The preparation of this Report for the Australian Capital Region again involved a wide range of expertise and commitment from throughout the Region, and from many different sectors of society. The Report takes into account any changed reporting requirements since the 1997 State of the Environment Report.

Regional State of the Environment project team

The core responsibility for the report preparation has been with the ACT Office of the Commissioner for the Environment. The task could not have been completed without the valued collaboration of the partners which constitute the Australian Capital Region, the ACT Government and the 17 NSW Local Government bodies, each of which provided a member of a Regional State of the Environment Project Team. That team operated to ensure the requirements of each Government were clearly understood and communicated, and to organise the necessary transmission of data. Members of that team also took the responsibility for checking details of the relevant Local Government Authority State of the Environment reports which were individually produced by the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment, and combined and interpreted to give the Regional report. In that way, the individual Local Government Authorities took the responsibility to check all the content and functionality of their respective reports. The Regional State of the Environment Project Team has developed into a very closely knit working unit.

Reference groups

I retain a very significant respect for those experts in the Region who have given their time to serve on the Reference Groups, which debated all major Issues within the Themes of the 2000 State of the Environment Report. The Chairpersons of the Reference Groups are to be particularly thanked for their organising roles, and for agreeing to form, with Molly Harriss-Olson as Chair, a special Group to advise on the distinctive challenge of addressing Progress Towards Sustainability. Each Reference Group member deserves an individual acknowledgement. They represent a powerful and influential linkage from the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment to the community of the Australian Capital Region.

Officers of the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment

Dr Helen Sims, Manager of the ACT Office of the Commissioner for the Environment, has again been the lynch-pin for the State of the Environment Report. She has maintained a close interaction with all Shires and with the ACT, through designated contacts, and also with the members of the Reference Groups, and different people in the ACT and Federal governments. Concurrently, she has served on the Committee developing Core Indicators for the National State of the Environment reporting process, and we benefit directly and indirectly from that involvement. Helen has also contributed in a major way by her careful interpretation of data, and by her close interaction with the specialist writers we have contracted to prepare components of the report. Her background experience in the ACT Government system has always been valuable, and she remains a full partner in the work of the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment.

The day-to-day involvement with the Local Government representatives on the State of the Environment Project Team was in the hands of the enthusiastic Emma Hopkins who achieved significant progress in her management of the Local Government Development Project to standardise data collection across the Shires, and arrange the data collection and coordination with writers, before leaving to take a more senior position in Melbourne.

Pauline Carder quickly assumed a comprehensive oversight of the Regional interactions and has been very effective and efficient in assisting with all aspects of the Report coordination, development of a number of summary reports and indicator results, and volumes of editing. We have been very fortunate to have two such enthusiastic and communicative people in these essential functions. Pauline combines these duties with financial management of the Office, and it is a fair assessment - even a classic understatement - that one has to be multi-skilled to work in the preparation of State of the Environment reports.

However, the workload is too diverse, and often too specialised, to be able to be managed by our core staff of 2.4 positions (my appointment is about 0.3 to 0.4 full-time equivalents).

In the report-preparation period, we have benefited from short-term dedicated appointments of Bronwyn Trevethan (data analysis and presentation), Chris Comer (GIS Map preparation), and Celia Walsh (liaison with those responsible for data sources, and data collection). Celia had also assisted with the 1997 State of the Environment report, and her experience and enthusiasm were very valuable.

Consultants

The value of experience and on-going collaboration with proven performers was also evident in the contract with Communication Breakthrough and its principal, Cathy Nicoll, who had worked with us in the planning and preparation of previous State of the Environment reports. Cathy's association with the State of the Environment reporting process is indeed long-standing and intimate. She has assisted with the design and description of Indicators and of Issues, and brought technological expertise to a wide range of mapping and composition challenges. Cathy has also involved Roger Nicoll and Steven Wardle in this consultancy which has also involved an overall editing function for consistency and for cross-referencing of information.

Expert specialist writers were also recruited for presentation of summary reports on specific Themes, or sections of Themes—Sara Beavis of CRES (Water); Roger Beckmann of Beckmann and Associates (Atmosphere); Dr Jeanette Lindesay of the Dept of Geography and Human Ecology at the ANU (rainfall and temperature analysis, graphs and tables); Ann Lyons-Wright (Human Settlement); Claire Middleton of Smith Kostyrko Cohen Middleton Pty Ltd (Human Settlement); Nic Gellie of EcoGIS Consulting Services (vegetation data analysis, graphs and tables); Cathy Nicoll of Communication Breakthrough (Land); and Roland Breckwoldt and Jennifer Andrew of Resource Policy and Management Pty Ltd (Biodiversity). Again, the professional products have been enhanced by the close personal interaction between the writers and staff of the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment.

