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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Tess McClure in Auckland

Big opportunity, little interest: New Zealand struggles to fill dream job protecting wildlife

New Zealand Department of Conservation UNESCO Murdo MacLeod Coast South Island
Mount Aspiring National Park, Part of Te Wahipounamu in New Zealand
The successful applicant will be put to work protecting newly discovered populations of the Haast tokoeka kiwi in New Zealand’s South Island – as well predator control and monitoring the local songbirds. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

A NZ$90,000 salary, a helicopter commute, and a Unesco world heritage site as your playground. It sounds like a dream job. But despite the considerable perks, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has been struggling to attract candidates to be their new biodiversity supervisor in Haast on the wild, remote coast of the South Island. Now, the region’s search is going global.

The job is based in Te Wāhipounamu – an area encompassing 26,000 square kilometres of mountain ranges, isolated beaches and native forests, classed as a Unesco World Heritage Area in 1990. Its mountain ranges formed the backdrop for the White Mountains/Ered Nimrais in Peter Jackson’s adaption of the Lord of the Rings.

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