Chris Steer Email & Phone Number

Christchurch, Nz

Wellington Region, New Zealand

In this role I worked in the Indigenous Forestry Team as a Forestry Analyst/Officer. The Indigenous Forestry Team administers Part 3A of the Forests Act, and the purpose of this Part is to promote the sustainable forest management of indigenous forest land.The forest management side of the job was ecology based, and involved gathering field data to determine forest composition, total merchantable timber volumes, regeneration rates, and sustainable harvest rates. Assessments were also made on necessary pest and weed control measures, and what harvest methods would be most suitable to preserve the forests natural values. There was also a compliance function to the role, whereby offences under the Forests Act were detected and dealt with through education, warning and prosecution.

Wellington Region, New Zealand

In my time with Fisheries I became warranted as a Fishery Officer. I was based in Wellington, where my role was to promote and enforce compliance in relation to recreational, customary and commercial fishing. A large part of the role was dealing with illegal and often black market fishing operations, which often meant dealing with aggressive and dangerous individuals. Though on the job experience with such interactions, and through formal training, I learnt tactical communication, situational de-escalation, and conflict management skills.Another part of the job was providing public education and awareness on the local fisheries. Interaction with the public was key to developing strong and communication skills, and to be confident in interacting with a wide and diverse range of people on a day-to-day basis.I developed my understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi, and experience in iwi relations, through assisting iwi groups with access to their customary fishing rights.I also undertook investigative and surveillance work, gathered, recorded and analysed information relating to the fishing industry, and took legal action against people who broke the law by issuing warning and infringement notices, and developing prosecution case-files. Though this, I developed my understanding of the Fisheries Act, and how to read interpret and action legislation in general.

Wellington Region, New Zealand

In this role I worked as an adviser for the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme. The Programme aims to prevent the spread of these tree pests and to progressively remove them from much of the land already invaded. As adviser, my role was largely involved in stakeholder communication and engagement, and to develop and collate operational control plans with these stakeholders at a national level. Developing operational control plans involved contract/budget management, whereby funding was allocated for wilding conifer control operations based on national prioritisation. Based on the national scale of the project, this role also required me to be involved in in-depth programme planning and project management. Relationship building, public engagement, and conflict management were also key skill needed to maintain complex inter-agency relationships.I also had a role in forecasting workforce capacity, which was needed to assess the nationwide resources and capability that would be required to action the Programme on the ground.

Wellington, Wellington Region, New Zealand

This role involved the monitoring of pest mammal species (possums, rats, mice and stoats) in the Aorangi forest in South Wairarapa. It is part of an ongoing project that is run by the university to explore the effects of 1080 poison on biodiversity. Field work, which included long day hikes in the Aorangi forest. On these hikes we set up, and then collected various monitoring devices including chew cards, tracking tunnels, pitfall traps, cameras, bird recorders and seed-fall traps. There was also an associated lab data entry and analysis role.

Echuca, Victoria, Australia

Milking a herd of around 800 cows, twice per day. This included gathering and releasing the herd before and after milking. Assisting with calving, and rearing new calves. General farmyard maintenance, which included maintaining cleanliness and restocking feeders.

Torquay, England, United Kingdom

Working with children and youth aged between 6 and 18 years old whilst on their school holiday. This included being the ‘group leader’ for groups sized 10-30. Running activities for the children and youth, which included archery, mountain biking, orienteering and many more, and being a lifeguard in a team of two in a 50 person capacity pool.

Takaka, Tasman, New Zealand

*Role whilst at school in summers of 2012 to 2017.General orchard maintenance, including pruning, girdling, quality control and fruit harvesting. Grafting the gold kiwifruit variety onto the original green variety root stock. All-weather work.