It is a pleasure to record our appreciation of the wide spectrum of support for State of the Environment reporting in the Australian Capital Region.

Dr Joe Baker AO OBE

Commissioner for the Environment, ACT

State of the Environment project team

Bega Valley—Danny Madigan
Bombala—John Hrobelko
Boorowa—Colin Owers
Cooma-Monaro—Peter Smith, Peter Beer
Crookwell—Jim Tremaine, Stephanie Mowle
Eurobodalla—Peter Tegart, Sue Christie
Goulburn—Lorena Blacklock, Dianne James
Gunning—Mark Edwards, Alison Blackburn, Angela Pyett
Harden—Craig Filmer, Peter Johnson
Mulwaree—Keith Allen
Queanbeyan—Mike Thompson, Natasha Abbott
Snowy River—Gina McConkey, Viv Straw, Murray Blackburn-Smith
Tallaganda—Kylie Waters, Alan Bawden
Tumut—The Staff of Tumut Shire Council, and in particular, Ken Fletcher
Yarrowlumla—Yarrowlumla Shire Councillors, staff & community
Yass—Neil Hausfeld, Ben Ponton, Scott McDonald, Leon Rodwell
Young—Brian Page, Laura Schweiger, Craig Filmer, Katrina Hudson, Philip Glover

Reference groups

Human settlement

Prof Lyndsay Neilson, Centre for Developing Cities, Environmental Design, University of Canberra
Mr Darren Crombie/Dr Kevin Frawley, National Capital Authority
Ms Caroline LeCouteur, Australian Conservation Foundation
Mr Ken Johnson, Geography Department, Australian National University
Mr Jeremy Morris, Consultant/Canberra Business Council
Ms Nicky Davies, Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra
Mr Bob Harrison, Australian Bureau of Statistics
Mr Graham Mannall, ACT Waste
Mr Rod Burgess, Australian Capital Region Development Council
Professor Pem Gerner, Centre for Developing Cities, University of Canberra
Mr Alan Wade, ActewAGL
Dr Janis Birkeland, Environmental Design, University of Canberra

Biodiversity

Dr Don McMichael, CBE, Consultant
Dr Ian Naumann, CSIRO Entomology
Dr David Shorthouse, Environment ACT, Wildlife Research and Monitoring
Mr Mark Lintermans, Environment ACT, Wildlife Research and Monitoring
Mr Bruce Lindenmayer, Canberra Ornithologists Group Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra
Dr Robert Boden, Consultant
Dr Allen Kearns, CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology
Mr Geoff Butler, Consultant Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra
Dr Denis Saunders, CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology

Atmosphere

Professor Tony Jakeman, CRES, Australian National University
Mr Keith Colls, Bureau of Meteorology
Dr Mark Paterson, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests Australia
Dr Janette Lindesay, Geography Dept, Australian National University
Mr Wayne Riley, ACT Government Analytical Laboratories ACT Health
Mr Mike Hutchinson, CRES, Australian National University

Land

Professor Henry Nix, AO, CRES, Australian National University
Dr David Williams, Faculty of Applied Science, University of Canberra
Ms Penny Greenslade, CSIRO Entomology
Dr David Tongway, CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology
Dr John Raison, CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products
Mr Harold Adams, CBE, ACT Rural Lessees' Association
Ms Mariann Lloyd-Smith, National Toxics Network

Water

Professor Richard Norris, CRC for Fresh Water Ecology, University of Canberra
Mr Ian Lawrence, CRC for Fresh Water Ecology, University of Canberra
Mr Cary Reynolds, Consultant
Mr Gerry Jacobson, Australian Geological Survey Office
Professor Bill Maher, Applied Science, University of Canberra
Mr Greg Keen, Environment ACT
Professor Bob Wasson, CRES, Australian National University
Mr Alan Wade, ActewAGL
Mr Nelson Quinn, Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Coordinating Committee

Towards sustainability

Ms Molly Harriss-Olson, Chair Consultant
Professor Richard Norris, Chair Water Reference Group
Professor Henry Nix, AO Chair Land Reference Group
Prof Lyndsay Neilson, Chair Human Settlement Reference Group
Dr Don McMichael, CBE Chair Biodiversity Reference Group
Professor Tony Jakeman, Chair Atmosphere Reference Group
Mr John Schooneveldt, Nature and Society Forum
Dr Meg Keen, Geography Department, Australian National University
Ms Fiona Wain, Environmental Management Industries Association of Australia