Alex Lindsay

BSc (Forestry) / BSc (Hons)

Alex is a Senior Agronomist, Soils and Nutrition Specialist, and Forester with 20 years’ experience. His areas of specialist expertise include: plantation forestry silviculture, soil science; agronomy; community consultation and leaseholder negotiations and project management. With a Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Major in Soil Science) and Bachelor of Science (Forestry); Alex is also a Certified Adviser under the Fertcare Scheme, a Registered Professional Forester and a member of the Australian Society of Soil Science Incorporated.

Clem Hill

MApp Sc, BApp Sc (Geology)

Clem is a Hydrogeologist with 26 years’ experience in monitoring and assessment of groundwater, surface water and climate data; with this experience gained across government, agricultural, mining and CSG sectors. His areas of expertise include hydrogeology, salinity, natural resource management, environmental impact assessment and mineral exploration. Clem is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, International Association of Hydro geologists and the Australian Water Association.

Dr Craig Hardner

PhD, B For Sc, B Sc (Hons)

Craig is director of the consultancy Australia Crop Genetic Services PL as well as a research fellow with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation and the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland. His key research focus areas include: statistics applied to genetic improvement, systems modelling and economics, and conservation biology. Craig has worked on various recent projects including eucalypts for reforestation of saline affected agricultural lands, genetic evaluation of sugar cane, macadamia, mango, strawberry and apple, and modelling of breeding strategies and the economics of the macadamia production system. He maintains research partnerships within the University of Queensland, as well as externally with Queensland Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation, BSES and Washington State University.

Dr Darren Drapper

PhD (Env Eng), B Env Eng, CPEng, NPER, MIEAust, REPQ

Darren is an Environmental Engineer with 18 years experience, specifically focussed within the stormwater field. Darren’s experience includes government, research organisations, consulting and manufacturing. He has a researched, designed, constructed and monitored WSUD stormwater treatment measures across Australia and internationally.

David Wood

BSc Forestry, Graduate Diploma Natural Resources Law

David holds a Bachelor of Science (Forestry), a Graduate Diploma Natural Resources Law, and is a Registered Professional Forester. His over 30 year career includes extensive experience in developing, implementing and managing the strategic direction of utility vegetation management to deliver best practice asset management performance. This includes the development of vegetation management and bushfire mitigation strategies, plans, supporting processes and budgets; the provision of input into legislation relative to vegetation management, and providing expert advice to external organisations and the general public on vegetation management programs and suitable tree planting programs. For nearly 10 years, David played a key role as Vegetation Management Strategist and more recently Manager Vegetation and Sustainable Pole Forests for Ergon Energy Corporation.

David’s prior experience encompasses silviculture and management of native forests, internal audit of forest operations, community support coordination and implementation, and project management. Notably he was project manager of a $5.4M (5-year) Vanuatu Sustainable Forest Utilisation Project, which involved procurement, recruitment and project promotion. He coordinated and supervised 24 local staff and specialist consultants on short term assignments delivering training and advice to forest owners and the timber industry of Vanuatu over the life of the project. This Project trained a number of in-country trainers, who are still active in passing on their skills and experience.
 

Doug Hall

BSc (Botany, Biochemistry) First Class Hons Biochemistry, Cert Governance and Risk Management

Doug Hall is an Industry Development Specialist with 33 years’ experience, and specifically 21 years’ experience working with businesses, industries, and NFP and government organizations to develop and implement solutions to complex challenges. Before leaving academia, he had accumulated over 10 years’ research experience in the plant biochemistry and molecular biology. He also has training and extensive experience in the governance and management of Not-for-Profit organizations as well with working with government departments and agencies. Doug’s specialist expertise in industry development and management, strategic policy and advocacy, stakeholder engagement and management, and public sector and not-for-profit governance; enabled him to successfully manage the WA Branch of the Waste Management Association of Australia (2010-2014) and the WA Branch of Irrigation Australia (2006-2010). In both these roles, he was responsible for the development, management and implementation of a wide range of activities designed to develop the industries and the associations. Both roles involved a combination of government and industry funding under project funding agreements and required the delivery of agreed outcomes within agreed timelines. Through his industry development work Doug has gained knowledge and expertise in a range of modern management frameworks including Quality Assurance, Continual Improvement, Risk Management, Supply Chain Management, and Change Management. He also continues to engage his technical training in botany, biochemistry and molecular biology through his membership of the UWA Institutional Biohazards Committee which assesses research proposals manipulating genetic materials under the Federal legislative and regulatory frameworks overseen by the Office of Gene Technology Regulator.

