Podcast Summary: The Origins Foundation Podcast

Episode 608 – Trent Lean: From Duck Hunting to Conservation

Date: November 18, 2025
Guest: Trent Lean, Conservation Director, Geelong Field and Game Branch

Episode Overview

This episode features Trent Lean, conservation advocate and volunteer director for the Geelong Field and Game Branch in Victoria, Australia. Host "The Origins Foundation" delves into Trent’s lifelong connection to duck hunting, his family’s pivotal role in wetland restoration, and the innovative approaches being used by hunters to promote wetland conservation and biodiversity. Beyond hunting, the episode details the development and monitoring of duck nesting structures ("hen houses"), the vital role of data, predator management strategies, and the importance of sharing the positive impacts of hunting with the broader public.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Trent’s Background: Growing Up on a Wetland Heritage

• Trent recalls growing up on the family property, now a wetland education center, with a father who was an avid hunter and fisherman.

  • “I think about seven or eight years old, I was paddling and then poling a punt out the opening mornings and tagging along with Tony, my father, for all the hunts throughout the year in this area.” – Trent Lean (03:43)

• Discussion touches on the local duck hunting culture, the importance of water for hunting locations, and traditional practices (03:37–07:13).

2. Community Duck Counts and “Duck Nights”

• Field and Game branches run biannual duck counts (November & February) across Victoria to monitor water levels and duck numbers (10:27–11:20).
• “Duck nights” act as both informational expos and social celebrations leading up to hunting season:
  • “It’s a celebration of the upcoming season… guest speakers, exhibitors… it’s like any of the expos you’ve put.” – Trent Lean (11:20)
• Attendance has grown, with the Geelong expo outgrowing its venue:
  • “Last year we were around the 300 and 300 odd. This year we’d be hoping for 500 plus.” – Trent Lean (12:14)

3. Volunteer-Driven Conservation & Innovation

• Trent highlights that all conservation work is volunteer-based, and describes the creation and proliferation of “hen houses” (duck nesting tubes) (12:47–13:23).
• The importance of data:
  • Over 790 hen houses are currently logged in the app; historically, some documents suggest 25,000+ breeding structures were installed (13:27–13:51).
• The team continuously improves tracking and data collection with an emphasis on accuracy, growth, and evolution of the nesting projects (14:02–14:50).

4. Evolution of Nesting Structures for Ducks and Broader Biodiversity

• Early efforts focused on wooden nest boxes for chestnut teal; later pivoted to wire-and-straw tubes (hen houses) favored by Pacific black ducks (15:13–16:10).
• Non-duck species benefit too: “We saw obviously all their nest boxes and 10% of them are for ducks...rosellas, parrots, gliders, sugar gliders, ringtail possum...” (16:16–16:30)
• “What’s good for the ducks is good for everything else… if the wetland health’s spot on, everything in that way, every frog, fish, bird in there benefits.” – Trent Lean (17:11)

5. Design and Functionality of Hen Houses

• Discussion on ground-nesting ducks, high predation rates, and the need for above-ground nesting structures:
  • “Some studies…as high as 80% predation rate... But worse still is you’re not just losing the eggs, you’re losing the hen in a lot of instances.” – Trent Lean (20:03)
• Detailed walkthrough of materials, design iterations, and maintenance challenges (coconut fiber, wire gauges, “pelican-proofing”, crow stoppers) (21:10–29:07).
• Cost and logistics: Each hen house is ~$75 AUD; improved materials and production streamline maintenance (29:07–30:23).

6. Monitoring, Data Collection, and Nest Success

• Immediate uptake: “We put a trail camera out on the first one… had visits literally the second day… they’d already laid in.” – Trent Lean (30:25–30:55)
• Safe nesting sites are desperately needed due to lack of mature trees (hollows take ~80 years to form, much of countryside cleared for agriculture) (31:26–31:44).
• Emphasis on robust data collection: banding birds, nest monitoring apps, and tracking predator control efforts, accommodating volunteers at all tech levels (18:07–19:40).

7. Predator Management: The Fox, Cat, and Crow Challenge

• Discusses Australia’s severe ground predator problem (foxes, cats, crows):
  • “By year two and particularly year three, we were noticing we were having egg losses...we’ve got crows that have been stealing eggs.” – Trent Lean (32:10–32:57)
• Innovations like “crow stoppers” (physical barriers for nest tubes) were only partly effective due to crows’ intelligence; resorted to targeted trapping programs (35:44–41:19).
• Data shows effectiveness: After removing six crows from a problem area, egg predation stopped (41:09–41:45).

