The apprenticeship programme was set up with funding from Jobs for Nature.
It intended to grow the capability and capacity of the predator-free sector to create a trained and experienced workforce on the ground to achieve New Zealand’s predator free goal by 2050.
Apprentice graduate Jamie Hickling spent two years with the Mammalian Corrections Unit (MCU) in Dunedin where he did field work in combination with learning about the business of conservation.
"The apprenticeship hasn’t just been manual labour. I’ve definitely learnt a lot more about the logistics and I reckon I definitely have a much better understanding of how all that works than when I first came into it.
"It gave me a lot of practical skills for how to manage teams, how to manage data, how to make work plans and how to do the budget for different contracts and that kind of stuff."
Mr Hickling said he previously studied at a university in Canada and was confined to his flat because of Covid-19 when he decided to come back to New Zealand and take part in the apprenticeship instead.
"It was kind of a chance to come back to New Zealand and have something to do that seemed worthwhile.
"It got me outside and not just in the theoretical world of online studies."
Mr Hickling said he had a good foundation for what conservation looked like in New Zealand from the apprenticeship programme, and was excited to get other people involved in conservation.
"It’s kind of a cool platform to make a difference and get people involved in conservation and the outdoors and new ways of protecting it.
"My plan is to set myself up as my own limited liability company.
"Eventually, it would be quite cool to take on some of my own contracts."
MCU director Thomas Hayward said the programme offered the apprentices a good environment for learning.
"It really gives the opportunity to the apprentice to have quite a deep dive into different aspects of the way an organisation runs so that they have a really holistic understanding of it when they come out the other side."
PFNZ trust chief executive Jessi Morgan said about 75 people would graduate from the programme in the next year.
"We view these apprentices as the future leaders of the predator-free movement."
