Dr John Winter is a wildlife ecologist with thirty five years experience in Far North Queensland and is.  He was the first zoologist sent by Queensland National Parks to the north of the State in 1972.  After thirteen years with the Department he branched out into freelance work. Most of John’s work has been in Cape York Peninsula and the World Heritage Wet Tropics area between Townsville and Cooktown. John is a published researcher, an adjunct Associate Professor with James Cook University and a specialist in mammals. He has focused on fauna surveys and biogeography in the rainforest and the dry tropics; and conducted field studies of possums, quolls, bettongs and rock-wallabies. He discovered a new rodent species in Thornton Peak.  He was also founding president of the Tree Kangaroo and Mammal Group, a local community organisation which has received government funding for numerous projects. He was the recipient of the Wet Tropics Management Authority’s Cassowary Award (2001), and the Ravenshoe Information Centre’s  “Sir Rufous Bettong Award” (2008) for his contribution to local conservation.  John has recently also received awards in 2009 for his contribution to conservation of mammals, in particular possums.