Urban rangers helping to protect environment

As an urban ranger, Amanda Black’s days are so varied she can swing from reporting graffiti in a city park, to planting days with preschoolers.

The role for Amanda is the perfect mix of social conservation and science.

Urban Ranger Amanda Black loves her job.

“I really enjoy getting out and about and not being trapped inside an office all day. As an urban ranger we tend to be less hands on than the regional rangers when it comes to parks maintenance. This is because this work is all contracted out. We do still get our hands dirty with regular planting days going on around the city, and we also work with a number of community groups who are involved in regular clean-ups of local parks they have adopted.”

World Ranger Day 2017 today marked a time to celebrate the role of Urban Rangers for one of the Christchurch City Council team’s newest recruits.

“We are so proud to be working around the city and making our urban spaces as user friendly as possible - and we are excited to have three new urban rangers due to join our small team of three very soon. I think the public are placing more and more importance on protecting and enjoying their immediate living space and environment, and we love helping to make that possible.”

The average day meant working with urban parks advisers to deal with requests for service from members of the community – these requests coming via the Council contact centre or through the Snap, Send and Solve App.

“We try to be out in the parks as much as possible to try and get on top of any problems before they become an issue. We make sure the maintenance contracts are being followed, and report any graffiti or dumping of rubbish as soon as possible.”

A recent planting day with Cherry’s Preschool along the Heathcote highlighted the importance of getting children engaged at a young age, Ms Black said.

“I had a planting day with the Preschool along the Heathcote River and to see teachers and parents teaching their kids the importance of looking after the environment at such a young age is really neat. The kids loved being in the outdoors and were really inquisitive, looking at the different soil invertebrates and the array of leaf shapes and textures displayed by our native plants.”

However she said managing conflicting opinions in the community remained the biggest challenge.

“You have to really think about what you’re doing or allowing others to do and how it may affect other people in the area. For example, planting native plants along a boundary fence may seem like a straightforward decision but you need to think about whether the plants are eventually going to shade out the neighbouring property, will they make it easier for people to illegally access neighbouring properties, will it make people walking through the park when it’s dark feel less safe? All of those things come into consideration for the bigger picture.”

Find out more on Urban Rangers.