Passionate bird lover, Eric is known for being able to imitate the call of almost any bird found in the Australian bush, tell the Latin name of any flower or plant and having a considerable knowledge of Noongar history. He is also the Treasurer of the Darling Range Branch WA Naturalists’ Club.

Richard McLellan is a long-time environmental practitioner and advocate – with a special interest in eucalypt woodland conservation. Currently undertaking postgraduate research at the Institute of Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, Richard is the former lead on sustainable development at WWF, the conservation organisation; Editor-in-Chief of the Living Planet Report; and immediate past CEO of NACC – the Northern Agricultural Region’s NRM organisation.

Brendan Moore is a Nyoongar man. He has a Masters Degree and a bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management. He currently works as the Aboriginal Engagement Officer for the City of Fremantle.

He is a director on the board of South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, a member of the Whadjuk Working Party and the Wadjemup Aboriginal Reference Group.

Karen is passionate about the Murchison Geo Region where she lives on Meeline Station and in Mount Magnet. Through her role as Shire Councillor and working in tourism, she has advocated for and supported the formation of a Murchison GeoRegion and Aspiring Geo Park. She initiated the annual Mount Magnet Astro Rocks Fest.  In 2002, she was invested with an Order of Australia Medal for service to the community and recording the local history.

Ryan grew up and was formally educated in Canada and attended the University of Saskatchewan studying Chemistry and Commerce. In 2001 he embarked on an around-the-world journey that would cement his passion for travel, tourism, heritage and culture.

Since migrating to Australia in 2004, Ryan worked with multinational businesses on a range of services including information management, sales and business development as well as product development and planning.

In 2007, he co-founded Two Feet & a Heartbeat, an organisation dedicated to interpreting history, heritage and culture. Ryan is the Chair of the Forum Advocating Cultural and Eco-Tourism (FACET) and a Director of the Museum of Perth.

Gary Muir is a sixth-generation member of the Muir family whose ancestors helped first settle WA’s south-west wilderness and the Eucla region. Gary became one of the first Conservation Officers with the then newly-formed Department of Conservation and Land Management and dedicated over a decade to the management of forests, parks and reserves in WA.

Gary then established WOW Wilderness as a leading ecotourism operation in the heart of the Walpole Wilderness, personally taking thousands of people each year through the Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park to WA’s first wilderness zone in the Walpole Nornalup National Park. As with the generations of Muirs before him, he has a special appreciation and custodianship for the natural and cultural values of WA’s Parks.

Philippa’s career focuses on a lifetime fascination with the flora and fauna of the arid lands of Western Australia. For nearly 50 years Philippa has travelled throughout this enormous State to record, draw and paint its phenomenal natural history. She has shared her gift for watercolour painting through her teaching, exhibitions, commissioned works and publications.

In 2016, Philippa was made a Member (AM) in the general division of the Order of Australia “for significant service to the visual arts as a botanical painter and illustrator, to professional associations, and as an author”. Her latest collection, Cape Arid, focused on one of Philippa’s favourite national parks. Philippa is currently working on a retrospective exhibition, to be held at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in 2019.

For more than 25 years, Brad Norman has dedicated his life to research, education and conservation programs focused on the world’s biggest fish – the whale shark – Western Australia’s Official Marine Emblem. He is currently leading a program on whale sharks in his role as a Research Fellow with The Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University. In addition, Brad heads ECOCEAN Inc., which since 2006 has developed it into Australia’s leading non-government whale shark research organisation, responsible for the development and management of the longest photo-identification monitoring program on a wild shark species in operation globally. His Masters and PhD were both undertaken with WA Marine Parks, and he continues to coordinate multi-stakeholder research programs within Ningaloo Marine Park, Shark Bay Marine Park, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
He was the first Australian to receive the Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2006 for his ground-breaking whale shark citizen science project and in 2019 he was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for ‘significant service to Science as a Marine Biologist’.

With an inherent commitment to conservation, Jane has been instrumental in influencing development across the Peel Region so that it has been delivered with careful consideration of the fragile natural environment. Jane authored the City of Mandurah’s Bushland Protection Strategy.

In recent years, Jane has led the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council (PHCC), as their CEO, to become Australia’s 55th recognised Natural Resource Management Region. Jane is at the helm of a team of committed PHCC professionals hell-bent on protecting our environment by delivering landscape-scale restoration projects, advocating for policy changes and embedding greater appreciation of our natural environment as the basis of our regional and economic development.

Robin Piesse is the Project Manager for the WA Parks Foundation. Robin has previously held senior leadership roles in government and the not-for-profit sector, most recently as the Managing Director of the Paraplegic Benefit Fund of Australia.

Tracey Roberts is the Mayor of the City of Wanneroo and an active member of the community and maintains a strong focus on economic development, lifestyle impact and choices for the 200,000 residents of the growing City of Wanneroo.

Tracey has qualifications in Business Management and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2011 she was one of the first recipients of the Diploma of Local Government.

Verity is a Nyoongar woman with Western Aranda and Channel Islander heritage. She is passionate about parks, nature and wildlife – and the intrinsic connection they hold with Indigenous Traditional Landowners and Country.

She is active in the community and reconciliation spaces, as a Director of Reconciliation Western Australia and Kaitijin Mia Mia Aboriginal Foundation. Verity has held a strong affinity with nature and its preservation since childhood.