1. What has led you to become a leader in Flora and Fauna conservation and promoting the environment in general?

I take ‘leader’ here to mean someone who writes, talks or organises things that focus on the environment, and promoting those ideas and people that can see the environmental problems and have workable solutions, good ideas, or novel insights. When you ask what led me to become a leader, the answer is one that would apply broadly across so many strands of human endeavour. I was drawn to look and understand the natural world around me, I had great mentors, including parents, university lecturers, and friends. One of them (Harry Recher) put my name forward to be an education officer in the newly-formed NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. I am still in that organisation, almost 43 years later. It was such a boon to be working with skilled and dedicated people, including new mentors, especially since the face of the organisation were its three education officers. I have made a lifetime of friends, colleagues, and co-workers. I am now a research scientist, but that does not distract me from my path of communicating science, environmental issues, and practical and philosophical solutions. I regard that as part of my job. Try looking at the ABC website 4 corners for 20 August 2012 and ABC Catalyst for 14 April 2011. I am on these shows talking about my research.

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2. What do you consider to be your role as an environmental leader in the community of Sydney, particularly as part of the RZS?

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The RZS has zoology as its focus, and as a zoologist, I greatly value that group of dedicated researchers and educators. The environment is a large subject, including pollution, soil erosion, park management, but when the matter under debate is zoological, the RZS can make a leading contribution. It does this in a number of ways, and the ones that I concentrate on are annual forums on difficult topics, publishing those forums as books, and co-editing the Society’s journal Australian Zoologist. This promotes the importance of zoological matters when taking in a broad topic, such as climate change, the natural history of Sydney, or science under siege. I get a chance to contribute my views, but mostly to promote the views and the evidence for those views. It is the collective voice that is so powerful.

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3. What are some examples of your contributions to conservation through research and publication, and education and presentation?

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I may be the only one to do so, but I enjoy rereading the 31 books that I have edited or co-edited. Most are RZS publications. All publications are discussed at the council meetings of the RZS, so my role is to help promote those ideas through skilled editing, writing and working on the visual presentation of the books and the journal. As a research scientist, at the Office of Environment and Heritage NSW, I have had the opportunity to research such diverse topics as the impact of logging on forest fauna, conservation of koalas and the ethics side of wildlife management. As a major part of my work as a research scientist, I present my results and ideas to many different audiences, giving a talk about every month.

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4. What are your typical roles and duties as an education leader, and member of the RZS and other organisations?

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The typical role as an education leader in the RZS is to work with fellow RZS members to think of a controversial forum, run the forum, then publish it. We produce a book per year and that is a high output. The journal appears twice per year, and the role of editor is to manage submitted papers, and see them through the process of referees, and then into print, paying attention to detail, as well as the thrust of the entire publication. For other organisations, eg the Australian mammal society, I attend annual scientific meetings, chair sessions, work as a student judge, and take photos so that the newsletters are bright and memorable.

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5. How would someone 'lead' the future of conservation and management of native flora and fauna, and the environment in general, in Australia?

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If that someone is you, how should you lead it? Let’s suppose that you don’t want to be a scientist, but a lawyer, a graphic artist, or a person working with the public, such as a ranger or media officer, then there are jobs for you. Each person leads in their own way, and it is a combination of your skills in the detail, your willingness to listen, accept criticism and in turn, to mentor, that will enable you to lead. On current estimates, you will be alive for almost all of this century. Imagine Australia in 2050, you’ll be at the peak of your profession. Will it be a leading role in environmental matters. If it is flora and fauna, what do you think the status of Australia’s native plants and animals will be? Will the declines we see now be arrested, and all populations flourishing, or will the slide continue, and we continue to face less diverse future. If you can see the way things are going, and you can count animals or plants, can image what a fire, a road, a flood, a heatwave, a bulldozer, can do on a local and a national scale, then you will be impelled to act. Your hope is that I have worked hard enough in my working life to leave you enough to work with to recover what is declining, and protect is better than the reports cards are saying for the present. They all say that there is a decline in biodiversity. This is a rallying call for me to publicise this matter, research the problems that I am skilled in (forest mammals) and promote the ideas and information collected and presented by others so that, nationally, we can conserve our natural legacy. The question now for you, is how are you leading today, and what will you do in the future?