WWF’s blog
The University of WA has just launched a brand new Carnaby Tracker project.
Dr Nicola Mitchell has put a call out to the general public to encourage them to use the new website as a way of alerting the University to sightings of Carnaby’s cockatoos around Perth: See http://cockatoo.csse.uwa.edu.au/. Continued…
– May 28, 2010
A friendly panda is a fine thing.
This was confirmed on a recent Sunday when the WWF Panda got out amongst the people. For all the important conservation work WWF is doing behind the scenes in southwest Australia, sometimes it’s just as important to get out into the community. And so on this Sunday Panda, with a trusty pair of panda handlers, attended the City of Mandurah’s Crabfest to compete in the festival’s annual mascot race.
Continued…
– March 16, 2010
Within WWF-Australia, Tanya Vernes lives in the most remote region of us all. Up in the Kimberley it is almost like another world, with its own customs, lifestyle and even - as she explains - its own language.
– March 4, 2010
A large patch of bushland that still remains in the wheatbelt. Photo: Chris Curnow.
Recently, Chris Curnow travelled with members of WWF’s Healthy Bushland team to visit landholders who are preserving incredible patches of remnant bush in the wheatbelt region. It’s an area he cares about as you can see in this report. However, in addition to being the head honcho of a hands-on team Chris is also a remarkable photographer.
You can see more of his photos from the trip to the wheatbelt here.
– January 27, 2010
Dr Denis Daunders holds a female Carnaby's black cockatoo chick. Picture: Katherine Howard.
On a baking hot November day WWF-Australia President Dr Denis Saunders returned to Coomallo Creek, Western Australia, where more than 30 years ago he first started investigating the dramatic decline of Carnaby’s black cockatoos. Continued…
– January 15, 2010
The red-eared slider turtle poses a risk to farmers and the Western Australian environment. Picture courtesy of Department of Economic Development and Innovation, Queensland.
The Department of Agriculture is calling on Western Australians to remain alert to pest species from overseas and even the eastern states of Australia. These invasive species could cause millions of dollars of damage to farmers and damage the rare and precious environment of WA.
– December 14, 2009
The Karajarri people perform a welcome to the land ceremony for the participants in the Indigenous Protected Areas Managers meeting.
Tanya Vernes joined an annual Indigenous Protected Area Managers meeting. The managers came from right across north Australia to meet at the the Nygah Nygah outstation in Karajarri country which includes the red lands south of Broome. Over an incredible few days she got to see how the Indigenous Protected Areas worked, experienced the hospitality of the the Karajarri and Bardi Jawi rangers and even saw Canberra diplomats dance the hokey pokey with the traditional owners of the land.
– December 11, 2009
This fat-tailed dunnart was released into the wild after it was caught by a cat.
– November 9, 2009
Entry by Kath Howard
He will return to the same location in mid November to see how the new chicks are going and to find more about the nesting pairs that remain of this endangered icon of Western Australia.
A female Carnaby's black cockatoo flies overhead.
– November 9, 2009
– November 9, 2009
Wayne and Tina Goring were worried that a fire might have prevented them from being a part of the Wetland Watch program.
– November 9, 2009
A tiger snake photographed on the doorstep of Panda Cottage
– November 9, 2009
Chris is the at times laconic leader of WWF’s Southwest Australia private land manager engagement team. A real country boy, he is a quiet achiever who, like people on the land, gets things done. Chris has been involved in bridging the divide between farmers and environmentalists since he graduated from the University of New England in 1990 with a Bachelor of Natural Resources with Honours.
– November 6, 2008
It is often said that people are either cat people or dog people. Not Helena, she is a plant person. In 2006 she walked away from a comfortable government job in Canberra and set up home in South West Australia. Why? For the flora.
– November 6, 2008
Gerald Durrell and Sir David Attenborough inspired Katherine to make a difference and conserve the natural world. As a zoologist Katherine helped protect tropical reefs in Fiji and studied rare creatures in Madagascar before she joined WWF’s Western Australian team. This early experience not only made her aware of the wonder of the natural world but also the value of communities in preserving it.
