Meet Judy Alexander

Joanne HurstMeet the Team

I have a Bachelor of Applied Science (Forestry), Graduate Diploma in OHS, and Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (Parks, Recreation and Heritage) from various universities. I started my career in Botany/Horticulture which l used as a stepping stone into my Forestry degree. I have spent most of my career in Forestry both in the public and private sector, in native forest management and plantation management.

I have been a Forestry auditor for about 20 years, starting in FSC and AFS and migrating into ISO 14001 and various OHS standards. Lately, l am back to focussing on just AFS (Responsible Wood) and FSC.
Photo (left): Julie’s plantation trees.
I do some work for the Victorian government, in the area where we have recently had bad fires. Mostly we focus on environmental crime such as illegal destruction of wildlife, illegal removal of vegetation and people illegally lighting fires and damaging the forest infrastructure. We have had two huge years fighting fires in the Gippsland landscape. Last summer we spent 5 months fighting fires, and we are already 4 months in now and this year we have had about 1.4 million hectares burnt. I perform roles like Wildlife Response (managing burnt and injured wildlife), Patrolling exclusion areas (from people who shouldn’t be in there), Fire investigations and Mapping fires as they burn.

In my free time, l also run a farm. I purchased my farm off my dad before he died, and the farm has been in my family since settlement. I am a proud 5th generationer on the land. I am mostly just cropping at the present because l don’t have time to do anything else with it in terms of stock. The weather has also been really variable and we have been experiencing drought conditions for the last three years. I have my own Eucalypt plantation on part of the farm, and we crop the rest.


Photo: Wedge-tailed Eagle skulls from a Compliance job we ran where a farmer was illegally killing Wedge-tailed Eagles.

I am married to a Canadian (Brad) and we have three furry kids. We are hoping to build a new house on the farm this year, we are just finalising the plans now. It will be 100% off the grid for power, water and sewerage. I am looking forward to having a truly energy efficient and self-sufficient house (no more bills)!