Archives For people

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 David Lynn, Ranger—Visitor and Historic Assets, in DOC’s Gisborne/Whakatane Area Office.

David Lynn with a weka.

Out mucking in, helping capture, weigh and measure
North Island weka, at Motu

Some things I do in my job include…

Track maintenance, hut maintenance, track inspections, managing the awesome Anaura Bay Campground, managing ‘Gateway’ school students, my Duty Officer role, fire fighting, as well as around 12 years at DOC as a Conservancy Records/Admin officer.

Fire fighters battling a burning house.

Fire training. This is a house at Opotiki. A learning experience, as only months later I witnessed a real house on fire at Pahiatua. I was first on the scene, kicked the door down but, through our training, knew it was too late

The best bit about my job is…

Getting out there and walking our lovely tracks and rivers. I’ve often stopped and looked around—whilst in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a fresh water river—and looked at the great scenery, and thought…’What an awesome job I have’.

The scariest DOC moment I’ve had so far is…

At a social event—hoping like mad that all my workmates had also dressed up as rock stars on our social club pub crawl—before I walked into the pub we were all meeting at.

Close up of David's face with Gene Simmons make-up, sticking out tongue.

The Gene Simmons stunt double! It won me Best Dressed
at one of our social club fixtures

The DOC employee that inspires or enthuses me most is…

It has to be the staff I see walking kilometres with big chainsaws, and loaded with gear, into tracks to cut trees. We have some real work horses out there doing great work.

Most people don’t know I…

A bit gross to some, but most people don’t know that I endured 31 years on and off of having plastic surgery to my face. My nose has been made from skin from my forehead, my top lip is actually 1/3 of my bottom lip, but hey this is me now and I’m amazed at what doctors can do in this field of surgery. This happened due to a type of growth that occurred within a week of birth that wiped out my top lip and nasal area.

My stomping ground is…

Gisborne, known to most as Gizzy. A neat town, off the beaten track some say but the beaches, fishing/diving and weather are tops.

David standing on a large truck full of building supplies.

The project: getting over 150 boxed steps built at Cooks Cove, Tolaga Bay. This is step two of many—weighing and getting all the wood/gravel/building equipment transported, ready for pick up by heli to the work sites. A massive job I got to manage from start to finish

My best ever holiday was…

Taking the wife Anne, and children Jessica and Daniel, over to Surfer’s Paradise last year. What an awesome place.

My greatest sporting moment was when…

I was selected for the North Island Indoor Bowls team in 2003 and then again in 2004. Only 10 men and 10 woman get selected in this team. We lost to the South Island in 2003, but got revenge in 2004.

David holding bowling trophy.

North vs South Island winners 2004

Deep and meaningful…

My favourite quote is…

Live life to the fullest , you never know what is around the corner.

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…

Your best friends will be by your side in every way, you will learn fast who your best friends are.

In work and life I am motivated by…

I think in both work and life I’m motivated by doing the very best I can and seeing the rewards after. I’ve been very successful in my sport and education, and have always had employment from the age of 17 (25 years of government service was just achieved in January this year).

My conservation advice to New Zealanders is…

Get out there and see what New Zealand has to offer. Some of the places I have seen (through working at DOC and travelling the country in my sport) are just great.

Question of the week…

‘Question of the week’ will differ each week. If you have any suggestions for questions, please leave us a comment.

Which celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?

I would have to say that I actually need two celebrities: one called Paul Kaye off the film Blackball—a little known comedy about bowls—and his stunt double, a younger Clint Eastwood could jump in, in places, but without without Clyde the Orangutan (off Every Which Way but Loose).

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 Biodiversity Ranger, Cherie Hemsley.

At work…

What kind of things do you do in your role?

Weed control, possum control, rat control, dotterel work, and quarantine checks.

What is the best part about your job?

Everything!!! The places on the island that we get to go to and locations that, unless you were working for the department, you don’t get to go to.

What is the hardest part about your job?

Not having enough hours in the day to do everything.

What led you to your role in DOC?

I love the bush.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

Working on getting sign-off to drive our Stabi Crafts.

