Jan 29, 2026 | News
We’re pleased to announce Caitlin Griffith as our new Project Manager for Victoria! Caitlin has over 25 years’ experience working across nature conservation, community engagement and leadership. Her background spans on-ground conservation, plant surveys and ecological monitoring, alongside advocacy, citizen science and program development.
Caitlin loves working at the interface of science, community and land management—designing education resources, running workshops with scientists and practitioners, and supporting advocacy for habitat protection. She is passionate about making ecological knowledge accessible and empowering communities to take action for nature.
Caitlin has always had a passion for watching wildflowers emerge with a particular love for the showy pea flowers and orchids.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Conservation Biology and Ecology and a Graduate Certificate in Social Ecology.
Caitlin will be coordinating two one-day workshops on threatened flora conservation – one in Horsham on Wednesday 19 August and one in Orbost on Wednesday 2 September 2026 – as well as a two-day Victorian threatened flora conservation conference planned for Melbourne in November, as part of the “Preventing the extinction of Victoria’s threatened flora” project.
Jan 7, 2026 | News
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) have awarded their 2025 Australian Biosecurity Awards – Environmental Biosecurity to Dr Geoff Pegg and Aj Perkins. Geoff is Senior Principal Forest Pathologist Queensland Department of Primary Industries, and Aj is Senior Project Officer, Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (NSW). Together they have collaborated and partnered with a wide variety of stakeholders on an innovative 2-year program which builds capacity to protect culturally significant species from the threat from introduced pests and diseases, including Myrtle Rust. The program included developing and delivering training modules for Indigenous Rangers and land managers to improve their ability to spot and report biosecurity threats. They also built a groundbreaking trans-Tasman partnership in Indigenous forest health and environmental biosecurity with Māori custodians and scientists from New Zealand (Aotearoa).
The success of the program has meant that it has been extended through to 2029.
The program also produced the fantastic Roots for Resilience video which tells the story of the importance of environmental biosecurity for culture, and highlights the need for collective action. It can be found here: https://youtu.be/d2M18ApA-uA?si=sMme1yzTERJrfXrG
Read the DAFF article about the award and Geoff and Aj’s work here: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/about/news/aba-geoff-pegg-aj-perkins
