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Debrief from Japan Wildlife Film Festival winner Natasha Bishop

Department of Conservation —  13/08/2013

17-year-old student, Natasha Bishop—winner of the 2012 DOC Big Picture Award in The Outlook for Someday sustainability film challenge—tells us about her big win at the prestigious Japan Wildlife Film Festival on Sunday.  

It was unexpected enough being nominated for the Japan Wildlife Film Festival (JWFF). It was even more unexpected to have received not just one, but TWO awards!

I was given the Best Animation award, as well as the Newcomer award for being an inexperienced filmmaker.

I’m incredibly happy, however I’m also very sad that the film festival is over. During my time here I have been able to meet amazing people, experience traditional and modern Japanese culture, and watch inspiring and beautiful films from around the world. I’ll be bringing home not only my awards, but also a new enlightenment that I’ve been incredibly privileged to experience at my age.

Natasha in Japan.

Experiencing Japan

The Grand Award of the festival was awarded to Grant Muir, a Wairarapa resident. He is the star of the film River Dog, the one other New Zealand film to be nominated for JWFF.

Grant Muir and Natasha Bishop at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival.

Grant Muir and Natasha Bishop at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival

During the festival I ran three seminars. I talked about my own personal background, my involvement with the environment, as well as digital media. David Jacobs and I also talked about New Zealand’s connection with nature, DOC, and The Outlook for Someday.

The organisers of JWFF have been immensely supportive of me during my stay in Japan, and I’d like to thank them for their hospitality and kindness. David Jacobs, who accompanied me, and the rest of Connected Media have also been really vital in making this happen. I’ve been able to make connections with some wonderful filmmakers and environmentalists, which I intend to strengthen!

Left: Kohta Asamidori, the lovely Public Relations Manager for JWFF. Right: Natasha with Hiroe Makiyama, upper house member of the National Diet of Japan.

Left: Kohta Asamidori, the lovely Public Relations Manager for JWFF
Right: Natasha with Hiroe Makiyama, upper house member of the National Diet of Japan

I’m flying home soon and I will definitely miss Japan! Since it’s the school term right now, I can’t stay very long. But being here has inspired me to learn Japanese, so that I can come back someday and see more of the sights. It’s also inspired me to pursue a career in film and sustainability.

Among the people I’d like to acknowledge is Air New Zealand for sponsoring my flight, we visited their office in Tokyo and gave them a personal thank you. Also to the New Zealand Embassy in Tokyo, the staff there were lovely! And of course, thanks to the Department of Conservation for supporting me from the very beginning. Receiving this JWFF award is the biggest up on the figurative roller coaster that I’ve been on!

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Join me on the Wildside

Elizabeth Marenzi —  12/08/2013

Today, I’m inviting you somewhere special. Not many people know about this place yet – you’re one of the first. The place is called Wildside and it’s a new social media community run by the Department of Conservation (DOC) on Facebook and Twitter.

Wildside Facebook screenshot.

With the tagline Aotearoa New Zealand. Live it. Love it. Look after it. Together. Wildside promises inspiring stories, images, videos and conversations about:

Living on the wildside – tramping, camping, biking, hunting…

Loving the wildside – our places, plants, animals, people…

Looking after the wildside – protecting, restoring… doing our bit.

And, importantly, Wildside is about doing it together.

We didn’t want another place on the web about ‘DOC the government department’. Wildside is for, and about, everyone.

Wildside Twitter screenshot.

Here at DOC we’re working towards making New Zealand the greatest living space on Earth – but this vision isn’t just ours, and we can’t do it alone. We want you to join the journey – and Wildside will be a great place to start. Will you join us?

http://www.facebook.com/wildsidenz

http://twitter.com/wildsidenz

In Animal pests, Conservation Week 2013, Historic, Islands, Marine, National parks, Native animals, Native plants, Recreation, Sustainability, Volunteers, Weeds, Wetlands , , ,
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DOC Big Picture Award winner nominated for Japan Wildlife Film Festival

Department of Conservation —  25/07/2013

Natasha Bishop, winner of last year’s Outlook for Someday sustainability film challenge, and David Jacobs, from The Outlook for Someday, tell us about Arboraceous, the power of storytelling, and the latest exciting development that sees them heading to Japan next month.

