Careers in managing invasive species?

Nature Talk
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Hi all! I’m a student in the arts but I’ve always been interested in a career in environmental science, and recently I’ve been quite passionate about the management of local parkland (as a citizen that makes use of parks), specifically managing invasive plants and promoting/planting natives (feels a lot more useful to society than painting LOL). I’ve been ideating about a career change to something like that but I have no idea how to start, what I need, or even what my goal job is even supposed to be.

Thanks to everyone in advance!

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It doesn’t have to be painting OR botany. It can be painting AND botany.

For example, community art classes that educate people about native vs invasive plants.

Group art classes also tie into a lot of principles of positive psychology: human connection, mindfulness (being present), connection with nature, etc.

So you would be making the world a better place in multiple ways, which other commenters will detail below.

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Reach out to those in your area who are doing invasive species management — maybe resource agency folks at the federal, state, or local levels — and ask how they got into that line of work. Do you need a college degree in botany or agriculture? Some training in horticulture? Special training in herbicide use? Are there internships with these agencies? When in doubt, find the people who are already doing your dream job and learn how they got there.

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I’m retired now, but when I worked with people who managed invasive plants, they had (have) a bachelor’s or master’s degree in biology, ecology, and/or botany. They work for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, in the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. So have a look at your state or province’s equivalent division and see if there are people there you could start with. I would say that you need to start with a bachelor’s in biology, at a minimum, unless you can stumble into a local organization as a volunteer and be lucky enough to be hired at some point.

And don’t give up your painting - most of the really competent biologists I know have some creative hobby they are quite serious about.

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Wow. Round here (North Wales) they just contract it out to whoever puts in the lowest bid, or else it is done by volunteers.

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My colleagues also contract out much of it, but they need to know what to ask for from the contractors.

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I’ll definitely give that a shot, thank you! I heard from a friend in a related field that it’s a good idea to volunteer with land trusts, conservation authorities, and ask the people I end up working with too. Hope my emails don’t end up in spam…

Thank you! I’ll try looking for the respective groups here in Ontario.

(definitely a part of me that’s doing a lot of wishful thinking with this here but I know I’ll probably have to bite the bullet and do more school)

I definitely have a lot of ideas about doing stuff like that - I appreciate the encouragement!

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