Career development starts with volunteering

Blog Layout

Want to get ahead in your environmental science career? Start volunteering!

That’s the advice from a working Ecologist who spent a week volunteering on a fauna and flora survey with natural resource management group Southern Queensland Landscapes on Croxdale Station near Charleville.

Katherine Best said volunteering has allowed her to upskill, network, and develop perspective on environmental issues; as well as provided a platform to do the things she loves about her career choice but rarely gets an opportunity to do in the commercial world.

“I just love being in the field and being amongst it all and our week at Croxdale Station volunteering with SQ Landscapes was 100% the kind of work which made me become an ecologist in the first place,” Katherine Best said.

“In my real job I am working as a consulting ecologist and a lot of my work is based along the coast from Bundaberg to the Gold Coast and revolves around changes in land use, infrastructure upgrades, residential and commercial developments; the kind of jobs where as an ecologist you are coming in at the final stages to minimise impact and ensure compliance,” Ms Best said.

“It was great to get out into that semi-arid environment around Charleville and work on a property that is relatively untouched and whose fate has not yet been decided,” she said.

“To come in at the real beginning and try and determine what ecological values are present and what types of land use or opportunities enhance or compliment the natural values that are there.”

Having completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology, Environment and Evolution at La Trobe University, Katherine Best said volunteering has allowed her to upskill, especially in field work.

“It’s not often that I get to go out in the field and both practice and refine certain skill sets, so at Croxdale the bat surveys we took part in under the guidance of SQ Landscapes Project Delivery Lead Chris Crafter was a real opportunity for me to practise skills that are applicable but often don’t get to do in a paid role because of the nature of the commercial world where opportunities like this are few and far between,” Katherine Best said.

Networking with more senior scientists is also a very important aspect of volunteering.

“Having people in your network that you can call upon for advice or suggestions or even to facilitate certain work is really important and advantageous for your career,” Katherine Best said.

“Plus we are seeing more and more in the science community a real desire to share knowledge and build each other up. No one came into this industry wanting to see the environment trashed so why wouldn’t you share your knowledge and networks with others to help contribute to and achieve real environmental change,” Ms Best said.

“As a sector the key issues we are facing in terms of the environment and global warming are bigger than one person and we really need to utilise the network and become more collaborative and not combative to minimise and reverse human impact,” she said.

“Hearing about other work that is going on in the NRM sector, and being exposed to different strategies to enhance natural assets and preserve them is also thought provoking and inspiring; and to be involved in that really cutting edge work keeps you interested and driven to challenge yourself and be open to different approaches.”

Putting things into perspective and spending time in other people’s shoes also helps to further develop communication and the ability to transition between academia and real world applications.

“Opening yourself up to new opinions and new perspectives allows you to grow professionally. If as academics we just communicated amongst ourselves then how would we ever achieve joint shared goals with stakeholders like land managers? We just couldn’t,” Katherine Best said.

“So knowing how to communicate and the things that are important to people who don’t come from academic circles and are not conservation minded should be the primary goal of everyone working in this sector; knowing what our shared goals are and understanding that we may approach a problem from a different perspective will enable you to be thoughtful about on-ground impacts and formulate ways you can work together,” Ms Best said.

“Without that experience of volunteering, I just wouldn’t have had the chance to be exposed to a wide variety of people from all walks of life who all want to achieve the same thing I do but are coming at it from a different direction using completely different language,” she said.

Meanwhile, fellow volunteer and working Ecologist, Oliver Scully said volunteering is a useful tool to developing your overall skills as the more country you work on, the more you understand.

“Any experience in a variety of different country will help you in your overall field ecology because the more country you are exposed to the more you understand,” Oliver Scully said.

“It was also great to see that semi-arid country around the Charleville area looking in such good nick after three good seasons and volunteering at key times to capture changes like this are hugely important to getting whole of picture experience,” Mr Scully said.

“Volunteering puts you on the ground with experienced people and you see first hand the good, bad and the ugly sides of the job that you might not be shown or presented with in an advertised or paid role,” he said.

“On the flip side volunteering shows employers that you really care about what you are doing and for many organisations in this sector that are underfunded, staff who are willing to give a little more, even if the return is more experience and skills than money, are viewed more favourably when the job opportunities do come up.”

SQ Landscapes is committed to providing volunteering opportunities to students and professionals within the environmental science and natural resource management sector, particularly at its Croxdale Station facility near Charleville.

If you are interested in exploring an opportunity to volunteer with SQ Landscapes, visit https://www.sqlandscapes.org.au/careers-and-work-experience to submit your expression of interest today.

For more on Croxdale Station visit https://www.sqlandscapes.org.au/croxdale-station

*Since this story was written Katherine Best and Oliver Scully have taken on full-time roles with Southern Queensland Landscapes as an ecologist based in Charleville.

