Aaron Organ
Aaron Organ has over 24 years' experience in the environmental field, including 20 years in an environmental consultant capacity. Aaron previously worked as a field ecologist in East Gippsland, and has worked as a ranger and firefighter in Queensland and Victoria. He also has extensive experience in national park and reserve management throughout Australia.
He has extensive knowledge of flora and fauna species and ecological communities, and has played an important role in providing advice on several projects in infrastructure (eg. road, rail, pipelines, utilities), mining and exploration, large scale environment effects statements, environmental impact assessment, and strategic planning and design.
He has been lead author and co-author of over 400 projects and provided expert advice to a range of clients across various industries including proposed wind farms in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, long-term ecological monitoring throughout the Illawarra escarpment New South Wales, and various urban development projects throughout Victoria.
Aaron provides high level advice to clients with respect to their obligations under various Commonwealth and state government environmental legislation and policy, and he regularly represents clients (over 50 hearings) at planning panels and appeals tribunals (e.g. VCAT) as an expert witness, often for highly complex and contentious projects.
Key Skills
- Excellent working relationships with industry organisations and regulatory bodies
- Advanced technical expertise combined with a solutions-focused approach
- Providing due diligence assessments for government, corporate and private developers
- Representing the interests of clients professionally and respectfully
- Expert witness testimony
Major Project Experience
- Berrimal Wind Farm Ecological Assessments (Acciona Energy)
- Growling Grass Frog Litoria raniformis Sub-regional Species Strategy (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), formally DEPI)
- Shaw River Gas Power Plant Project (Santos)
- Stockyard Hill Wind Farm (Origin Energy)
- Strategic Biodiversity Assessments for Melbourne Growth Areas (DELWP and Growth Areas Authority)
- Regional Rail Link (Department of Transport Public Transport Victoria)
- Vegetation Condition and Fuel Load Assessment (DELWP)
- Vegetation mapping and floristic composition throughout western Victoria (DELWP )
- Victorian Desalination Project (Thiess Degremont Joint Venture)
Professional Affiliations
- Australasian Bat Association - Member
- Banksia Foundation - Awards Judge
- BirdLife Australia - Member
- Ecological Society of Australia - Member
- Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) - Member
- Society of Herpetologists - Member
- Urban Development Institute of Australia - EnviroDevelopment National Board Member
- Victorian Planning and Environmental Law Association - Member
