By RUDI HEMPE
CELS News Editor

It’s a tough economy for college graduates trying to land a job in their specialty but one recent URI grad not only found his dream job—he found it in a prime tropical paradise.

Ben Vinhateiro was graduated last December with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Management from the CELS Department of Natural Resources Science. The last report on his educational progress was logged last summer when he ran a unique demonstration project at Peckham Farm designed to reduce polluted runoff from a farm paddock (http://cels.uri.edu/news/archive/nPaddock.aspx).

That project was unique for it is unusual for an undergrad to run his own project, noted Dr. Arthur Gold, his NRS mentor.

But it turns out that experience—plus a great deal of accidental good fortune—helped his land a job as conservation specialist for the entire island of Oahu.

He started the job in mid-June and is still getting used to the territory and his duties. But basically he is the only paid conservation specialist who works for three conservation districts on the island which is roughly half the size of Rhode Island in square miles.

He is being paid via a two-year grant from the State Department of Health because his job has mainly to do with water quality and quantity for a host of users, from developments to agriculture. Using standard established by the Natural resources Conservation Service, he will assist landowners, big and small, on how to manage their water resources so that they have plenty when Mother Nature is stingy and can conserve it when Mother Nature is too generous—as can happen on a tropical island.

A temporary job?—he doubts it because the grants are renewed every two years. "I hope to stay here a long time," he said by phone interview.

How he ended up in Hawaii so far from

Ben Venhateiro on the job as a conservation specialist on the north shore of Oahu.

his native South Kingstown, involved a bit of serendipity.

Several months ago he booked passage on a research cruise through the Graduate School of Oceanography. “It was a cool opportunity,” he said. “A free ride from Costa Rica to Hawaii.” En route he started checking job opportunities and the ad for a conservation specialist on Oahu “just popped up.”

In May he heard from the Oahu authorities and he got the job.

"My URI degree and my past experience helped me get the job,” he said. In particular, the project he ran at Peckham Farm he described as “my bread and butter project. That sort of thing I will be doing now."

There are myriad water quality issues on the island, he says. Mountain ridges help create unusual weather patterns, he noted, with the east side of the island getting more rain. At times there can be too much rain and so there are erosion issues. In addition, farmers want to store water for the times when the rain does not fall. Mulches and water containment structures, both artificial and natural can be employed to help recharge the aquifer.

Vinhateiro works for three conservation districts that cover the island. Like conservation districts in Rhode Island,

each district has an all-volunteer board. He is the only paid specialist.

He and his wife, Karuna, who he met in Switzerland, have a small apartment on the outskirts of Honolulu, near Diamond Head. She is a professional contemporary dancer and currently she is working part-time in a nursery because while Hawaii has a lot of everything, it is lacking in the arts, said Vinhateiro.

The cost of living on Oahu is high, he said, but then local foods are plentiful. "The farmers markets are incredible. Some places the line is 30 people long. There is a tremendous cry for local foods and this is one place where you can put together a complete meal with local food."

He suspects his job will have a lot of variety. As for agriculture, he notes that contrary to widespread perception there are not a lot of pineapple fields and sugar cane is not grown there. Rather there is a big variety of vegetable farms and grass-fed cattle ranches. There is aquaculture and hydroponic agriculture. "Why they can even grow kale here," he said

"I can tell this is going to be a great job for me."

Published: July 7, 2009.