Projects

Paul Foreman

Paul Foreman is a highly regarded and skilled field botanist and ecologist with over 23 years of experience in land management and nature conservation across a range of sectors and in a range of technical, strategic and management roles throughout Victoria and many other parts of Australia. Paul has an undergraduate degree in Forestry from the University of Melbourne and completed a Botany Masters of Science in Northern Plains Grassland ecology at La Trobe University in 1996.

Vegetation mapping

Boolcoomatta and Bon Bon Reserve vegetation mapping

While state-wide vegetation mapping is very useful for considering big-picture, bioregional patterns and trends in biodiversity, it is not so useful for day-to-day on-ground management. This project entailed mapping and field checking the finer-scale vegetation patterns at Bush Heritage’s two South Australian Reserves – Bon Bon (between Port Augusta and Cooper Pedy) and Boolcoomatta (west of Broken Hill). The work included, interpretation of satellite imagery and aerial photographs, digitising linework and creating polygons in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and validation and description of patterns with targeted field survey. The mapping has proven to be very useful for a whole range of important issues including, biodiversity monitoring, fire management, pest animal and plant control and threatened species recovery.