Doug Sockhill

BE (Chem), MBA

Doug Sockhill is a Chemical Engineer and Project Manager with 35 years’ experience in the sugar industry. He holds a Bachelor of Chemistry from Queensland University, and a business (MBA) from Central Queensland University. Doug is also the manufacturing Chairman of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT), and deputy chairman of Burdekin Bowen Integrated Floodplain Management Committee BBIFMAC. Doug’s special areas of expertise include: Production management, SHE accreditation and auditing, and project management

George Lambert

Dip Ag, BE, Cert IV Workplace Training

With over 45 years’ experience in the agricultural sector in Queensland, George’s focus lies in agricultural extension, spanning roles in soil science, broad acre cropping, intensive and extensive grazing systems, crop and pasture nutritional requirements, irrigated forage systems, salinity management, and Leucaena and Lucerne management systems.

Greg Easton

Bachelor of Environmental Science

Greg Easton studied Environmental Science at University of Sunshine Coast. Throughout his studies, he concentrated on fresh water quality management. This degree was finalized in 2015 when Greg received first class honours for his research into utilising man-made wetland systems for the treatment of wastewater. Greg’s areas of specialty include: wetland science, water quality sampling, data collection and management and geographical information systems. He also tutors in GIS, basic chemistry and environmental chemistry. Recently, Greg has successfully run his own business concentrating on maintaining healthy water in domestic rainwater tanks.

Ian Rotheram

BSc (Forestry), MSc Natural Resources Management

With over thirty years’ in forest, plantation and agro forestry management, Ian’s experience covers forestry for carbon sequestration, bio-energy and dryland salinity remediation; forest inventory; and managing mining rehabilitation and parks. His extensive knowledge of the WA forest industry and forestry politics was gained working for the WA Government's forestry agencies in a range of management, business development and corporate affairs roles as well as advising the Minister for Forestry for over four years. Ian has specialist skills in timber properties and utilisation. He also advised the Minister for Agriculture on natural resources management and bio-security. With his practical approach, Ian is committed to help clients find realistic and cost effective solutions to land, water and vegetation problems.

Dr John Grant

PhD, B Sc (Botany & Zoology), CPSS3

John Grant has over thirty years of experience in land and soil mapping, research and soil interpretation. He has been lecturing in Southern Cross University’s School of Environment, Science and Engineering since 2004 where he runs two second/third year units - ‘Soil Processes’ and ‘Land Degradation and Rehabilitation’ and supervises several PhD and Masters students. John was awarded a PhD in 2013 for his research into soil and site relationships to hardwood plantation productivity and the effects of soil physical characteristics on root development of two major hardwood plantation species. The PhD was jointly funded through the Australian Research Council (ARC) and State Forests of NSW. Current research areas: Nutrient cycling and land rehabilitation in agroforestry systems in the Fiji and Vanuatu, carbon sequestration in soils, soil –vegetation relationships in Vietnam, soil nutritional interactions with Bell Miner Associated Dieback in forests, environmental and carbon sequestration benefits of dung beetles and biochar, land rehabilitation and soil parameters and plantation productivity relationships. John has had extensive soil mapping experience in Tasmania, NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory. He was a senior team member in a five year soils mapping project in Tasmania that won the 1998 National Landcare Award for Research. His soils expertise is recognized by Soil Science Australia accreditation as a Certified Professional Soil Scientist (Stage 3). John also holds a Bachelor of Scienct (Botany and Zoology).