David and Natasha at last year's Someday Awards.

David and Natasha at last year’s Someday Awards

NATASHA:

Arboraceous winning the DOC Big Picture Award and being chosen as The Body Shop Standout Winner in The Outlook for Someday last year came as a genuine surprise for me! It was great receiving a lot of positive feedback on my animation, and getting the honour of presenting it at DOC’s end-of-year event at their head office.

Making Arboraceous was an opportunity to send a clear message about sustainability through storytelling, which is what The Outlook for Someday film challenge is all about.

Screen shot from the film Arboraceous. Shows man sitting under an apple tree.

Arboraceous: Sustainability through storytelling

DAVID: 

Yes that’s exactly what The Outlook for Someday is about. People have always told stories about what’s going on for them – it’s a fundamental part of what it is to be human. These days we don’t tell our stories with pictures on stone cave walls – we have moving images and sound and a global cave wall called the Internet. And what’s going on for us more than anything these days is the question of how we can sustain ourselves and our planet.

So with The Outlook for Someday we aim to help grow a generation of sustainability storytellers. That’s Natasha’s generation – and films like Arboraceous make my job very satisfying. With the film she conveys a profound truth with sweet simplicity.

NATASHA: 

The moral of Arboraceous is about renewing what we already have on our earth, instead of going off and trying to find a new planet. In making the film I set myself clear boundaries – I wanted to tell an in-depth story without using dialogue or text. So I told my story using colour, expression and symbols.

Illustration of rocket taking off.

There’s only one planet Earth

DAVID: 

And in a simple, compelling way the film gets across the absolute key to sustainability as I see it. That we are all connected – to nature and to each other.

Illustration showing a round earth with houses and people around its circumference.

We are all connected – to nature and to each other

NATASHA:

I guess that’s why the Department of Conservation has been really supportive and enthusiastic about my animation from the start.

And since The Outlook for Someday win, Arboraceous has been nominated for the Japan Wildlife Film Festival in August this year. As the youngest film-maker to have a film nominated in the JWFF’s 20 years of running, this is a big experience for me! I’m really thankful for all of DOC’s support, and to Air New Zealand for sponsoring my flight to Japan.

DAVID:

Yes big partnery thanks DOC and also to Air New Zealand for Natasha’s flight. I’m really proud of what Natasha has achieved. And I’m excited to be going to Japan to support her and to represent New Zealand as a nation with an emerging generation of young people who tell stunning sustainability stories.

Watch Arboraceous

Arboraceous from The Outlook for Someday on Vimeo.

Follow the journey to Japan on Twitter:

– The Outlook for Someday @tofsfilm

– Natasha Bishop @Maki_Tak

– #Arboraceous

The Department of Conservation is a partner of The Outlook for Someday sustainability film challenge for young people and also sponsors the Big Picture Award. Read about past winners and learn how to enter the 2013 challenge on the DOC website. The 2013 entry deadline is 13 September.

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Jobs at DOC: Dan O’Halloran, Ranger – Biodiversity

Department of Conservation —  12/10/2012

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 Dan O’Halloran, Ranger – Biodiversity.

Name:  Dan O’Halloran.

Position: Ranger Biodiversity Bay of Islands Area Office.

Dan getting down and dirty on Mauima.

Getting down and dirty on Mauimua (Lady Alice) a few years back

At work

Possum in a tree.

The possum is public enemy number one!

What kind of things do you do in your role? 

I trap, poison and monitor possums and supervise other staff, contractors, volunteers and commercial operators doing the same. I monitor & supervise our goat programme; assist with species work including snails (flax and kauri) and kiwi; assist with our weed programme and run the Puketi Weedbusters group.

