managing threats to nature such as predators and biosecurity; monitoring and reporting; restoration; research and development … the list goes on.

Our staff are hard-working, and passionate about the natural environment and conservation in Aotearoa.

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In the pic on the right, Charles is way closer to sea lions than any member of the public should ever be.

This feels like a good time to remind our readers that the staff in these images are professionals, and these images were taken in the course of doing their jobs.

Members of the public need to give seals and sea lions space and stay at least 20 m away, and keep dogs on a lead.

Read more about good behaviour near seals and sea lions on our website. This is particularly important at this time of year, when young seals and male seals of any age leave their breeding colonies, explore, and rest. (This includes newly weaned pups finding their way in the world). 

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Many of our huts and parks have a long history and fascinating stories, and Martin’s Hut and Waikaia Forest Conservation Area are no exception.

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Jessica, Mark and the team were on a trip to do water quality sampling at Lake Ruatuna, which happens monthly. Ruatana is a beautifully picturesque Waikato peat lake, and home to some of our avian wetland taonga, like the endangered pūweto/spotless crake, and the critically endangered Matuku/bittern, and plenty more.

Trust us when we say this isn’t even the most unusual item that Avi and the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) team have encountered in the course of their jobs.

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And finally, here’s one more epic pic from Ranger Supervisor Jo Mendonca, who truly made the office-bound staff member compiling this blog weep with her pics.

There were heaps of awesome pics to choose from for this blog. We hope you enjoyed this view from our rangers’ ‘not an office, office’.

The sights are pretty impressive.

Shoutout to the team, all of them, but especially our rangers, who are doing the hard yards on the front line. Our team work hard, go the extra mile, and do their best every day for conservation in Aotearoa.

Kia ora.

Have a good World Ranger Day.

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You can learn more about World Ranger Day on our website.

For more about becoming a DOC Ranger, start with our careers page.