Memoirs of a Forester: From Contractor to Supervisor of Rehabilitation - Clara's Story

Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, using, conserving, and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits.

The UN institution known as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported in 2016 in their “Gender in Forestry Module” that forestry tends to be perceived as male-dominated although women are heavily involved in forest work such as gathering fuelwood, medicinal plants, and other non-timber forests products, collecting food for family consumption as well as for income, and in processing secondary wood products.

Clara Nanuk, who is Supervisor of Revegetation at the OTML Bige Operations also agrees with this view, she tells me that when she graduated from the University of Technology Forestry course in 1994, and out of 28 students there were only 3 females including herself.

But even as a young girl Clara had a deep conviction that she didn’t want to work in the office and she also had a great passion for nature. And it was her love for nature that drew her into the field of forestry. She tells me that

“…mi grow up lo ples ya, na laikim bus wara and graun…Office work is not for me, I don’t like office work…and I love getting my hands dirty”.

Clara says the perception of the field of Forestry at the time she was in school was that it was more of a male-related profession because working in the bush, or working in the forest

“em wok blo ol mahn”.

It was just a mentality that people had at the time that either prevented or discouraged women from getting into the field.

However, those perceptions were the very thing that gave Clara more drive to pursue Forestry

“gutpla tu osem mipla ol meri goh insait lo field blo ol mahn…ol mahn tasol ba wokim disla course ah? Mipla ol meri can mekim tu”.

The very challenge of breaking into a male-dominated field did not intimidate her at all.

It seems the times have changed to suit her forward-thinking because now, she believes there are many females passing out of the Universities in this field and becoming Foresters.

She goes on to say how one thing women seem to fear about being in a male-dominated field is how they will be treated, but if you respect your colleagues and make an effort to fit in and join in the conversation you won’t feel out of place, you’ll feel like a part of the team.

She tells me that the best part of her studies was the field trips. Her class traveled together in big coaster buses to different provinces, and the guys would always reserve the front seat for her because she never slept during the trip, she would tell stories with the driver until they reached their final destination.

She says that there were challenges especially regarding security when she was working in the field, and of course, there was that fear of safety when working amongst many men. But in her experience, she always felt respected by her fellow male colleagues, who also looked out for her.

“Respect em bin stap”

she states, and they always helped each other in their studies.

After graduating Clara started working in the Forest Research Institute (PNGFRI) as a Team Leader upgrading the PNG National Herbarium before she moved to Tabubil in 2000 to join her husband who was starting as a Chemist in the Environment Department. When Clara was working at PNGFRI she was more confined to the Herbarium working on dry plant specimens, but when she started with OTML she learned many new things that she wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

She first started on a casual basis in 2001 working on the Dieback surveys with Dr. Monica Rau, who was an Ecologist with the Environment?Department at that time. Then Clara was contracted on an ad hoc basis as a Contractor Botanist.

She was engaged with both national and expatriate consultants for a few days at a time, traveling with them to various operational areas. She came to really appreciate her work because it allowed her to travel from Pit to Port. She happily recalls her helicopter trips to Ok Mani and Ok Ma to identify plants. She realized that in order to work in OTML rehabilitation she had to make an effort to learn all the plant species names.

“I learned it the hard way…I was self-taught”

She decided to learn to recall and identify as many plants as possible. She tells me that University only teaches the very basic things, and a lot of things she learned in the field, but the work inspired her to know more about tree and plant species.

There were people who discouraged her from continuing her work as a Contractor because it was not a permanent position and work was often on an ad hoc basis. However, she was not deterred by their remarks she would often respond

“It’s not money, I love my profession”.?

Her determination and zeal for the field she loved, caused her to continue to work as a Contractor, teaching herself along the way being contracted ad hoc for 7 years. She was continuously encouraged by the fact that she was learning new things as she went along.

While she was working as a Contractor Botanist, she also taught science at the OTML Training Centre in the Matriculation and FODE programs and also served as a volunteer cook for Tabubil hospital. She was also part of the Tabubil Town Beautification Project as a Contractor, where she supervised a crew that planted trees that you can still see standing today along the Tabubil town area.

Her determination and cheerful spirit finally paid off when a job at the Bige Nursery opened up, and she joined OTML in 2009 contracted to LBL. She still recalls when the Bige operations had just started, it was a very hot place prior to revegetation - with only sand (circa 2001).?

She describes the heat as likened to the heat you would feel standing next to the hot stones of a mumu pit.

“Bottle wara me sa waswas lo em, puttim lo het na em go dry natin”.

