Field Notes Ep. 2: Catch-Ups with a Conservation Scientist

Conservation Conversations from Passel Estate

Field Notes is an ongoing series documenting the evolving relationship between conservation, biodiversity and wine country here at Passel Estate.

Throughout the opening episodes of this series, we’ll be following a new, upcoming biodiversity survey taking place across the estate while also exploring the broader conversations shaping conservation throughout Margaret River and the Southwest.

This spring, conservation scientist Dr Rochelle Steven will return to Passel Estate to lead a biodiversity baseline survey documenting everything from Western Ringtail Possums and birdlife through to habitat quality, acoustic monitoring and the broader ecological health of the property. Before the first spotlight survey begins, however, we would like to introduce the person helping shape the work. Dr Rochelle Steven‘s connection with Passel Estate stretches back many years and has become an important part of our conservation story.

What began as a conversation with Rochelle about an upcoming biodiversity survey quickly became something much broader. Within minutes we were talking about birdwatching tourism, private land conservation, threatened species, independent wineries and why places like Margaret River may be uniquely positioned to bring all of those ideas together. It quickly became clear the upcoming survey was only one chapter in a much bigger conversation about conservation, landscape and the future of wine country itself.

More Than a Conservation Scientist

Spend a few minutes talking with Rochelle and it becomes clear that conservation rarely exists in isolation. Birds lead into tourism. Tourism leads into regional development. Regional development leads into agriculture, before somehow circling back to biodiversity again.

It’s a perspective that’s shaped much of Rochelle’s career as a conservation scientist whose work explores the relationship between people and nature; or more specifically, biodiversity, tourism and community conservation engagement.

Based at Murdoch University, Rochelle lectures in Recreation Ecology and Nature-Based Tourism, and Protected Area Management and Sustainability while continuing her diverse research as an Adjunct Research Fellow.

While birds are perhaps the area she’s best known for, it was a Western Ringtail Possum research project that first brought Dr Steven to Western Australia more than eight years ago. That work would eventually lead to an unexpected connection with Passel Estate and, years later, the current biodiversity survey work now planned across the property.

But ecology is only one part of the story. Whether discussing vineyards, tourism, private land conservation, or threatened species, Rochelle consistently returns to the same idea: meaningful conservation rarely happens in isolation.  It depends just as much on people, partnerships and the landscapes they share as it does on the science itself.

An Unconventional Path into Conservation

One of the more surprising parts of the conversation in the lead-up to the planned surveys here at Passel Estate had nothing to do with conservation at all.

Before returning to study at university, Rochelle had spent almost a decade working in retail, selling prestige cosmetics and jewellery before deciding to begin tertiary studies at the age of 26. It wasn’t the conventional pathway into environmental science, but it’s one she believes shaped the way she approaches her work today. 

“I brought a unique set of skills, as it were, to my science career.”

Those skills acquired in her previous career weren’t built collecting ecological data or undertaking field surveys. They were about understanding people, building relationships, finding common ground and communicating ideas – something Rochelle says has been key in the direction her career has taken.

Instead of spending her days working at a computer or solely undertaking fieldwork, much of Rochelle’s work has centred on collaborating with communities, private landholders and industry, helping bridge the gap between conservation science and the people capable of putting it into practice.

That people-first approach would eventually become one of the reasons Passel Estate and Rochelle’s work naturally aligned.

How Passel Estate Became Part of the Story

Rochelle’s connection with Passel Estate wasn’t something either side had planned.  At the time, she was leading a Western Ringtail Possum research project that relied heavily on community engagement and citizen science to better understand the ecology of the species. During one of those community presentations, she met a member of the Passel Estate tasting room team who also happened to be a wildlife rehabilitator.

That conversation would become the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the estate.

Around the same time, Rochelle was looking for private landholders willing to establish food trees for Western Ringtail Possums as part of her research project. With community planting days already taking place at Passel Estate, the collaboration came together naturally.

“I had a whole bunch of trees as well that I needed to plant as part of my project… I wasn’t getting enough small private landholders involved. There just weren’t as many people as I needed to get these trees in the ground.”

Rochelle contributed several hundred food trees to the early planting days at Passel Estate, creating what she describes as “a really awesome positive story” that emerged from the project.

Rochelle later helped Barry and Wendy develop elements of the estate’s early Nature Refuge and Nature & Wine Walk interpretation and, in a happy twist, even spent several months working here in our cellar door while living in the region, drawing on her own sales history and passion for amazing wine.

It’s not the sort of detail you’d normally expect to hear from a conservation scientist, but perhaps that’s exactly the point.

By the time discussions turned to biodiversity surveys years later, Rochelle wasn’t returning to a property she barely knew. She was returning to a place whose conservation story she had helped shape from its earliest years.

Looking Beyond Possums

While the upcoming biodiversity survey may focus on Western Ringtail Possums, Rochelle sees it as part of a much broader opportunity.

Her work has long explored the relationship between conservation, tourism and the role privately managed landscapes can play in protecting biodiversity. It’s why discussions around survey methodology naturally lead into destination development, independent wineries and the changing expectations of visitors exploring regions like Margaret River.

“Food and wine tourism and nature tourism go hand in hand and it’s an opportunity to showcase what the potential is for the Margaret River region.”

Rather than viewing conservation as something separate from agriculture or tourism, Rochelle sees each as an opportunity to strengthen the other.

That same thinking extends to the future of independent wineries.

As larger producers continue to dominate global markets, smaller boutique wineries are increasingly looking for ways to differentiate themselves without losing sight of what they already do best. 

For Rochelle, pairing conservation on private land with wine tourism represents one of those opportunities.

Not as a replacement for great wine, but as another way of connecting visitors with the landscape that makes regions like Margaret River so distinctive.

For us, it’s a perspective that resonates strongly with the direction Passel Estate has been steadily moving towards since its very beginnings.

The upcoming biodiversity survey isn’t simply about documenting what’s already here. It’s an opportunity to better understand the ecological value of the property while contributing to a broader conversation about how conservation, agriculture and tourism can continue evolving together across Margaret River and the wider Southwest.

Where the Conversation Leads Next

One topic once again, naturally led to another.

Western Ringtail Possums led to habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation led to extinction debt.

Private land conservation opened discussions around tourism, while conversations about wine somehow circled back to biodiversity once again.

None of those ideas can be properly explored in a single article and fortunately, they don’t have to be.

Over the coming Field Notes series, we’ll continue unpacking questions with Rochelle, like:

• If Western Ringtail Possums are still seen so regularly, why are they considered critically endangered?
• What exactly is extinction debt, and why do conservation scientists believe we’re still living with decisions made decades ago?
• How important are privately managed properties like Passel Estate to the long-term survival of threatened species?
• Could biodiversity become part of the future identity of Margaret River wine tourism?
• And what actually happens during a biodiversity survey once the sun goes down?

Field Notes was created to follow those conversations wherever they lead, documenting not only the science taking place at Passel Estate, but also the bigger ideas beginning to shape the future of conservation across the Southwest.

Next Up

In the next Field Notes entry, we’ll begin unpacking one of the biggest misconceptions in Australian conservation.

If Western Ringtail Possums, Black Cockatoos and Quenda are still seen so regularly, why are they still considered threatened?

As it turns out, the answer is far more complex than most people realise.

To be continued…