Meet the Team
Wetland Revival Trust is a culmination of thirty years’ experience restoring wetlands and other habitats, 10 years of which have been in WRT’s project area of Northern Victoria and the wider southern Murray Darling Basin. Over this period Elaine and Damien have developed a detailed understanding of wetland condition and ecological issues affecting the area, developed relationships with local farmers and Traditional Owners, and implemented restoration projects in a variety of habitats covering over 1000 hectares.
Staff
Damien Cook
Restoration Ecologist/Director
Damien Cook is the Director
and Senior Restoration Ecologist at the Wetland Revival Trust. Damien has been a keen naturalist for 35 years and has developed a sound knowledge of flora and fauna ecology, identification, and habitat requirements. He is a recognised expert in wetland, riparian and terrestrial ecology, particularly in the factors affecting the establishment and management of aquatic and wetland plants, and the revegetation of terrestrial grassland and woodland ecosystems.
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Elaine Bayes
Ecologist
MSc, BSc (Hons), DipVET
Elaine co-founded the
Wetland Revival Trust and was co-Director from 2017 to 2025 before recently stepping down from this position. In addition to building the business, she is an environmental scientist and ecologist with her main focus on wetland ecology and management, frog and reptile surveys, fire effects in the Box Ironbark and Eltham Copper Butterfly surveys and protection.
Taj Lane
First Nations Field Officer
Taj is Yorta Yorta/Barapa
Barapa man who has been a keen
birdwatcher for 8 years. He has assisted WRT with wetland bird surveys in the Gunbower and Kerang Wetlands Ramsar Sites over the last 2 years on the floodplains of the Murray and Loddon Rivers. Taj is in training as a First Nations field project officer in ecological restoration and monitoring techniques. In previous roles he worked on Natural Resource Management with the indigenous-owned Barapa Land and Water, in farm machinery fabrication and as technician on a poultry farm.
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Chris Cook
General Manager
Chris is an experienced
environmental leader now guiding business operations of WRT. He has worked in senior roles in large Victorian conservation organisations such as Trust for Nature and Parks Victoria. Chris has led teams that have delivered project success in landscape-scale biodiversity management in Barmah National Park and the Mallee. He an extensive background in project and program management going back to his time as an civil engineer installing environmental technology to urban development. He has pioneered services in newly formed environmental markets such as biodiveristy offsets and revolving funds. Chris is a co-owner of the not-for-profit The Good Op Shop in Castlemaine where he has helped build a sustainable model that delivers funds to local conservation initiatives.
Cassia Read
Ecologist
Cassia Read has a science
doctorate that informs her research spanning landscape ecology, planting design, climate adaptation, urban greening, wildlife gardening and community engagement. Cassia is a co-founder and Principal Ecologist for the Castlemaine Institute and also teaches subjects relating to ecology and environmental science in the Outdoor Environmental Education department at La Trobe University.
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Ada Nano
Ecologist
Ada (Theresa) Nano
is an ecologist with 30 years experience working on biodiversity survey and research programs across eastern and central Australia. Her main expertise lies in fauna ecology, with a particular focus on small mammals and birds, but she also possesses well=honed skills in flora inventory and threatened plant research and monitoring. Ada has experience in corss-cultural exological research with Aboriginal experts, ‘two-way’ environmental education in Aboriginal schools and citizen science.
Voluntary Committee of Management
Our voluntary Committee of Management advises the Directors of the Wetland Revival Trust to ensure transparency and management of the
Wetland Revival Public Fund according to the purposes of the Trust, our aims and vision.
Di Bowles
Di has long be
en a champion and advocate for wetland restoration in her local area to see these iconic sites restored to their full potential.
Di has over 15 years’ experience on boards and is a current board member of Rural Financial Counselling Victoria West, Chair of Lifeline Central Victoria and Mallee, and Chair of Northern District Community Health. Her previous board roles include North Central Catchment Management Authority and Murray Dairy.
She is a member and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds an Advanced Diploma in Agribusiness and a Diploma of Agriculture. Di also co-owns and manages an irrigated dairy farm with her husband Gary, in Mead near Cohuna, where they milk 290 cows.
Kulja Coulston
Kulja Coulston is a communications professional with over two decades experience in media, publishing and editorial management. She has held several senior roles within not for profit organisations, including startups, where she has helped shape new business and communications strategies.
Kulja’s passion forsustainable development and climate justice goals led her to ClimateWorks Australia which sits within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. She is ClimateWorks’ Communications Lead, and as a senior member of a multidisciplinary, multi-country team, Kulja’s focus is storytelling that accelerates the pace and the scale of climate action in Australia, and across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
In addition to her work in energy and environmental advocacy, Kulja is a weekly current affairs presenter on Triple R FM and is part of digital inclusion and research programs for disadvantaged youth at the ABC and Victoria University. Kulja is also the immediate past editor of ‘Sanctuary: Modern green homes’ magazine. She maintains her lifelong connection with the Ramsar-listed Rhyll Inlet in Southern Victoria, and is an enthusiastic touring cyclist, bushwalker and ocean swimmer.
Ian Higgins
Deputy Chairperson
Ian has been a keen naturalist since the mid-1980s and developed substantial expertise in plant identi
fication, propagation and revegetation techniques and conservation management. Based in north central Victoria, he has worked in post-mining restoration, riparian restoration, revegetation research, native vegetation management policy and represented the state government and the North Central CMA at national level.
Since co-founding the Friends of Campbells Creek Landcare group in 2000, Ian has expanded on his local work begun in 1985 on this urban waterway and led the group to transform what was a weed infested eyesore into a well-loved community asset, now recognised by local government as worthy of on-going investment.
In 2017, he was awarded the Australian Government Individual Landcarer of the year award in Victoria. Ian has lived in Campbells Creek since 1990 and nearby in North Central Victoria since 1982.
Aunty Marilyne Nicholls
Member
Aunty Marilyne Nicholls is a recognised elder amongst her people, sharing her knowledge, skills and stories with grace. She hasconnections to fresh water and salt water Country: Wadi Wadi, Barapa Barapa, Latji Latji, Jupaglak, Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta, Ngarrindjeri (Elder).
Aunty Marilyne is a painter and master weaver in Indigenous traditional techniques. Her work has been exhibited around Australia and the world, and is found in public and private collection including the British Museum in London and the Koori Heritage Trust in Melbourne.
She has served on Boards of Indigenous and land management organisations including Djarra. Aunty Marilyne has lived most of her life around the Murray (Milloo) river system and its waterways. She currently resides near Swan Hill.
Nick Witherow
Treasurer
Nick’s day job is as the head of litigatio
n at P&B Law. He is the former Principal Lawyer of Environmental Justice Australia, a leading community funded public interest environmental law firm. While in this role Nick successfully led the litigation to oppose the AGL Floating Gas Terminal in Westernport Bay and the Glenaladale Mineral Sands Mine in East Gippsland.
Prior to working as a lawyer, Nick worked with Damien at Australian Ecosystems. Nick undertook a variety of roles over 8 years including working on the planting crew, in the plant nursery, managing the seed bank and ultimately as an ecological consultant.
Nick lives and works in the inner north of Melbourne on Wurundjei Woi Wurrung Country.