Get involved with the Bream Head Conservation Trust

Bream Head Conservation Trust has several voluntary opportunities that include the more physical work of a volunteer trapper to more relaxing work in our native plant nursery.
If you'd like to join an interesting and diverse group who are engaged in valuable community work, please get in touch. Activities include:* Busby trappers - are a group that meets on the second Sunday of the month for about two to three hours to rebait and check the trap lines in the Smugglers/Busby head section of the reserve. The terrain here is slightly less steep and the tracks are shorter than the Te Whara/Matariki (Mt Lion) sections of the reserve. (requires a medium level of physical work)

• Te Whara Forest Recovery Team - this group meets on the third sunday (usually) of the month and tackles weed infestations on the Bream Head/Tw Whara side of the reserve along toward Matariki (Mt. Lion). We tend to work on the boundary areas where the terrain is more manageable but also where the weeds first infiltrate from the private lands surrounding the North side of the reserve. (requires a low to medium level of physical work)
• Native Plant Nursery - We have been trying to set up our own native tree nursery since 2019. Since 2017 when myrtle rust arrived in NZ, DOC suspended our public planting days as there was risk bringing in natives from sights that could have myrtle rust. We now have an area on the boundary where we are setting up our own little nursery with the goal of resuming these planting days in 2022. (requires a low level of physical work)
• 5 minute bird call counts - Every quarter we have teams of two or three who visit stations located throughout the reserve to count all calls and sighting of birds in the area. This data is entered on E bird and tracked by our bird call monitoring leader. We also have full survey's once every two years to monitor the success of our North Island Robins (Toutouwai) and Whiteheads (popokatea) that were translocated into the reserve in 2016 and 2017.
• Kiwi call counting - every May June, we participate in the annual kiwi call counts - There are six (I think) listening stations on the reserve and we listen for 4 nights for a two hour time block during the two week listening period.
• Track Maintenance - BHCT looks after most areas of the reserve including the main Peach Cove track and hut. We also need volunteers who are interested in helping maintain some of our trap lines. The trap lines on the Bream Head area of the reserve are long and some are quite steep which makes it difficult for the volunteers who service those lines to also attend to remarking and any clearing that is required. (requires a medium to high level of work)
• Volunteer/Tech/Communications - we are keen to find someone who could help out with the volunteer recruitment and communication etc.
• We also have multiple monitoring cameras on the reserve and we would like to find options for viewing and recording data. We are hoping that there may be a software program that could help with this but currently, each SD card is viewed and data hand recorded for assessment. (low physical work)
• Trap Toxin lines on Te Whara - On the main reserve there are trap and toxin lines zig zagging the entire reserve. Some of these are through steep terrain although most of those areas contain hand lines, it is still physically challenging work. (high physical level of work)

On the job training provided.
Group coordinators ensure that teams are involved in happy and social activities while doing this important and rewarding work.

Requirements

A reasonable level of fitness is usually required.

A Ministry of Justice background check is required for this role.

Time commitment

Flexible.

Getting Started

The first step is to express your interest by filling out the form below. We will then put you in touch directly with the organisation for more information on the role and how to proceed.