Forum Experts: 2010
We were lucky to have these experts joining us on the forum for the Tassie Tiger Hunt. Their expertise comes from working and living in our fields of interest- South West Tasmania, PNG, biodiversity, animals, plants, threatened species... extinct species...
Nick Mooney
Nick Mooney is a highly experienced wildlife biologist working with Tasmanian wildlife. Beginning with Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service he pioneered assessment and management of Tasmanian raptors. Conserving forest breeding dependent species such as wedge-tailed eagles and grey goshawks in logging was a focus as was dealing with peoples' problems with raptors predating stock or pets. Nick has monitored reports of Thylacines in Tasmania, actively searching for and assessing possible evidence, and lending assistance to private searchers about techniques and places. He has helped with responses to newly discovered wildlife diseases, whale strandings and oils spills and developed road-kill mitigation, protection of coastal penguins and rehabilitation of orphaned Tasmanian devils. Nick has put much effort into increasing community appreciation of wildlife. Most recently he was instrumental in starting the official response to the Devil Facial Tumour Disease. He sees the biggest ecological threat (climate change aside) as establishment of foxes because of DFTD, a process that could cause the ultimate long term threat to devils, amongst other species. Nick is an enthusiastic communicator and has over 30 scientific publications and numerous popular articles and media appearances to his credit and is an active practitioner in helping others get established in his fields of interest.
Markson Yarrao
Markson is an ecologist with Ok Tedi Mining in PNG. He is responsible for managing the ecology monitoring program and conducts fauna and flora sampling along the Fly River as part of monitoring impact of the mining operation. Markson is looking forward to contributing towards young Aussie students knowledge about PNG - an important neighbour. Responses to questions for Markson may experience occasional delays as he's often away from the office conducting sampling along the Fly River which normally take up to 3 weeks. There is an email system on board the research ship but can be unreliable at times. If the planets line up perfectly he may even run into Andrew on the Fly River near the end of the PNG leg of the expedition!
Jenni Burdon
Jenni's interest and professional background is in the Tasmanian landscape, flora, flora and marine and coastal environments. Jenni manages the Discovery Ranger Educational Program for Parks and Wildlife and her desire is for Tasmanians to discover the the beauty of these environments for themselves, to enjoy, appreciate and look after what lies just beyond their own backyard. Jenni specialises in all things education related, planning of units for teachers relating to Tasmania's parks and reserves, biodiversity and sustainability. She has been heavily involved in the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative and Macquarie Island, Richmond Gaol, Maria Island and Freycinet interpretation. Some of the pages from our Student Workbook were borrowed from Jenni's work and there's much more at the education section of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife website.
Col Bailey
Col Bailey has been researching and collecting tales about the Tasmanian tiger for over forty years, many of which have appeared in his column "Tiger Tales" in the Derwent Valley Gazette and his book by the same name published by Harper Collins in 2001. He also runs the Tasmanian Tiger Research & Data Centre from his home in New Norfolk and can often be found tramping the wilderness of southern and western Tasmania in search of a creature he firmly believes is still alive and well, if a little warier of humans than it has been in the past. He is currently in the final stages of writing a new book "Keeping the Dream Alive - My search for the Tasmanian Tiger" based on his experiences searching for the tiger spread over 43 years , and which should be published sometime in 2011.
Grant Dixon
Grant Dixon is an earth scientist, photographer and adventurer. As a scientist, he has worked for the Parks & Wildlife Service in a number of roles associated with the conservation and management of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area since the 1980s. He has an intimate knowledge of western Tasmania gained from more than 30 years of bushwalking, and has also trekked, climbed, skied and photographed in many other wild and remote areas of the planet. Grant's photography is widely-published and a camera is rarely far from hand during his travels and adventures. Check out some of his images at www.GrantDixonPhotography.com.au.
Dr Niall Doran
Niall has worked for many years on threatened species and environmental issues, in both government departments and the private sector. This has included fieldwork in caves, on remote islands, and throughout Tasmania's wonderful World Heritage wilderness. He has worked on giant spiders, land-dwelling crayfish, and other weird creatures people rarely get to see. Niall has also been involved in the development of environmental policy and legislation, including vegetation protection, water management (have you seen the water conservation stars on your dishwasher or washing machine?) and national threatened species Recovery Teams. He is an Honorary Research Associate of the University of Tasmania, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee - an expert group that advises the Tasmanian Government on threatened species issues. Niall runs the Bookend Trust, which hosts and supports Expedition Class. Bookend is about finding positive solutions to environmental problems, and this year - including Expedition Class - won the Tasmanian Award for Environmental Excellence in Education.
Dr Clare Hawkins
Clare works as a Senior Zoologist for the Threatened Species Section of DPIW in Tasmania. She carried out her Ph.D. on the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), a semi-arboreal mammalian carnivore endemic to the forests of Madagascar. Its ecological similarities to the spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) brought her to Tasmania in 2001 to study the latter species' habitat requirements. Later joining the State Government, initially with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program: she spent four years monitoring the impact and distribution of Devil Facial Tumour Disease. Clare enjoys working with experts in a range of fields on novel approaches to meet the challenges of monitoring and managing low density, wide-ranging species - from devils and quolls to swift parrots and eagles.
There a lot of information on Tasmania's unique plants and animals at the DPIW website.
Dr Alastair Richardson
Alastair worked as a zoologist at the University of Tasmania for many years, teaching and doing research on a wide range of animals. His main interest is in terrestrial crustaceans, particularly burrowing crayfish, sandhoppers and their terrestrial relatives, but he has been involved in studies of many invertebrate groups, including snails, scorpions, dragonflies and beetles. As well as bugs, he is interested in birds and has a particular love for the migratory waders that travel each year between Tasmania and the high Arctic. Alastair retired from the University in 2007, but remains busy as an Honorary Research Associate, and as the Academic Director of the Bookend Trust.
Kylie 'Qug' McKendrick
Qug knows Melaleuca and the surrounding wilderness like few others. Her grandfather was the legendary Melaleuca tin miner and naturalist Deny King. In Qug's own words;
"I've been coming down here since I was baby and it's my favourite place. I can't imagine not coming here. It's amazing how the light changes and entire hillsides just change colour. Its so beautiful the way the light moves over the landscape and picks up different things. Sometimes it's still and all the mountains are perfectly reflected, other days its so wild and woolly that it really makes you feel alive."
We're lucky to have Qug's personal experience of this very remote and remarkable place.
