OUR TEAM

Jim has Tertiary qualification in Geography and Planning, Ecology and Conflict Resolution. He has prepared Biodiversity Management Plans and represented Community and Conservation interests on Regional Natural Resources Management committees for more than twenty years. Jim was a community representative on the Steering Group that developed the Northern Rivers Biodiversity Management Plan which identified’ inappropriate fire’ as a very high threat to the Biodiversity Values of the region and led to the formation of the NRFABCON. Jim was Chairman of the Bell Miner Associated Dieback Working Group for many years and has a particular interest in Fire Ecology and Forest Health.

Noah has over 20 years’ experience in Indigenous tourism strategic planning and research work. More recently, Noah has worked in Indigenous land management, focusing on planning and community consultation within Indigenous Protected Areas. Through these projects he has seen the key role of Indigenous fire in conservation land management.  Noah is a champion of private conservation and innovative techniques for land management.

Oliver Costello is from Bundjalung Jagun (country) on the Northern Rivers of NSW. Oliver initiated and continues to lead the Firesticks Initiative. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Adult Education and Community Management at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Combining a broad range of experiences in Indigenous Natural Cultural Resource management and Indigenous governance, Oliver works as a consulting advisor on cultural fire projects and as a project officer in Aboriginal Heritage and Joint Management at the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Along with many communities, organisations and stakeholders, Oliver engages in and develops a range of collaborative approaches to support Indigenous leadership and recognition of cultural practices through community mentorship on country. 

Lorraine has been an avid koala conservationist since 2000 and was President of Friends of the Koala, the Northern Rivers’ peak koala conservation organisation, for 15 years.  She has represented the group on NRFABCON since 2011. Lorraine also represents Friends of the Koala on the North Coast Environment Council, the Tweed Coast Koala Management Committee and the NSW Wildlife Council. She is a member of the Northern Rivers [NPWS] Regional Advisory Committeeand the Office Of Environment & Heritage’s Saving our Species Koala Expert Panel.

Senior Land Services Officer with North Coast Local Land Services, David has worked in natural resources related role for over thirty years. Most of that has been with the State Government and based in Coffs Harbour. David commenced with the Soil Conservation Services and has had various roles in several organisations gaining experience in soil, vegetation and catchment management as well as strategic planning. He has been involved in the NRFABCON since it began and served as a member of the executive.

Kevin Taylor is employed by the Nature Conservation Council of NSW as a project ecologist on the Hotspots Fire Project; a role he has held since 2011. He has been employed in conservation assessment, natural resource management and environmental protection planning since gaining a Bachelor of Applied Science (Coastal Management) in Lismore in 1991. Kevin has a passionate interest in the role of fire as a land management tool with links to traditional and contemporary cultural practice, conservation and risk management.

Contract Project Manager, Jane has a Bachelor of Science (Coastal Management) with 30 years experience working in conservation and natural resource management, specialising in project management, public relations, communications, media and marketing.