She smiles a bit as she proudly recalls how she watched as trees started to grow and rehabilitate the dredged sand. Her nurturing personality showed as she described to me how in the beginning the tress struggled to grow into maturity, and all the different treatment methods they used over the years to help the seedlings (also known as ‘the babies’) grow.

All the plants Clara grows in the nursery she knows by name – both Latin and local Awin vernacular. She was involved in an Ethnobotanic survey at Bige, where all native species' names were recorded in the local language.

“It makes my job easier when I have local knowledge and know the local names for plants,”

Some of the first rehab work, involved locals growing the plants at their villages when the nursery had no stock of local plants, so it was easier for her to communicate with locals using her knowledge of the plants. She supervised local planters telling them what to plant in their own language. Her knowledge of cultural plant species in the native language also earned her great respect from the locals.

In 2013 Clara was interviewed for the position of Rehab Officer. By the time she went for her interview she was a cut above the rest and her interviewers were very impressed, and confidently chose her for the position. One of her best memories from working with OTML is when she visited Indonesia’s Freeport Mine and saw the difference in rehabilitation methods between OTML and Freeport Mines.

From her experience, Clara encourages people who are contractors or have casual positions to not be discouraged, but to be happy with the little jobs they have – it’s a blessing, work on it and earn what you can.

Great things come from simple and humble beginnings.

Today, Clara is a Supervisor of an all-male Rehab crew at Bige, under Clara’s leadership and with support from a newly recruited Forester whom she now mentors, her team were able to achieve their rehabilitation target of 35 hectares in 2019, employing newly developed methods of planting. She advises that as a supervisor, you have to be direct and read between the lines because things are not always straightforward. You also have to be understanding but be able to say no. Her crew holds her in high regard, often she is seen as a teacher, mentor, and advisor. Her crew is made up of young local men who have at most grade 12 certification and she often pours into them all the knowledge she learned from her experience working with OTML especially with plant identification and nursery methods.

“Your strength as a woman is your knowledge...If you stand strong in what you know, no one can put you down…I use my knowledge in forestry as my strength. And also I don’t keep my knowledge to myself I teach my crew about what I know about plant species. I thank God that I’m a Forester and not everyone is like me, so what I do, I do it to the best of my ability. And I don’t keep my knowledge to myself but I share it with other people. The more I share what I know, the more space I create to learn new things. That’s why I ensure to share my knowledge with my crew because God has given me the knowledge, I didn’t get it on my own.”

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Clara is passionate about creating leaders, not followers. She would like to leave behind a legacy of producing more locals with forestry knowledge, regardless of their education levels, so they will be able to do rehabilitation work at the nursery on their own.

Clara aspires to be a champion and to excel in what she does, she sees the Bige Rehab Project as a first of its kind in PNG and appreciates being a part of it. She feels her experience adds substance and knowledge to the project. She believes the OTML Bige Rehabilitation work could be the model for all the mines in the country, and she gets a sense of achievement in being part of creating that model. She sees the success of rehabilitation at Bige as her own success and has a great sense of job satisfaction. Clara says

“I’m so thankful that I am working at OTML, I came as a nobody with little knowledge, and I learned a lot of things with OTML and will leave as a leader”.

She tells me she is happy for herself and with how far she has come in her field of expertise. She still has the zeal to learn new things and a burning passion for identifying plant species which is what she still does to this day, she catalogs plants that she does not know and tries to find out their names. She says

“I’m growing old but I am still learning”.

After life at Ok Tedi Clara dreams to author a plant identification book for herself to catalogue all the edible plants (taro, yam, banana, aibika etc.) in her village and record all the vernacular names for the plants in her local language. She says the vernacular names of the varieties of edible plants are dying out with each new generation, along with the knowledge of why certain plants are consumed over another, or why certain species are better to not hybrid.

Villagers are now planting edible plants for their taste more than for the quality and our original plant species that were eaten by our ancestors are dying out at a fast rate. She also sadly recalls how one of her favourite species of yam at the village has died out.?

“We have to document this information before all local knowledge is gone”

She believes if she can create a book it can serve as a guide for other Botanists to use to catalogue plants in their own local languages.

Something that Clara told me during the interview that stood out was that

“A simple person will speak a lot”.

This is something she embodies in her life and character, Clara’s story is one of humble beginnings and the power of having a cheerful heart. Clara’s advice to us all is to thank God for who you are, and don’t try to be someone else. You are unique. We all have our own experiences that make us work effectively as a team. Don’t put others down and focus on developing yourself professionally. We all know different things and when we put our ideas together, we make things happen.?Always support other people, don’t envy what they have, be yourself, do your best and achieve your goals in your life.

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