< Older Post Newer Post >

Strategy on the Agenda at SQ Landscapes Board Meeting

by Caleb Back • 31 Oct, 2023

The Board of Southern Queensland Landscapes recently met in Toowoomba. In addition to the Board meeting, Board and Executive worked through updating SQ Landscapes’ strategy. Company Secretary Pam Murphy highlighted the importance of the latest Board meeting and what it means for the company’s future. “The updated strategy will help SQ Landscapes deliver sustainable natural resource management (NRM) outcomes that improve the lives of people in regional communities now and for the future,” Pam Murphy said. “We’re excited to continue delivering value for our region and build Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities across Southern Queensland under the guidance of the Board,” Mrs Murphy said.

SQ Landscapes' Annual General Meeting 2023

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start

Learn How Sophie and Adrian Transformed Their Wallet and Soil at “Bellhaven Brook”

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

When Sophie and Adrian McInnerney began adopting their “paddock to plate” experiment into their lambing business, they quickly discovered how a new and exciting approach to running their enterprise transformed their resilience and soil health. Multi-species cover cropping was the answer, and now their business has become a diverse enterprise that has embraced variations in livestock feed and crop rotation, building riparian fencing, and investing in healthier soils. This has opened the young couple to new opportunities to create new revenue streams, protect their business against natural disasters, drought, and prepare for economic hardships. Their property, “Bellhaven Brook”, located just an hour east of Goondiwindi, was the site of Macintyre Ag Alliance’s latest Multi-Species Cropping Field Day. With the support of Southern Queensland Landscapes (SQ Landscapes), the event aimed to promote the McInnerney family’s new land practices, offering an opportunity to educate land managers in the region of new ways to strengthen their property and enterprise. SQ Landscapes’ Goondiwindi-based Project Delivery Officer Keith Walker joined land managers for the workshop and highlighted how multi-species cover cropping could pave the way to rebuilding healthy soils and farming enterprises. “What was great about visiting ‘Bellhaven Brook’ is that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand this stuff. The idea is to just try and experiment like the McInnerneys did,” Keith Walker said. “These cover cropping systems are all about building your experience, experimenting and slowly developing a healthier and richer soil profile; which is the basis of all businesses; cropping and grazing alike.” Mr Walker said. “It was interesting to see the range of people, the ages from young and old, and the differences in enterprises. It’s a reminder that this genre of agriculture is starting conversations,” he said. “It’s all about implementation on the ground and getting the results for less money and experimenting with what people are doing.”

How Camels and Cool Burns are Transforming Risdon Stud

by Caleb Back • 02 Aug, 2023

Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.

Cultural Burning Returns to Mt Tabor on Bidjara Country

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Fire is crucial to maintaining our landscapes. That’s according to fire practitioner Robbie Williams, who accompanied Southern Queensland Landscapes earlier this year to bridge fire practitioner knowledge with First Nations Peoples across the southwest. Robbie has since returned to the region - this time accompanied by members of our Charleville team as he hosted training along the slopes of the culturally significant site of Mt Tabor, just outside Augathella. “This is the continuation of what we achieved last time we were in the southwest,” Robbie Williams said. “Last visit, SQ Landscapes connected me with local First Nations mobs including Kunya, Bidjara, Mardigan, Boonthamurra, Kooma, Kullilli, and Murrawurri,” Mr Williams said. “During this visit, many of these mobs agreed to trial fire practitioner training for young men in the area to bring burning back onto Country; and that is exactly what we’re here to do today!” he said. “It’s really inspiring to see these communities taking on the opportunity to learn about burning and we’re hoping this will develop into businesses the local mobs can build to manage their Country.”

Digital Artist Named Overall Grand Prize Winner of First Nations Art Competition

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Winners in the Southern Queensland Landscapes and University of Southern Queensland’s 2023 First Nations Art Competition have been announced to a crowd of more than 150 people in Toowoomba. Overall Grand Prize and Digital Medium Category winner has gone to Robert Claude Manns for his piece ‘Mandan’. "I wanted to express the fractured relationship that I have with some of the Mandandanji People. Unfortunately many of us feel connected to our Nation, but not always the people," Robert Manns said. "My piece was assisted through artificial intelligence (AI) art and I found that to be a really powerful tool in discovering how I wanted this art to go," Mr Manns said. "I've always been artistic, and I wanted to explore Indigenous art, but I wasn't great at it and I found the style difficult to personalise. AI and digital art has allowed me to connect with Indigenous art in my own way and explore things the way I wanted," he said. "I'm really glad it worked out and people liked the art!" "In truth, I thought I might only get an encouragement award, but to first see I won the digital art and then the Overall Grand Prize was just spectacular. There were tears in my eyes. I wasn't expecting to get so far!" Robert Manns said. "I want to thank everyone who made Indigenous art through the millenia; otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Mr Manns said. "Shortly before he passed away, my dad put me onto the competition and I thought I'd give it a go. I wish he was here to see it, as he was my inspiration for making this art." he said. "He was my inspiration and my supporter through it all."

