Spencer Shaw - Peachester Bioblitz

Maleny resident Spencer Shaw’s passion for nature has deep roots. 

Living on Jinibara country in Maleny, Spencer (pictured on right with Martin Bennett left) works as an ecological restoration practitioner and entrepreneur in the well respected Brush Turkey Enterprises, a business he founded with Karen Shaw 25 years ago. More recently, eight years ago, they also started a specialist retail native plant nursery, Forest Heart ecoNursery in Maleny.

Spencer joined our Bioblitz at Peachester State Forest on Saturday as he wanted to check out “a bit of new country and hopefully find a few uncommon species that are found in nearby reserves that have been surveyed more extensively”.

“It’s the first one I’ve gone to, but the opportunity to work with the amazing team that were undertaking this Bioblitz, who were actively assessing and helping preserve the amazing biodiversity on this little bit of Jinibara Country was a big motivator for going along,” he said.

“For the future, we need remnant native forests like this to be protected, but also to expand and grow new native forests so that we can create more habitat and be locally sustainable in our need for timber.”

Asked whether there was a particular national park he felt connected to, Spencer said “I know it's not quite a National Park, but definitely Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve.

It’s a precious but small remnant of the rainforests that once covered the southern end of the Blackall Range,” he said.