Biosecurity officer for Chatham Islands

Environment Canterbury has appointed Alison Young as biosecurity officer for the Chatham Islands.

Alison has lived and worked on the islands for more than 15 years. As biosecurity officer, her main focus is to implement the Chatham Islands Pest Management Strategy for the local council. She will also be involved with some of the other regional council functions undertaken by Environment Canterbury on behalf of the Chatham Islands Council.*

“My duties will include water quality monitoring and work to improve local port and airport biosecurity,” she says.

“I was privileged to be the first Department of Conservation staff member to live and work on Pitt Island, and my time there taught me a great deal about working with rural and remote communities.” She particularly enjoyed the Chathams’ community-led approach to conservation and land management and was keen to continue to work in the area.

The cold Chathams winters and a passion for learning about remote rural communities led Alison to complete two New Zealand Volunteer Service Abroad stints. She spent two years working with farmers in rural Tanzania, and more recently, a couple of years working with a farmer training programme in Papua New Guinea.

“I have since worked with a number of organisations on the islands and I am also a partner in a 750 hectare farm which offers a lifetime of challenges.”

Environment Canterbury biosecurity manager Graham Sullivan, based in Timaru, says that protecting the Chatham Islands from pests is an important role, not only for the Chathams themselves but also nationally as many protected species are only found on the islands.

“The absence of mustelids and rabbits makes a huge different to the habitat on the Chathams – and the types of birds that live and thrive there,” he says.

“There are no rats and possums on Pitt Island, which is the smaller of the inhabited Chatham Islands. Some introduced weeds are on the islands but they are small enough to be managed through the Chatham Islands Pest Management Strategy and Alison’s work as biosecurity officer.”

One of Alison’s key tasks will be encouraging farmers to see the opportunities in reducing pest risks and finding “workable local solutions”.

“The great thing about the Chatham Islands is that most of those who live and work here have such an amazing knowledge and understanding of their land,” she says.