Career Profiles
| Careers | Environmental Sciences | Earth & Ocean Sciences |
Kiwi Team Leader and Biodiversity Ranger
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Name: Nicole Sutton
Employer: Department of Conservation, Tongariro Kiwi Sanctuary
Vocation: Kiwi Team Leader and Biodiversity Ranger
Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Master of Science
Subject: Biology, in plant and animal ecology
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Keeping the Kiwi Safe
Completing her Masters in Animal Ecology was the perfect stepping stone in to the working world for Nicole Sutton, who is now a Kiwi Team Leader Biodiversity Ranger in the Tongariro Kiwi Sanctuary.
“Whilst studying, I did a couple of work placements at Project Kiwi in the Coromandel. The experience I gained there, and the contacts I made, helped me get to where I am now.”
Working for the Department of Conservation, Nicole’s job involves monitoring North Island Brown Kiwi for breeding and survival, as well as organising projects, staff and volunteers. Nicole is also the threatened plants contact for the area, and does quite a lot of work with Dacctylanthus taylorii and Pittosporum turneri, having studied plant ecology in her undergraduate degree.
Last year Nicole was involved in an aerial 1080 operation in Tongariro Forest. With the 1080 killing the stoats in the area, the kiwi have been hatching and surviving in the wild, allowing the Sanctuary to move closer towards its goal of achieving and maintaining a representative sample of 100+ pairs of North Island Brown Kiwi by 2010.
“We radio tag the chicks at their nests to monitor them, they’re so cute!” says Nicole. “Presenting this study at the National Kiwi Hui was also good; it was great to see the positive reactions of other DOC staff and community groups.”
The Tongariro Kiwi Sanctuary is also moving towards this goal with Operation Nest Egg (ONE), where eggs are taken from the wild to be raised in captivity, safe from predators, to be released back into the wild once they are big enough to defend themselves.
“I’m so happy with my job” enthuses Nicole “I work with a really good team, and every time I handle a kiwi it’s a highlight – they’re great!”
Biological Sceinces graduate Nicole Sutton with kiwis Roz and Darryl
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