Want to get to know the people behind Green Adelaide? It takes a diverse range of skills and experience to create a cooler, greener, wilder Adelaide – and we have incredibly talented and passionate people. From burning for butterflies to potting rare and threatened plant species, Matt Endacott’s varied workdays are helping make a difference across the Adelaide coast.
Read on to get to know Matt and what his role as a Coastal Conservation Officer is like.
‘It’s not every day that you have your dream job, so I enjoy every aspect of my job.
I’ve worked in the environment industry for 15 years. Before working at Green Adelaide, I studied Environmental Management at Flinders University, followed by working at Trees For Life as a Bush For Life coordinator, and then running the contract arm at Trees For Life.
As part of my work, I run a volunteer nursery called the Valerie Wales Community Nursery. We grow plants for a number of coastal sites, and assist in potting on (aka moving seedlings from trays into tubes) rare and threatened plants grown initially by the South Australia Seed Conservation Centre.
One of my favourite plants is Austral trefoil (Lotus australis). If everyone had this in their garden they would see local butterflies, and it’s great for native bees as well.
Other days, I do a variety of tasks, including communicating with volunteers and land managers, and undertaking site inspections of contracted works (for example, weed removal or native species planting).
The coolest thing I’ve done as part of my work at Green Adelaide would have to be releasing a once locally extinct butterfly known as the yellowish sedge skipper into Aldinga Washpool and seeing the species succeed.
This was followed by an ecological burn undertaken by Kaurna contractors to assist in reviving native plants to make them more favourable for the butterflies.
Outside of work you’ll find me chasing butterflies!
I’ve gone on a number of trips now across the state to look for butterflies to photograph. A lot of the time you have make sure the temperature is perfect, there are no winds and, of course, the species has to be present.
Four butterflies I’ve found that come to mind are:
- Fiery jewel (Hypochrysops ignitus ignites)
- Mallee bronze azure (Ogyris subterrestris subterrestris)
- Large bronze azure (Ogyris halmaturia)
- Bronze ant-blue (Acrodipsas brisbanensis).
Looking for jewel beetles and sun moths is one of my career highlights.
I have provided some new records from around the state to jewel beetle expert Peter Lang and they are now part of his collection.
I was brought up by parents who loved to go camping and hiking. As I got older I appreciated this more and more.
When I went overseas as a kid, I saw things in other countries that led me to change my career path from working in a paint store and being a qualified French Polisher, to caring for the environment that I grew up in.
My favourite animal would be the hooded plover. There is a lot of work done by volunteers to protect this species, and it’s great to collaborate with them and councils who all put in so much time and effort to witness this threatened species fledge.
South Australia has such a diverse environment. Urban development is really causing all types of issues and areas of concern – areas with high biodiversity need to be protected at all costs.
Unfortunately, I see conservation areas getting smaller and smaller. Very rarely do we see areas of high conservation value (aka supporting a range of native plants and animals) expand for future protection.
But, it’s great to work with dedicated volunteers who are really making such a difference across our metro coastline. They put in so much effort and without them the environment would be very difficult to look after.
In my role in Green Adelaide, it’s been great to collaborate to look at long-term restoration of our beautiful coast. There is so much to do and so much to learn, and every day I feel like I am achieving both.
Want to work in the environment sector? Our podcast is an enviro-exclusive on the people, projects, and news of metro SA. Our host, Communications Manager Melissa Martin, interviews a local expert each episode.