I work with various community and iwi groups and liase with adjoining landowers, especially regarding pest control issues. As an Area Warranted Officer I am mainly involved with hunters and dog issues, as well as vandalism and rubbish dumping. I am a boat skipper, a Rural Fire Officer and staff Health and Safety rep.

What is the best part about your job? 

Two things, the first are those moments when you come across something – a creature or view appears, or you notice plant in fruit or flower – and you know that you would never have got that experience if it weren’t for the job you’re doing. The second is when that happens, along with the realisation, that what you are seeing is a direct result of work done by yourself, your colleagues or our conservation partners.

Four flax snails sitting on a rock under plants.

Flax snails on (the imaginatively named) Snail Rock

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Seeing how well the pohutukawa are recovering in Pekapeka Bay.

The rule of 3…


3 loves 

  1.  My buddy Viv and all our friends and whanau.
  2. The natural world.
  3. Music.


3 pet peeves

  1. Vandals – why don’t you just get a life.
  2. Rubbish dumpers/litterers – ditto.
  3. Poorly informed people who think they have all the answers regarding pest control.


3 foods

  1. Rice.
  2. Plums.
  3. Dead creatures.

3 favourite places in New Zealand 

  1. The Whangaroa rohe, from Takou to Taemaro it is, like the man said, “a singular and beautifully romantic place”.
  2. Waikouaiti and East Otago, a wonderful place to grow up.
  3. Puketi Omahuta, if you’re talking biodiversity it’s the mother of all ngahere.
View from Whangaroa Harbour.

View from Whangaroa Harbour

Favourite movie , album, book  

  • Album – its a toss up between “Genius” the Warren Zevon greatest hits collection and “Enjoy Every Sandwich” where Dylan, Springsteen, Earle, and The Pixies etc. pay tribute to Zevon’s brillance, with an honourable mention for the Amnesty International  4 CD release “Chimes of Freedom” where 80 artists do Dylan covers. Some pretty amazing stuff, and if you buy it off the website your $40 goes to fighting injustice.
  • Movie – one of the best I’ve seen lately is “Sex & Drugs & Rock’n’Roll”, the Ian Dury biopic starring Andy Serkis.
  • Book – Jared Diamond’s “Guns Germs & Steel” or  Tim Flannery’s “The Future Eaters”.

Deep and meaningful…


What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

It dosen’t matter, I wouldn’t have taken any notice. At 18 I knew everthing and was totally bulletproof.

Who or what inspires you and why? 

My colleagues who keep on keeping on despite everything that gets thrown at them.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

A DJ.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be? 

A conservation worker for the NZ Native Forests Restoration Trust, Kiwi Foundation, Puketi Forest Trust or some other NGO.

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on? 

Switch things off – it’s that simple.

Which green behaviour would you like to adopt this year—at home? At work? 

Use less paper.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why? 

If that day was 1200 or so years ago, I’d like to be a kauri specifically the giant Te Tangi O Te Tui so I could see what creatures roamed Puketi in its heyday, if thats not a real answer I’ll go for the Kahu because they’re cool (vote for the Kahu in the Forest & Bird poll – closes 10 October).

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation? 

People—get out there and do it, it’s not enough to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk.

Rata in flower on the Mokau ridge.

One of those moments – rata in flower on the Mokau ridge Puketi Omahuta

Please leave a comment – do you have any pieces of advice or messages that you would give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

In Animal pests, Jobs at DOC, Northland, Regions, Sustainability, Weeds , , , , ,
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Jobs at DOC: DOC’s Sustainability team

Department of Conservation —  08/08/2011

Every Monday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

This week we look at DOC’s sustainability team:

Helen Ough Dealy

Helen Ough Dealy: Sustainability Advisor (part-time)

Kirsten Haupt: Sustainability Project Facilitator

Peter Noble: Manager, National Shared Services

At work

What kind of things do you do in your roles? 