John McLean Bennett

PhD (Soil Science), BSc (Resource and Environmental Management)

Doctor John McLean Bennett has over 10 years' experience and is a senior research fellow (soil science) at the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture where he is the Sustainable Soils Theme Leader. He is also a Senior Lecturer in soil science with the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying at the Unversity of Southern Queensland and is a Level 2 Certified Professional Soil Scientist. Johns' areas of specialty include: soil structural integrity as influenced by salinity and sodicity, both in rain-fed and irrigated systems. In the past seven years he has worked extensively on solute movement and subsequent impacts on soil and water in wheat, cotton, meat and livestock, and coal seam gas mining industries. Since 2010 his research activities have specifically reltated to beneficial use of coal seam gas assoicated water in Queensland for clients including Santos Ltd., QGC and Arrow Energy.

Dr Kevin Harding

PhD (Forestry), BSc (Forestry)

Dr Kevin Harding is a Timber Processing and Wood Product Specialist with three decades of experience in the delivery of wood quality research to the Queensland forest industry. His areas of expertise include wood quality improvement of plantation grown timbers, silvicultural practices impact on forestry plantation quality, selection and screening of breeding trees, families and clones, and assessment of wood and growth parameters for forest management and tree improvement programs. Kevin has extensive experience with tropical and subtropical commercial softwood and hardwood plantation species and hybrids grown and managed for high quality value-added products. Specific species experience includes: Pinus caribae and P. elliotti and P. tecunumanii and various interspecific hybrids of these species, P. radiata, P. taeda, Araucaria cunninghamii as well as a wide range of tropical and sub-tropical Eucalyptus specie species and hybrids and Khaya senegalensis. He is also an Adjunct Research Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast and is a Wood Quality Panel Editor for forest products and wood quality manuscripts for the Australian Forestry Journal. Kevin is also the current Director, President and Chair of the Board of Directors of Australian Forest Growers (AFG).

Dr Lara Jefferson

PhD, First Class Hons (Biology), Bachelor Degree Biology, Dip. Carbon Management

Lara has over 17 years of award winning project management experience in approvals and environmental management using leadership and problem solving initiatives to demonstrate excellence in environmental management. Lara led an exploration and environmental team of Crosslands Resources Ltd to win a Golden Gecko Award for innovative research demonstrating that vibration from drill rigs would not impact a Schedule 1 species, Idiosoma nigrum. As an energetic and dynamic leader, Lara excels in providing strategic and operational advice to raise business profile and ensure continual improvement.

Peter Pomroy

Grad Dip Nat Res Studies, Rural Technician Cert in Forestry

Peter is a Forestry consultant with over 40 years experience in the Forestry sector. Peter’s areas of expertise include planning, establishment, management, measurement and assessment, reporting of research trials, and tree breeding and seed collection. His project experience includes transportation of clones, extract, clean and conduct germination testing of seed for plantation and research trial establishment of species (southern pines and their hybrids); collection of pollen and control pollination of breeding trees to produce pure species and hybrids for testing for plantation improvement; and identification of suitable trees for breeding programs.

Dr Tek Maraseni

PhD (Natural Resources and Environmental Economics); MSc (NRM); BSc (Forestry); BSc (Biology)

Dr Tek Maraseni is a Carbon Bio-sequestration Scientist with 22 years experience. He is also a consultant from the University of Southern Queensland. Tek’s areas of expertise include carbon bio-sequestration science, plant growth modeling and natural resources management issues. He has been involved with a number of various research projects including: carbon accounting and modeling, reducing emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) Governance, technological changes and Greenhouse Gas emissions in the irrigation industry, Analysis of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), Biochar, estimating net C flows from primary industries at the catchment scale and the Socioeconomic impacts of climate change on forest region. Tek is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management and the Institute of Foresters of Australia.