Jodie Godfrey

Park Ranger
Parks Victoria

Bachelor of Science

"I love being outdoors and working on environmental projects in some of Victorias most beautiful parks and reserves."

I work in the environmental unit at Warrandyte State Park and Yarra Valley Parklands, which looks after a series of parks in north-east Melbourne.

Most of these parks are along the Yarra River. Where we are working on long standing revegetation programs to create a green wedge in the valley corridor. The aim is to provide an improved habitat for native birds and animals, by providing a continuous corridor for them to move through.

We plant about 20,000 trees a year, so we have an extensive nursery program - collecting seeds in spring and summer, propagating during summer and autumn and then planting in winter and spring. We involve local communities, friends groups and schools in the tree planting.

The park also contains some of Victoria's rare and threatened plants and animals. We run programs to control the threats to these species ensuring their long term survival. These programs include pest plant management where weed infestations are treated and pest animal programs where rabbit and fox numbers are controlled.

I love being outdoors and working on environmental projects in some of Victorias most beautiful parks and reserves. I also love the diversity of the job. I work on the pest plant program, the revegetation program and school activities, and in summer we help out with bush fires, because Parks Victoria and the Department of Sustainability and Environment are responsible for fires on public land.

Given Melbourne's weather, its not always fun working outdoors. However, we are equipped with suitable clothing and there's always a bit of administration work to catch up on if the weathers really bad.

I think students who have a passion for the environment and want to work in it, but don't quite know what that work might be, should keep following their interests and keep their study options open.

I had always been mad about bugs and insects so I majored in zoology, but I also studied the earth sciences and soils, which has been helpful in my current role. In retrospect, it would have been helpful to study botany, but my other knowledge has allowed me to pick that up along the way.