8. Scaling Conservation: How Many Nest Tubes is Enough?

• Debate over density and placement: if tubes are too close, ducks compete and may abandon nests (“duck wars” observed on trail cameras) (43:22–45:12).
• Guidelines include placing tubes ~10 meters apart, preferably out of line-of-sight (44:21–44:28).
• Cooperative expansion: Encourages neighbors, uses even small wetlands, and calls for broader branch and public involvement (45:26–46:08).

9. Conservation Outcomes: Data for Advocacy and Adaptation

• Significant outputs: At peak, over 25,000 nest structures bred in excess of half a million ducks annually—far more than were harvested by hunters (47:11–47:32).
• The only organizations in Victoria targeting ducks with nest structures are hunter-based (48:03–48:11).
• “We’re certainly the only ones out there that are tracking and monitoring full stop.” – Trent Lean (48:11)
• Aims to provide a breeding index as an input to the adaptive harvest model, potentially influencing environmental water allocations (49:23–49:39).

10. Funding and the Push Toward Sustainability

• Geelong’s branch has spent over $50,000 on breeding projects in five years, mostly raised through donations and member contributions (55:14–56:36).
• Goal: Systematize monitoring, maintenance, and legacy-building for the next generation of volunteers and conservationists (56:37–57:19).
• Sponsored hen house: $400 covers installation, maintenance, and monitoring for 10 years (54:21–54:33).

11. Importance of Storytelling, Public Perception, and Ownership

• Historically, hunting orgs were reluctant to publicize their conservation impact—leaving a public narrative void:
  • “For many years we tried to fly under the radar and just have no comment. What that did was the general public didn’t think that duck hunting was still a thing… but they never saw the, the benefits of hunting.” – Trent Lean (59:59–60:24)
• Now, open days bring the community in, sometimes changing anti-hunting attitudes when visitors see the conservation work firsthand (61:35–61:56).
• Trent stresses the need to champion the narrative and truth of hunters as conservationists:
  • “We have to promote the work that we do and don't be ashamed of, of, of the hunting that we do. There's nothing to be ashamed about… we need to get out there and that's the work you do and you do it so well.” – Trent Lean (60:26–62:09)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• [02:43] Trent Lean: “It’s just in time. It's like snakes and ladders. You guys are climbing the ladder and then somebody does something stupid and you just slide down.”
• [17:11] Trent Lean: “What's good for the ducks is good for everything else. So… if the wetland health’s spot on, everything in that way, every frog, fish, bird in there benefits.”
• [20:03] Trent Lean: “Some studies in the state said talking as high as 80% predation rate. But worse still is you're not just losing the eggs, you're losing the hen.”
• [30:47] Trent Lean: “We put a trail camera out on the first one we put out… second day it was up… they’d already laid in.”
• [35:12] Trent Lean: “Even if our nest does get predated, we're not losing hens. So… that hen then is free to go and lay some [more eggs].”
• [48:11] Trent Lean: “We’re the only ones out there, and we’re certainly the only ones… tracking and monitoring full stop.”
• [60:24] Trent Lean: “For many years we tried to fly under the radar and just have no comment. What that did was the general public didn’t think that duck hunting was still a thing.”
• [62:09] Trent Lean: “We have to promote the work that we do and don’t be ashamed of the hunting that we do. There's nothing to be ashamed about.”

Key Timestamps

• [03:43] Trent’s childhood: “I was paddling and poling a punt out the opening mornings and tagging along with my father...”
• [10:27–11:20] Duck counts, duck nights
• [13:27–13:51] Scope of hen houses: “In the app right now we've got 790… we've got 25,000 plus breeding structures.”
• [17:11] “What’s good for the ducks is good for everything else.”
• [20:03] Predation rates and need for above-ground nesting
• [30:25–30:55] Hen houses: “Trail camera out on the first one… already pictures on the trail camera and had… eggs laid in.”
• [35:12] Success in protecting hens from predation
• [41:09–41:45] Crow trapping: After six crows removed, no egg loss
• [47:11–47:32] “At its peak… breeding in excess of half a million ducks.”
• [54:21–54:33] Sponsoring hen houses: $400 for install, monitoring, maintenance, 10 years
• [59:59–60:24] On past reluctance to engage with media and need to tell conservation stories now
• [62:09] “We have to promote the work that we do and don’t be ashamed of the hunting that we do…”

Conclusion

This episode compellingly illustrates how passionate hunter-conservationists like Trent Lean and the Geelong Field and Game Branch have driven innovation, community action, and landscape-level impact in wetland conservation. Through partnerships, relentless volunteerism, and a growing embrace of data, they model adaptive management, measurable biodiversity outcomes, and positive narrative change for hunting’s role in conservation—demonstrating that what’s good for ducks uplifts entire ecosystems.