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If gold medals were handed out for on-the-job enthusiasm Emily Wium would be a prime candidate.
Emily is the Ashley-Rakahuri Rivercare Group’s (ARRG) operations ranger, who works with operations manager Grant Davey along the river in Rangiora monitoring the endangered birds which breed there and doing predator control work.
Their work often involves dealing with trap-shy predators and recently one in particular, an illusive, wily old rat which has been causing carnage along the river and is referred to by Grant as “the bastard”, had been giving them the run around.
Rats are one of the key predators along the river, and with the birds’ breeding season about to begin on September 1, and ARRG’s rat detector dog Evie on leave in Wānaka for more ratindication training, checking traps has become a daily priority for Emily and Grant.
Even in Tuesday’s snowstorm they were monitoring traps and, despite the bitterly cold weather, Emily volunteered to cross four braids of the icy-cold river in heavy snowfall to get to the trap they were most keen to check.
However, her enthusiasm to check the trap was not rewarded as once again the rodent had eluded them.
“There was no rat in the trap. We will have to try some new bait and get a bit more creative as he or she seems pretty savvy,” Emily said.
Those tactics paid off as the next day the pesky rodent was caught.
Emily began work for ARRG in October last year. For the previous three years she was travelling and working in odd jobs while backpacking through Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa.
“Prior to that I was a field worker for the regional parks team at the Christchurch City Council,” she said.
Her job with ARRG changes seasonally and depends on what the birds are doing.
“In the warmer months my main roles are locating and monitoring black-fronted tern colonies and nests. Along with Grant, I also put out and check all the temporary traps we have out on the river during the nesting season.
“Over the winter there are reports to write, traps to audit and fix and we are still out about a lot, checking the river to look for places we think the birds will nest in the upcoming season,” she said.
They are also out on the river a lot with Evie looking for rat hideouts.
“We also do community outreach (doing public talks about the work ARRG does),” she said.
Grant and Emily are also community partners in a University of Canterbury 300-level geography course.
Emily, who lives in Christchurch, says it is difficult to say what she loves most about her job.
“It is a pretty sweet office, in sun or snow. But most of all I find it really special and fulfilling getting to work with our endangered birds, even though, at times, it can feel like two steps forward and one step back,” she said.