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Opportunity of a lifetime on Lord Howe Island

Are you up for a challenging but rewarding volunteer position on Australia’s incredible Lord Howe Island?
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How would you like to be part of a global conservation project on one of the most unique and beautiful places in the world, Lord Howe Island? Photo of Lord Howe Island used courtesy of the Lord Howe Island Board, Lord Howe Tourism.

Are you up for a challenging but rewarding volunteer position on Australia’s incredible Lord Howe Island?

The Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project aims to eradicate introduced rodents, the black rat and the house mouse, from this beautiful island, but needs volunteer field officers to finish the job.

If you’re dedicated to protecting Australia’s incredible natural environment and want to make a lasting contribution to conservation, then being part of this world first eradication project could be just for you.

One of the most unique and beautiful places in the world, World Heritage Lord Howe Island is three-quarters conservation reserve and encompassed in a marine park.

The rodent eradication project has been 10 years in the making and is the largest undertaking of its kind anywhere in the world.

Volunteers will help recover one of the world’s rarest insects while taking part in a program that will change the lives of critically endangered animals.

The project reached the halfway point for ground baiting operations in August 2019 and is now entering one of the most critical phases of the project – hunting down the few remaining individual rodents.

Volunteer field officers will undertake pest and weed management and revegetation work.

They will also join the ground baiting crew servicing 18,900 external bait stations and 2200 monitoring devices over the settlement area of the island, replenishing bait, logging bait take and rodent sign.

Conditions

  • Return flights to Lord Howe Island from Sydney/Brisbane.
  • Hotel style accommodation for the duration of your stay.
  • A small stipend to cover living expenses.

Requirements

  • Physically fit.
  • Hold a ChemCert qualification or be willing and able to obtain this qualification.
  • Available to volunteer for 4-8 weeks (Min 4).
  • Field work experience with an emphasis on attention to detail highly regarded.

Note: Preference will be given to candidates indicating they are prepared to stay for longer periods and who hold a valid ChemCert pre arrival.

Starting date: As soon as possible.

For additional information regarding the project please visit the Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project.

There are multiple positions available, please apply via email including covering letter, CV and the contact details of two referees to:

  • Darcelle Matassoni
    Project Officer (Community)
    darcelle.matassoni@lhib.nsw.gov.au
    02 6563 2066 ext 40

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]