Botanical North is a specialist environmental consultancy led by Principal Botanist Basil Byrne, who brings over two decades of experience working in Northern Australia.
Basil has delivered botanical and ecological services throughout Cape York, Far North Queensland and the Kimberley, supporting government, mining and private sector projects in remote and complex environments. Her experience includes vegetation and threatened species surveys, rehabilitation monitoring, weed management programs, seed collection and propagation, and environmental compliance reporting.
With senior consultancy and project management experience, Basil provides practical, regulation-ready advice grounded in extensive field knowledge. Botanical North offers regionally informed, site-specific solutions, with a strong focus on delivering reliable outcomes across the full project lifecycle.
Extensive experience leading botanical and ecological projects within environmental consultancies, including project delivery, reporting, and field-based survey programs across northern Australia.
Delivery of vegetation surveys, rehabilitation monitoring, threatened species assessments and environmental compliance reporting for mining and infrastructure projects in remote and operational environments.
Work undertaken for State and Local Government and not-for-profit organisations, including vegetation mapping, weed management programs, seed collection and propagation, and land rehabilitation initiatives.
Client: Weipa Town Authority / Rio Tinto Weipa
Location: Weipa, QLD
Services: Seed collection, plant propagation and supply, site planting design and species selection
Duration: Ongoing
Delivered in collaboration with Evolution Civil and Mining.
This project supports town-wide revegetation and urban greening initiatives. Works have included planting Paperbarks in major drainage lines to recreate natural systems and establish wildlife corridors, as well as planting parks and public spaces with bird- and butterfly-attracting species to provide shade and habitat.
Client: Rio Tinto
Location: Weipa, QLD
Services: Rehabilitation monitoring, field data collection, analysis and reporting
Duration: 2019–2024
Rehabilitation monitoring was undertaken across multiple rehabilitation age classes (1-year, 2-year and 10-year post-seeding), including fire monitoring and weed surveys. The work provided data-driven recommendations to support adaptive rehabilitation management.
Note: Undertaken while working as Principal Botanist with Ecotone Flora Fauna Consultants.
Client: Cape Commodities
Location: Urquhart Point, near Weipa
Services: Threatened species survey, Secondary and quaternary surveys for Regional Ecosystem (RE) mapping, RE verification, seed bank (topsoil) emergence
Client: State Government (WA)
Location: Kununurra, Kimberley, WA
Services: Vegetation surveys and mapping, threatened species surveys, weed surveys, Gouldian Finch habitat monitoring, environmental compliance auditing
Duration: 4 years
This long-term project supported environmental compliance and monitoring requirements across a large-scale irrigation scheme, including vegetation condition assessment and habitat monitoring for key species.