Kirsten Haupt

Helen: I am DOC’s very own Babel Fish. I translate then link sustainability information to DOC staff and vice versa.

Kirsten: Providing project management support for renewable installations, particularly on DOC islands – dealing with the paperwork while the local guys get on with the job. 

What is the best part about your job?

Helen: Connecting people with the information/resources they need to do their job more sustainably.

Peter Noble

Kirsten: Helping to upgrade old infrastructure on DOC islands (and reducing maintenance costs) and increasing their resilience to future fuel increases – leaving them better off in the long run. 

What is the hardest part about your job?

Helen: Keeping up with the continually changing and developing nature of sustainability.

Kirsten: Juggling several large projects while keeping up with all the other sustainability things that come my way. 

What led you to your role in DOC?

Helen: I put my hand up and said, “Pick me!”

Kirsten: Right place, right time and a willingness to take on a challenge.

Kirsten with Rene Duindam and Erica Doust promoting DOC's National Office Work Place Travel Plan

What was the highlight of your month just gone?

Helen: Seeing the intranet frontpage story, about the installation of skylights in various DOC buildings across the country, go live and to receive a comment about it in Maori, which I understood!

Kirsten: Two things – having the contract for the Great Barrier Island renewable system signed and releasing the request for tender document for the Raoul renewable system. 

The rule of 3… 

Three loves

  1. People who care and use commonsense (Kirsten)
  2. People who recycle (Helen)
  3. People taking public transport (Peter)

Three pet peeves

  1. People who just don’t care (Kirsten)
  2. People who don’t recycle (Helen)
  3. People driving large cars (Peter)

Three foods

  1. Anything homegrown really, and cheese (Kirsten)
  2. Carrots grown in the Russell Community Gardens (Helen)
  3. Potatoes from the Community Garden at the bottom of our section (Peter)

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. The bush: Dirt underfoot, trees above, birds around, and a cosy hut waiting at the end of the day (Kirsten)
  2. The Strand, Russell, Bay of Islands (Helen)
  3. Playing with my kids in our community garden – just magic (Peter)

Favourite movie, album, book

If Helen could be one of NZ's native species for a day she would be a North Island weka

Movie

Peter: Movie: Chariots of Fire – I love the 100m running scene near the end.

Kirsten: I can’t choose just one. I love movies and the places they take me (the reason why I can’t watch horrors and really stupid entertainment). I do like my Sci-fi. 

Album

Kirsten: Again, difficult to pick one. I think I see music like a soundtrack to life – there is always the right song for the right situation.

Book

Peter: Not really one, but I love my Kindle e-reader. 

Deep and meaningful… 

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Helen: Keep asking questions and never assume something can’t be done. The only sure thing is that if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

If Peter could be one of NZ's native species for a day he would be a kakapo

Peter: TINA: There Is No Alternative – if people say that they are generally wrong.

Kirsten: The world is your oyster – discover what YOU really want and just do it.

Who or what inspires you and why?

Helen: Kathryn Maxwell (ex-Sustainability Manager, DOC) who wouldn’t accept ‘No’, or ‘It can’t be done.’

Kirsten: Certainly the above and people who know what they want and just get on and do it.  

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Peter: A bus driver, I still may do that one day.

Kirsten: Be able to talk to animals.

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

If Kirsten could be one of NZ's native species for a day she would be a little blue penuin

Helen: A conservation volunteer.

Peter: Stay-home dad looking after our kids… or the Prime Minister.

Kirsten: Running a little farm, making chutneys, jams, bread and cheese.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

Helen: The North Island weka – cheeky, inquisitive, determined, a survivor – just like DOC.

Peter: Kakapo – A project team I worked with recently gave me the nickname “Kakapo”, so it seems appropriate.

Kirsten: Little blue penguin – simply adorable, but possessing ninja powers.

In Jobs at DOC, Sustainability
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