The purpose of the Conservation and Agriculture Apprenticeship is to offer experiences to local conservationists by working in the National Park and among the Carneddau Project Partners. The Apprenticeship lasts for a year and during this period, my time was divided between the National Park and the National Trust all whilst undertaking a Conservation college course with Coleg Cambria at the same time. To prepare, I have a BSc degree in Zoology and Animal Behavior from Bangor University, and I volunteered with the Partnership for a year after I graduated. I’m also local to the Carneddau, having grown up in Bethesda, so I had knowledge of the National Park and the Carneddau prior to beginning the apprenticeship.
Since I started the Conservation and Agriculture Apprenticeship in July 2022, I have had varied and unforgettable experiences. I started off with sufficient knowledge about the conservation of the Carneddau and I was relatively familiar with the landscape and agriculture. Now, I feel that I am much more informed about the important work that goes on and I have especially learned more about the tree species and wildlife of the National Park. One of my favourite parts of the apprenticeship has been learning how to process and grow our trees. I have had a lot of fun with volunteers and school groups collecting seeds for us to process and it has been a pleasure to work in our tree nurseries to grow all the seeds that we collected.
