Our staff & committee

Dr Sue Lewis, Acting President

Dr Sue Lewis has had a long career in environmental and sustainability education as well as a social change advocate through working for equality in densely masculine organisations. Sue is one of the founders of Women's Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA) program, and is passionate about stopping the logging of native forests.

Mel Darer, Secretary

Mel (Friends of Alberton West) is a wildlife carer with over 20 years experience. For the last 10 years she has worked as a vet nurse. Mel is passionate about animals and wildlife and has been a longtime animal and LGBTQ rights activist.

Paul Macgregor, Treasurer

Paul (BEAM Mitchell Environment Group Inc) is the lead campaigner for BEAM’s Save the Tallarook Forest campaign, which has been running since 2020. He lives at Clearview Retreat centre on the edge of the Tallarook Forest and runs nature meditation retreats there.

Gayle Osborne

Gayle lives on a bush block in the Wombat State Forest and is a founding member of Wombat Forestcare Inc., which was instrumental in lobbying the state government for a Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) investigation into a number of state forests in the Wombat and Mt Cole areas. Wombat Forestcare is actively campaigning to halt the environmentally destructive VicForests' salvage works.

Jill Redwood

Jill (Environment East Gippsland) has been actively working to protect East Gippsland’s forests and wildlife for over 40 years and is long-time resident and campaigner in the Goongerah area.

Sue Ablitt

Sue (Save Our Strathbogie Forests) lives and works on unceded Taungurung country. She has been an advocate for nature, especially the conservation of forests and wild places, since the early 1980s. In recent years she has actively campaigned for the end of native forest logging in the Strathbogie Ranges. Sue is also a botanist, and works on native vegetation, land management and Landcare projects.

Rosemary Storey

Rosemary Storey (Kinglake Friends of the Forest) is a life-long environmentalist with a particular interest in forests and climate. She is a passionate defender of the forests of the Central Highlands.

Lisa Roberts

Lisa Roberts (Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland) is a photographer and passionate advocate for the protection of forests from logging, as well as the impacts of planned burns. She is also part of flying-fox recovery and care in the Bairnsdale region. Photo credit: Annette Ruzicka

Phil Marshall, Citizen Science Project Coordinator

Phil has been a dedicated volunteer of Wildlife of the Central Highlands, spending many hours in the forests doing citizen science surveys for Leadbeater’s Possum, coordinating volunteers, writing reports, and doing data analysis.

Angelica Panopoulos, Campaign Coordinator

Angelica is a long-time campaigner and grassroots activist in the refugee rights movement. She's passionate about protecting forests to tackle the climate crisis, and served as Mayor of Merri-bek Council in 2023. She is currently a local Councillor and has a legal background.

Emily Wood Trounce, Media Coordinator

Emily is a forest and climate activist from a social science background, whose research has primarily focused on guardianship and management models for rivers. She has extensive experience in writing, editing, and media work, and a deep love for Victoria's forests.