Open range - working in nature's office

Some people think a park ranger’s job would be ideal, with lots of time spent outdoors in the tranquillity of the bush and lots of cute animals to look after. But Jessica Herder has found out that it can also involve finding lost people, fire-fighting, and dealing with thousands of visitors. 

A love of the outdoors and a desire to preserve Aboriginal cultural heritage led Jessica to pursue a job as a park ranger. After studying at university, she landed an Aboriginal cadetship as a ranger with the Royal National Park.

This was coming full-circle for Jessica, because though originally from the Dhungutti nation of Northern NSW, she grew up near the Royal National Park, south of Sydney, and says her family spent a lot of time in the park.

“We used to go there as a family and go bushwalking and canoeing and camping and I loved it in the outdoors and I always knew I wanted an outdoor job,” she says.

“In high school, I studied the right subjects so I could go to Uni to study Environmental Science because I knew that was what I needed to be a ranger.” 

The subjects she studied during her senior years at Jannali High School included chemistry, geography and mathematics. She then went on to the University of Western Sydney to study for a Bachelor of Environmental Science with Honours. 

During her time at university, she completed a research project on Bitou Bush control in the Culburra Beach area. 

“This bush is a big problem in a lot of coastal areas of NSW, since it was deliberately planted to stabilise sand dunes. It has now taken over,” she says. 

In 1982, Bitou Bush was been found to be growing along 60 per cent (about 660km) of the NSW coast.

Jessica applied to the Aboriginal Ranger Cadetship Program while at University. The program allowed her to study Environmental Science full-time at Wollongong University and in the Christmas holidays she completed work experience as a ranger. Her work placements were carried out at Botany Bay National Park where her work included looking after the little tern colony that migrates to Towra Spit each year to nest.

Afterwards, during her time as a Ranger in the Royal National Park, Jessica developed a detailed knowledge of the landscape, including what bush foods were available, as well as the traditional engravings found in the park. 

Overall, she says working in the Royal National Park for three years was a great experience. 

“I thought it would all be about saving animals and hugging trees, but there were so many visitors to that park that it is more about people management. I became involved things like in looking for lost people at 2am and fire fighting,” she says. 

“But I did get to do some warm fuzzy things with animals – we did a biodiversity survey and I got to see a lot of nocturnal animals up close that not many people get to see, such as the Eastern Pygmy Possum. 

The surveys, which involved spot-lighting and trapping, help determine what animals are in an area and give an indication of their numbers.

“Every day as a ranger is different. I could be removing weeds and planting natives with our volunteers, or explaining to people why they’ve just been swooped by a magpie, or how beneficial it is to have bandicoots digging up their lawn,” she says. 

Jessica now works for Protecting our Places Grants (POPs), a part of the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, which protects land that is culturally significant to Aboriginal people and supports educational projects about the environment and its importance in Aboriginal life.

“There are basically two categories of grants that POPs administer: (1) on the ground, removing weed and trees, land care and (2) education programs that teach the broader community about the connection that Aboriginal people have with their environment,” she says.  

“This job is perfect for me because I am right between working with communities, preserving their cultural heritage and protecting the environment.”