Conservation, cockatoos and connections with Jo

It’s an early start and a long drive when Jo Milgate heads west to visit landholders.

But with fields of flowers, emus crossing dirt tracks and big blue skies, the regional conservation officer will tell you it’s the best part of her day.

“In Wilcannia, I stop to watch the black cockatoos and listen to them screeching in the trees. Sometimes I ask myself: do I actually get paid to do this?” Jo says.

Jo works with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust, or BCT, and says it’s moments like these that make her job special, but there’s something else that makes the job even more rewarding.

“It’s the people,” she says. “Many landholders have connections to their properties spanning generations and I love hearing their stories, learning about their passion for the land and working alongside people who want to care for it.”

On each visit, Jo listens to landholders, walks through their conservation area and helps them work through practical challenges, from managing weeds and pests to protecting native habitat through dry seasons. Jo also sees the challenges of life in the west: the heat, dust and long stretches without rain. She sees the transformation, too, when paper daisies and billy buttons bloom and wildlife fills the landscape.

It’s this combination of people, places and purpose that Jo values most about her job. Each property visit is an opportunity to observe conservation goals come to life on a large western NSW property.

Through these relationships, she works alongside landholders to protect and enhance biodiversity on private land across NSW. Visit the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust website to learn more about working for the BCT.