Chris Curnow
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.
Mike Griffiths
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!’
Phil Lewis
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.
Helena Mills
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.
Brett Brenchley
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”.
Katherine Howard
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.
Tanya Vernes
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.
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