Cherie and daughter Betty at the beach – Mason Bay

The rule of 3…

Three loves

  1. My daughter Betty
  2. My partner Simon
  3. Stewart Island

Three pet peeves

  1. Mess (when peeps don’t clean up after themselves)
  2. Laziness
  3. Too much time indoors

Cherie and partner Simon

Three foods 

  1. Whitetail
  2. Salmon
  3. Trumpeter

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Mason Bay
  2. Port Pegasus
  3. Codfish Island (I know they are all Stewart Island and around, but that’s why I live here)

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Movie: Stand By Me
  2. Album: The Best of Otis Redding
  3. Book: Whitethorn by Bryce Courtney

Cherie’s daughter Betty and partner Simon

Deep and meaningful…

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

Start saving 10% of your wages now!

Who or what inspires you and why?

My daughter because she is AMAZING!

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

A vet.

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

Working in the bush somewhere—study’n botany maybe?

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Hmmmmmmm, grow your own veggies.

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

Grow my own veggies with more success this year than last year.

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

Harlequin gecko because we know so little about them.

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

Just spend a bit of time in the bush and at our huts, then see how you feel. It might make you think twice about priorities in life.

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 Intranet Communications Advisor Tina Clouston.

Walking the ‘Narrows’ in Zion National Park, USA –
the walk is mostly through the river

At work…

What kind of things do you do in your role?

I spend a decent amount of time looking after the day-to-day running of the intranet—reviewing content, training, testing new features, publishing content, supporting our content editors (all 70+ of them), improving usability etc etc. With over 11,000 pages on the intranet it keeps me busy! And it means that I’m never entirely sure how my day is going to pan out…

And then we’ve got a number of projects on the go (fun website/intranet stuff) like trialling the ‘like’ feature, which we’ve added to our front page stories this week.

It’s a great job.

What is the best part about your job?

Hmmmm… a few things actually:

  • Discovering all the interesting things that everyone does. I get to see a slice of it via the intranet content that we review.
  • Deleting old content off the intranet. I know, it’s a bit geeky, but there is nothing like getting rid of old stuff!
  • Investigating ways to make the intranet better.

What is the hardest part about your job?
 
Last minute requests!

What led you to your role in DOC?
 
I’ve been working on websites and intranets for a while now in a number of different industries. My last role, based in London, was working for an Asset Management Company—content that was all about shares and trading and making money—not the most inspirational stuff. After five years of that and a hankering to head home, I decided I needed to work somewhere I actually wanted to work. And so I applied for the job and here I am.

What was your highlight from the month just gone?

I was lucky enough to attend Te Pukenga Atawhai, which was a fantastic experience. I met loads of wonderful people and had a generally great time.

Dog-sledding in Norway

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. A crisp, clear winter’s day.
  2. Travelling – love it! Living in London was the perfect base for seeing the world and I’ve also been lucky enough to live in the States, and have spent a number of months in Japan.
  3. www.etsy.com. So much crafty goodness.

Three pet peeves

  1. People texting at dinner or during meetings. Really – can it not wait?
  2. Missing the train (yes, I know it’s my own fault).
  3. Littering.

Three foods

  1. Gingernut ice-cream.
  2. A good ol’ fashioned roast.
  3. Wellington coffee.

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Wellington. Aside from having a great vibe, it’s my home.
  2. Tongariro National Park.
  3. My grandmother’s old home at Himitangi beach.

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Movie: The Goonies – classic 80s movie. Sloth is awesome.
  2. Album: August and Everything After by Counting Crows. Always reminds me of road tripping in America.
  3. Book: The Help – wonderful, warm characters.

On an ice covered beach in Iceland

Deep and meaningful…

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

Don’t worry so much.

Who or what inspires you and why?

Brian Cox. He’s been making science cool in the UK. Though he failed maths at school, he’s since played keyboard in a rock band, works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland and has been making BBC documentaries about the Universe.

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

An astronaut.

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

A photographer for National Geographic. Might need a few photography lessons first….

Tramping the Milford Track, January 2012

What sustainability tip would you like to pass on?

Say no to plastic bags.

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

Compost.

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

A morepork. Why? They have fantastic hearing, can see in the dark and can turn their heads 270 degrees.

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

Take good care of our country –  it’s going to be here a lot longer than us.