The Grassy Woodlands Conservation and Research Forum will be hosted by the North East Catchment Management Authority and project partners, on Friday, May 12 at the Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway.
North East CMA senior project officer Phillip Falcke said the forum would examine the current state of the grassy woodlands ecosystem and compare it against growing trends in climate change, human activity and biodiversity decline.
Speakers will cover topics including findings across the Bush for Birds project, the importance of volunteers, ecological thinning, cultural burning and pest control and it will help delegates to feel better prepared to meet the growing needs of these threatened ecosystems.
Keynote speakers are David Lindenmayer, professor of ecology and conservation biology at the Australian National University, and David Watson, professor of ecology at Charles Sturt University.
Prof Lindenmayer is a world-leading expert in forest ecology and resource management, conservation science, and biodiversity conservation, and is one of Australia’s most-published authors of scientific papers in the field of ecology.
He runs five large-scale, long-term research programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily associated with developing ways to conserve biodiversity in farmland, wood production forests, plantations and reserves.
Prof Watson is a leading researcher across three main areas: managing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes; developing reliable ways to monitor the environment; and the ecology of parasitic plants.
With a focus on bird ecology, most of his research is applied, aimed at understanding how ecosystems work and using that evidence to improve management of natural systems.
Prof Watson will be the speaker at the dinner that will follow the main forum at the same venue.
Tickets are now on sale for $20 at https://events.humanitix.com/grassy-woodlands-forum and delegates can choose to attend the forum only or the forum and the forum dinner with Prof Watson.