– November 6, 2008
The call of the country runs strong in Phil. He has worked with livestock on distant sheep stations, in market gardens, on mines far out in the wilds of West Australia and in the rural back blocks with the Water Corporation. But Phil has always been drawn to wildlife and has a keen hands-on understanding of the species that remain in the wheatbelt region. Phil lives on a bush block just outside of the central Wheatbelt town of Wyalkatchem near the old Korrelocking town site. Together with his wife they’ve single handedly identified most of the birds and plants that inhabitat their remnant bush. Having lived in the central Wheatbelt now for over 10 years, Phil’s existing networks and and pragmatic down-to-earth approach to conservation have made him a key WWF asset in establishing conservation covenants in the Southwest Australia Ecoregion. Continued…
– November 6, 2008
Tanya is rarely sighted in WWF’s Perth office. For the past seven years she has worked up north in the Kimberley helping indigenous communities to find local solutions for sustainable land, water and marine and coastal management. Her trips to the big smoke are few and far between as she develops deep and abiding relationships with people up north and their land. For Tanya, there couldn’t be a better job.
“I love the Kimberley, it is incredible,” Tanya said. “There is no place on earth like it and it is my home. I have grown to love and respect the people I work with here and they in turn have placed their trust in me. Working with WWF has meant I can keep doing good things for the Kimberley.
– November 6, 2008
Brett was an award winning foundry man before he decided to pursue a career in environmental management after “witnessing horrendously environmentally damaging activity working in foundries”.
He completed his university degree at Murdoch University in 2004 and then moved to Sydney. However, the call of Western Australia was too strong. Brett returned in 2006 and worked on restoring the upper Blackwood catchment and investigating whether it was possible to start an aquaculture industry in the area. In 2006 he joined WWF’s Wetland Watch project which was based in Kwinana, the town where he was raised. Since then Brett has lead WWF’s wetland conservation project on to greater heights and is following the battle zone as it happens. After successfully handing over wetland conservation in the Perth and Kwinina metro areas, Brett has now developed strategic partnerships further south with key local governments in the Peel-Harvey and Yalgorup areas, which have Ramsar Convention listed wetlands all around and which are now on the front-line of ever expanding urban growth.
“There is nothing better than listening to landholders talk about how special their patch of bush or wetland is,” Brett said. Nicknamed the ‘Quiet Achiever’ Brett has a wry and wicked sense of humour. He also secretly aspires to speaking Spanish one day so that he can finally understand his wife’s El Salvadorean family.
– November 6, 2008
Mike is a modest fellow who gets a kick out of his job because he loves working with plants, wildlife and real people but mostly because he reckons when he works with private landholders in the wheatbelt he can actually see he is making a difference. Talk to his workmates and they will add another detail to that story, describing him as a walking encyclopedia of Australia’s natural world. And his WA networks are second to none. People say, ‘There’s hardly anyone you meet around the traps who doesn’t know or hasn’t heard of Mike Griffiths!’
That should come as no surprise because he studied biology at Curtin University and then went on to a career in eco tourism and environmental consulting travelling the length and breadth of WA. When not practicing karate, listening to his favourite bands or brushing up on Aboriginal languages, Mike is out there with his camera traps (sometimes collaborating with Phil) trying his luck at getting photos of elusive native animals with the critter cams. “Don’t worry,” he says, “I’m not obsessed about camera trapping, I’m just focused!”
– November 6, 2008
Senior Project Manager, Native Vegetation
Chris is the at times laconic leader of WWF’s Southwest Australia private land manager engagement team. A real country boy, he is a quiet achiever who, like people on the land, gets things done. Chris has been involved in bridging the divide between farmers and environmentalists since he graduated from the University of New England in 1990 with a Bachelor of Natural Resources with Honours.
Project Officer - Healthy Bushland
Mike is a modest fellow who gets a kick out of his job because he loves working with plants, wildlife and real people but mostly because he reckons when he works with private landholders in the wheatbelt he can actually see he is making a difference. Talk to his workmates and they will add another detail to that story, describing him as a walking encyclopedia of Australia’s natural world. And his WA networks are second to none. People say, ‘There’s hardly anyone you meet around the traps who doesn’t know or hasn’t heard of Mike Griffiths!’
