Ever wondered who’s working behind the scenes here at Green Adelaide? Our team has a diverse range of skills, and we pride ourselves on our staff expertise and passion. When it comes to threatened plants, our Flora Ecologist Jack Casley-Smith certainly has that in spades.
Read on to hear about how growing up on a farm led him to career milestones like restoring populations of plants on the brink of extinction.
“Given the unprecedented rate and global scale of ongoing biodiversity loss I want to help reverse these trends where possible.
I am the Flora Ecologist at Green Adelaide. I am involved in many projects and help with various enquiries relating to native plants, including providing management advice for specific species to staff and stakeholders.
I spend most of my time on managing threatened flora recovery actions in metro Adelaide – so, ensuring sites that are inhabited by threatened species are managed for threats such as weeds and overgrazing.
I grew up on a farm on the Fleurieu Peninsula, which is where my initial interest in the environment was fostered.
Growing up working with plants and animals on a farm gave me a strong appreciation for the natural world and helped me realise the impacts and landscape scale changes that modern agriculture has caused.
I’ve been working in the environmental sector for 6 years now, in various roles.
I have volunteered on various flora and fauna surveys around the state, had a short stint working with the PIRSA biosecurity team, and was a Field Officer for Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network in the University of Adelaide.
I’ve been at Green Adelaide in my current role for just over 2 years.
I love the diversity of my job and working with such a range of different teams and experts, but my favourite part is getting to spend time outdoors working in natural systems.
My ‘typical day’ depends a bit on the season.
In winter, I spend most of my time organising threatened species plantings and mapping them using geographic information systems (GIS) software.
Spring is the best time to be out in the field monitoring plant populations and planning site management actions with contractors and landholders.
I’m often out collecting seed in summer and trying out my patience with grass identification.
Then autumn is usually the best time to get stuck into some data management. This includes managing information collected from monitoring and looking at long-term population trends, to keep track of specific species and their conservation requirements.
The coolest thing I’ve been a part of is successfully establishing populations of threatened plant species that will hopefully persist for years to come.
Many of the species I work with are very hard to grow. For example, orchids often have a relationship with fungi that they need to grow, so for some species, it can take years to get from a propagation research lab to being translocated into the wild.
One species that we have recently been able to create new wild populations for is the bayonet spider orchid (Caladenia gladiolata) – a plant that only grows in two places in the world, with the population in metro Adelaide being down to less than 20 individuals.
Fauna surveys are always interesting; handling animals caught in pitfall traps gets you up and close with many very cool creatures.
One of the first animals I ever scooped out of a pitfall trap was a Jan’s banded snake – I had no gloves on and was not expecting such an alarmingly patterned snake!
One of my career highlights was undertaking vegetation surveys in northern WA in 2021. I got to see some of the most beautiful landscapes and pristine ecosystems in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions – the diversity of life there was like nothing I’ve seen before.
I was always interested in biology and the evolution of life, which naturally led me down the path I have taken.
The environment sector and work in species conservation has allowed me to maintain those interests while attempting to make a positive impact.
It’s too hard to choose one favourite plant, but I think rattle-pods are pretty cool plants, especially Crotalaria cunninghamii ssp. sturtii.
I also love native cherry – edible, parasitic, and creates the best shade for relaxing under.
But to be honest, I don’t place much more significance on these two plants than any other.
The statistical likelihood of life on earth and the diversity that has resulted from it is something to be respected and revered.
Seeing species and ecosystems disappear so quickly, while understanding the length of time required for them to have come about, inspires me to act in caring for the environment.”
Want to work in the environment sector? Be inspired by the career journeys of our staff or tune in to our podcast – an enviro-exclusive on the people, projects, and news of metro SA. Our host, Communication Manager Melissa Martin, interviews a local expert each episode.