Petersfield Ranger

What is your background and how does that prepare you for your latest role?

Although I am near the beginning of my career, I have a lot of experience that lends itself to this role. I started my career as a Wildlife Officer with the Quantock Hills National Landscape, delivering a huge range of community focused wildlife projects. I have a lot of experience working with different charities and community initiatives in a range of sectors. I am a trustee for a LGBTQ+ Youth Support service in Somerset and I have been an advisory board member for local and international organisations. These experiences lend a lot of skills to a Town Council job, working in collaboration with people of diverse specialisms. Mostly recently I was an Engagement Ranger for the South Downs National Park, working on Heathlands sites around Whitehill and Bordon. This role was a brilliant introduction to the area and I learnt a lot about valuable heathland habitats and great volunteering schemes. Hopefully my diverse experience can bring a new perspective to the Town Council and this role.

Why does Petersfield Town Council need a Ranger?

Petersfield has some amazing greenspaces that are highly valuable for wellbeing and nature. The Ranger role is needed to ensure we manage these spaces for the benefit of people and wildlife. I also want to champion Petersfield as gem of the South Downs National Park. We are one of the largest towns in any National Park in England and with so much natural and historic heritage we should be the gold standard for a community-focused nature haven.

What are your key goals?

The overarching goal that motivates all my work is to benefit people and planet. In every corner of Petersfield there are opportunities for nature. At our high nature value sites I aim to protect and enhance the key habitats and create more opportunities for the community to get hands on with management. In our amenity spaces we need to find spaces for nature to thrive alongside the recreation activities. I want Petersfield to be operating at the gold standard for greenspace management.

Why is public engagement important?

As a Town Council we operate to serve the residents and act in the best interest of the public. It’s not for me to dictate what this looks like and public engagement is important for ensuring the work we do is informed by and benefits the public. This town has so many passionate, knowledgeable and community spirited people and I want to create opportunities for people to engage with our greenspaces in ways that empower them.

What does success as a Ranger look like to you after one year in the post?

In my first year as Ranger I hope to make contact with as many residents as possible and have a broad offer of community engagement opportunities. All our greenspaces will be thriving places for community and nature and Petersfield residents will feel well connected to nature. I will feel successful if we have a deliverable action plan for protecting and enhancing our greenspaces, a plan that considers all of the green infrastructure of our town and the wider connected landscape.

What does conservation mean to you personally?

As a child I remember learning about climate change and the human caused destruction happening to our natural world. I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to do my part in “saving the world”. As a teenager and young adult, nature became a sanctuary for me, a place to escape and feel connected to the planet. I knew I wanted to find a career in protecting the planet and my love for exploring Dartmoor National Park led me to nature conservation. Conservation for me, feels like a way I can pay back the planet for all it provides for us. Through volunteering with conservation organisations like a community tree nursery and SW Lakes Trust I found many other like-minded people and knew I wanted to make that my career. We have a role to play in natural processes and in many ways we have become detached from this, conservation is the way that humans can re-establish our role within the natural ecosystem and try to repair some of the damages human evolution has caused.

Anything else you’d like to add?

My role is really to harness the passions of Petersfield residents and channel all our skills and ambitions into positive actions. This role really can’t be successful without the support of the community and I hope to pay that back with opportunities for everyone to be more connected to nature.

To contact Jacob call 01730 264182 or email ranger@petersfield-tc.gov.uk