Diversifying Your Agricultural Business into Retirement to Lever Off Natural Assets

by Kellie Stewart • 04 Jul, 2023

By Kellie Stewart When land managers Phil & Anne Donges entertained the idea of retirement they looked to the natural assets of their property located between Yelarbon, Inglewood and Texas to provide the answer. For almost 90-years ‘Glenarbon’ had supported generations of the Donges family; with key crops and land use pivoting numerous times as a result of market demands, economic climates and practice change. “Glenarbon was established back in 1932; our family came out then and it was to grow tobacco, that was in the middle of the depression,” Phil Donges said. “Five years ago we sold our main farm about 10-kilometres down the road and we decided to go into semi-retirement keeping about 100-acres of the original farm along about 1-kilometre of the Dumaresq River,” Mr Donges said. “We’re using Glenarbon now to run a few head of steers and then we’ve also gone into this eco-tourism where people can come and enjoy the environment like we like it ourselves,” he said. “We saw the ecotourism as an opportunity to give us some extra income by going into the camping side of things, but also to diversify our business so that we could in tougher seasons rely less heavily on livestock and more on the natural assets of the farm.”

Landscape restoration and rehydration reverses years of damage

by Kellie Stewart • 05 Jun, 2023

It’s amazing how quickly a landscape can rebalance itself according to Jarrod and Sam Thomson of ‘Gum Gully’, located some 14 kilometres south of Drillham in Queensland. The couple purchased the 820 hectare property in 2020 and since then have been working to reverse landscape damage caused by years of drought and overgrazing. “Gum Gully is a very diverse farm with a lot of timber ranging from Mallee box to belah, sandalwood and a lot of native pastures,” Jarrod Thomson said. “It’d been really knocked around by the droughts and our main goal was how do we bring back this place to make it a viable enterprise again?” Mr Thomson said. “Quickly realising that we had to rehabilitate the land and rehydrate it fast; desertification had set in and we were struggling to grow galvanised bur,” he said. Rehydration works included some contouring and soft engineering works combined with farm dams to slow the flow and manage water across the property to maximise each rain event regardless of whether it was 10mm or 100mm.

Tree Planting and Truth Telling at Gummingurru

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Reconciliation was on the agenda at Gummingurru for National Reconciliation Week. First Nations, local community, and avid gardeners came together for a round of truth telling and tree planting. Located north of Toowoomba, Gummingurru is an ancient and sacred site for Western Wakka Wakka Peoples, serving as a stopping point for First Nations Peoples on their way to the Bunya Mountains. Western Wakka Wakka man Shannon Bauwens, a First Nations man from the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC) led the event with a smoking ceremony and a round of truth-telling at the yarning circle near Gummingurru. “Reconciliation is about talking to each other. Coming together and making something positive as a community,” Shannon Bauwens said. “This yarning circle we are standing in now represents thousands of years of storytelling,” Mr Bauwens said. “Today is all about sharing our stories and finding new ways to come together as a community; whether you are Indigenous or not,” he said. “We have people from all different Nations, from Western Wakka Wakka, to Bunjalung, Gomeroi, and more.”

Lorinda Otto Joins Southern Queensland Landscapes’ Team as Incoming Roma Node Manager

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Meet Lorinda Otto. She is Southern Queensland Landscapes’ latest addition to the team as our Relationship Lead and the incoming Roma Node Manager for the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Innovation Hub. Lorinda joins our team with a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and community networking, working with government, non-government, community organisations, farmers, small businesses, and apprentices/trainees. “I’m all about connecting land managers and helping them understand how to become connected with innovation, upskilling, resilience, and cost-saving programs.” Lorinda Otto said. “My parents were farmers. Farming is in my blood and I have a passion for our environment. Outdoor experiences have helped shape who I am today.” Ms Otto said. “I was born in South Africa and I attended university in Johannesburg and initially started in the dental industry as an oral hygienist, but when we emigrated to Australia, I decided to be a stay at home mum for three years before later working at Queensland Health for nine months.” she said. “Following my work with Queensland Health, I worked briefly in the energy industry at Powerlink for 18 months which opened a door for me to work at Santos in their administration, community engagement, and data catchment fields.” “That opportunity led me into the government sector where I enjoyed five years in the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as their Senior Field Officer conducting key stakeholder engagement, supporting small business, and also monitoring the progression of apprentices and training programs,” Lorinda Otto said. “I worked across seven western shires, many of which are in SQ Landscapes’ catchment including Bulloo, Murweh, Ballone, Maranoa, Quilpie, and the Western Downs - alongside Banana and Blackall,” Ms Otto said. “I want our agricultural sector to be strong and healthy and I believe I have a role to play in that!” she said. Lorinda’s team includes Ally Southern, an Adoption Officer based in St George. They will work closely across the SQ Landscapes region to help land managers drought-proof their property and prepare for a more resilient industry. As the incoming Roma Node Manager, Lorinda will have lots on her plate, but she’s eager to rise to the challenge and bring her unique style to the role!