Project Officer - Healthy Bushland
The call of the country runs strong in Phil. He has worked with livestock on distant sheep stations, in market gardens, on mines far out in the wilds of West Australia and in the rural back blocks with the Water Corporation. But Phil has always been drawn to wildlife and has a keen hands-on understanding of the species that remain in the wheatbelt region.
Project Coordinator - SWAE Biodiversity
It is often said that people are either cat people or dog people. Not Helena, she is a plant person. In 2006 she walked away from a comfortable government job in Canberra and set up home in South West Australia. Why? For the flora.
“South West Australian vegetation is so incredibly interesting and exciting, but most of the people who live here just don’t realise the beauty and importance of what they’ve got on their doorstep, or in their back paddock,” Helena said.
Project Coordinator - Wetland Watch
Brett was an award winning foundry man before he decided to pursue a career in environmental management after “witnessing horrendously environmentally damaging activity working in foundries”.
Policy Officer, South West Australia Ecoregion
Gerald Durrell and Sir David Attenborough inspired Katherine to make a difference and conserve the natural world. As a zoologist Katherine helped protect tropical reefs in Fiji and studied rare creatures in Madagascar before she joined WWF’s Western Australian team. This early experience not only made her aware of the wonder of the natural world but also the value of communities in preserving it.
Program Office – Integrated Landscape Management
Tanya is rarely sighted in WWF’s Perth office. For the past seven years she has worked up north in the Kimberley helping indigenous communities to find local solutions for sustainable land, water and marine and coastal management. Her trips to the big smoke are few and far between as she develops deep and abiding relationships with people up north and their land. For Tanya, there couldn’t be a better job.
Posted in wa-sidebar.
– November 6, 2008
Senior Project Manager, Native Vegetation
Chris is the at times laconic leader of WWF’s Southwest Australia private land manager engagement team. A real country boy, he is a quiet achiever who, like people on the land, gets things done. Chris has been involved in bridging the divide between farmers and environmentalists since he graduated from the University of New England in 1990 with a Bachelor of Natural Resources with Honours.
Project Officer - Healthy Bushland
Mike is a modest fellow who gets a kick out of his job because he loves working with plants, wildlife and real people but mostly because he reckons when he works with private landholders in the wheatbelt he can actually see he is making a difference. Talk to his workmates and they will add another detail to that story, describing him as a walking encyclopedia of Australia’s natural world. And his WA networks are second to none. People say, ‘There’s hardly anyone you meet around the traps who doesn’t know or hasn’t heard of Mike Griffiths!’
Project Officer - Healthy Bushland
The call of the country runs strong in Phil. He has worked with livestock on distant sheep stations, in market gardens, on mines far out in the wilds of West Australia and in the rural back blocks with the Water Corporation. But Phil has always been drawn to wildlife and has a keen hands-on understanding of the species that remain in the wheatbelt region.
Project Coordinator - SWAE Biodiversity
It is often said that people are either cat people or dog people. Not Helena, she is a plant person. In 2006 she walked away from a comfortable government job in Canberra and set up home in South West Australia. Why? For the flora.
“South West Australian vegetation is so incredibly interesting and exciting, but most of the people who live here just don’t realise the beauty and importance of what they’ve got on their doorstep, or in their back paddock,” Helena said.
Project Coordinator - Wetland Watch
Brett was an award winning foundry man before he decided to pursue a career in environmental management after “witnessing horrendously environmentally damaging activity working in foundries”.
Policy Officer, South West Australia Ecoregion
Gerald Durrell and Sir David Attenborough inspired Katherine to make a difference and conserve the natural world. As a zoologist Katherine helped protect tropical reefs in Fiji and studied rare creatures in Madagascar before she joined WWF’s Western Australian team. This early experience not only made her aware of the wonder of the natural world but also the value of communities in preserving it.
Program Office – Integrated Landscape Management
Tanya is rarely sighted in WWF’s Perth office. For the past seven years she has worked up north in the Kimberley helping indigenous communities to find local solutions for sustainable land, water and marine and coastal management. Her trips to the big smoke are few and far between as she develops deep and abiding relationships with people up north and their land. For Tanya, there couldn’t be a better job.