The team at Winton Wetlands manage, monitor and promote the wetlands, providing a world-class experience for visitors and working on the ground to ensure our fauna, flora and unique history are maintained and protected.
Behind The Scenes
Tanya McAlpin
2ICTanya works tirelessly to manage our major infrastructure projects
Chloe Trevena
Events & Marketing AssisstantChloe keeps us connected and is our resident expert in good news stories.
In the Mokoan Hub & Cafe
Sam Trevena
Cafe ManagerSam rules the Mokoan Hub and Café and loves to cook up a storm in the company of her fantastic team.
Ellie Sanders
Assistant Cafe ManagerEllie loves being innovative in the kitchen and prevents staff and visitor sugar and caffeine withdrawals.
Shan Luo
Visitor Experience OfficerShan’s in her element adventuring in nature and puts her tourism background and education to good use with our visitors.
In the Field
David Malone
Senior RangerDave manages the 8750 hectare reserve and is backed by a career built on on-ground efforts, field work experience and environmental science.
Lance Lloyd
Aquatic EcologistLance is our invaluable scientist and brings with him a wealth of scientific experience and first hand, on ground knowledge of the wetlands.
Dr. Lisa Farnsworth
Restoration EcologistLisa is an ecological expert and brings a wealth of knowledge to Winton Wetlands.
Behind The Scenes
Tanya McAlpin
2IC/Manager - Major ProjectsTanya has a professional background in function and event management and has coordinated some of Winton Wetlands most memorable events. In 2019, Tanya’s role took an operational turn where she was charged with managing major infrastructure projects. On a more personal note, Tanya is caffeine dependent and is always looking for her next travel destination. She loves adventures with her family, cooking for many and Fridays.
Spirit Animal: Butterfly – A butterfly’s ideal temperature is 29 degrees. Less than 12 degrees, butterflies are rendered immobile. Same with Tanya.
Habitat: Beach. Ocean. Coastline. Shoreline.
Super power: Flatpak mastery and Simpsons references. Try her sometime. With either.
Chloe Trevena
Events & Marketing AssisstantBorn and raised as a Chesney Vale local, Chloe’s got the best drive time to work out of all the staff (envious!). Social media platforms come second nature to Chloe and you’ll find her whipping up a good news story at the click of the fingers. She’s our Facebook life saver and keeps us connected with our visitors and stakeholders.
Spirit Animal: Lion. Chloe holds great importance in her pride (a.k.a family and friends).
Habitat: Any body of water. Ocean excluded as it is truly petrifying.
Super power: Time travelling. Chloe’s love of Elvis and The Beatles suggests she time-warped to the 2000s from the 60s.
In the Mokoan Hub & Cafe
Samantha Trevena
Café ManagerSam rules the Mokoan Hub and Café and keeps things on the straight and narrow. She’s highly experienced in eating Japanese food and has a dislike towards snakes, spiders and weeds – this is a good reason why she works in the café and not as a Winton Wetlands ranger. She loves to cook up a storm and is proud to be surrounded by her fantastic team.
Spirit Animal: Cat. She’ll always have a cat by her side.
Habitat: The ocean, or caravan with her hubby.
Super power: Secretly a hairdresser!
Ellie Sanders
Assistant Cafe ManagerWithout Ellie the staff at Winton Wetlands would suffer from significant sugar and caffeine withdrawals. Ellie likes to use staff as her test dummies for her new food and beverages inventions – no one has ever been heard complaining about this matter. Ellie is from the land of beef, tango and Malbec – Argentina – and she’s proud of her ability to speak two languages and have an accent that stands out from the crowd in Chesney Vale.
Spirit Animal: Monkey or dog as both have the ability to smile.
Habitat: Kitchen…or a glacier.
Super power: Training staff to become baristas.
Yushan Luo
Visitor Experience OfficerShan’s in her element adventuring in nature and puts her tourism background and education to good use with our visitors. You’ll find Shan biking, paddling, climbing, walking, swimming and definitely not in front of a computer for too long. Shan hails from southern China – she’s a global citizen, multilingual and you can give her a tent or a 5-star hotel, a city or a country town and she’ll be happy.
Spirit Animal: Turtle Mermaid.
Habitat: Nature – anywhere in it.
Super power: Succulent cultivation.
In the Field
Dr. Lisa Farnsworth
Restoration EcologistLisa is our resident doctor. She’s an ecological expert and brings a wealth of knowledge to Winton Wetlands. Born and raised in the Victorian high country, she’s a reptile lover, David Attenborough fan and has a mission to connect people with nature.
Spirit Animal: Thorny devil.
Habitat: Mountains, rivers, deserts – you name it.
Super power: Snake handling.
Lance Lloyd
Aquatic EcologistIntroducing our invaluable scientist, Lance Lloyd! Bringing with him a wealth of scientific experience and first hand, on ground knowledge of the area, Lance has been involved with the restoration of Winton Wetlands for decades. Lance has worked on significant water management projects throughout his career and is highly regarded in his field. We’ve been privileged to see Lance at work – being privy to memorable moments…like the time he found goldfish-carp hybrids and a baby cod!
Spirit Animal: River blackfish.
Habitat: Take a guess!
Super power: Environment repairer.
David Malone
Senior RangerDave manages 8,750 hectares of land whilst the rest of us struggle to keep our backyards weeded. He works like The Flash and is usually one step ahead of the team. His work ethic is backed up by a career built on on-ground efforts, field work experience and studies in Environmental Science. We think Dave secretly likes birdwatching as a hobby but he doesn’t let on much as it might clash with his penchant towards heavy metal bands.
Spirit Animal: Bird of prey. Dave spends a lot of time looking at the ground from an aerial perspective.
Habitat: Music festivals.
Super power: Mapping!