About QTree
Derek Johnson established QTree in 2007 after 10 years as a botanist at the Queensland Herbarium, as part of the Regional Ecosystem vegetation mapping program across Queensland. He now has 30 years of experience in field ecology.
He has a B.Sc and Grad.Dip.Nat.Res from UNE, Armidale, specialising in plant ecology and natural resource management, and a M.Phil from UQ in predictive forest mapping. He completed a Ph.D in 2025 at the University of the Sunshine Coast, funded by the Australian Koala Foundation. The thesis is on Recovery Responses of Koala Habitat After Fire, and two papers have been published from that work. A third is underway. This work on fire ecology has expanded the ability of QTree to consult on ecological issues, particularly in relation to climate change and its effect on threatened species.
To date, QTree has been engaged on about 170 projects including, but not limited to, coal mines, metalliferous mines, gas fields, rail and highway projects, pipeline projects, powerline projects, threatened species habitat survey, subdivisions, urban landscaping and contamination of vegetation.
QTree's work is usually a balance of field survey, mapping and reporting. The mapping requires in-house GIS (Geographical Information Systems). Access to publicly available databases is frequently required. Sometimes statistical analysis is also required. The need to rely on external expertise is kept to a minimum, but the fauna ecology and some other environmental aspects are ably handled by several trusted and experienced colleagues who also run their own consultancies or work in specialist organisations. More recently, QTree has become focussed on geospatial analysis, using remote sensing imagery such as Sentinel-2 data.
QTree's philosophy is not that of cutting through green tape, it is about working ethically for the most environmentally responsible and sustainable solutions for a client. Clients often find that the greenest solution can also be the cheapest and most efficient.
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Derek Johnson established QTree in 2007 after 10 years as a botanist at the Queensland Herbarium, as part of the Regional Ecosystem vegetation mapping program across Queensland. He now has 30 years of experience in field ecology.
He has a B.Sc and Grad.Dip.Nat.Res from UNE, Armidale, specialising in plant ecology and natural resource management, and a M.Phil from UQ in predictive forest mapping. He completed a Ph.D in 2025 at the University of the Sunshine Coast, funded by the Australian Koala Foundation. The thesis is on Recovery Responses of Koala Habitat After Fire, and two papers have been published from that work. A third is underway. This work on fire ecology has expanded the ability of QTree to consult on ecological issues, particularly in relation to climate change and its effect on threatened species.
To date, QTree has been engaged on about 170 projects including, but not limited to, coal mines, metalliferous mines, gas fields, rail and highway projects, pipeline projects, powerline projects, threatened species habitat survey, subdivisions, urban landscaping and contamination of vegetation.
QTree's work is usually a balance of field survey, mapping and reporting. The mapping requires in-house GIS (Geographical Information Systems). Access to publicly available databases is frequently required. Sometimes statistical analysis is also required. The need to rely on external expertise is kept to a minimum, but the fauna ecology and some other environmental aspects are ably handled by several trusted and experienced colleagues who also run their own consultancies or work in specialist organisations. More recently, QTree has become focussed on geospatial analysis, using remote sensing imagery such as Sentinel-2 data.
QTree's philosophy is not that of cutting through green tape, it is about working ethically for the most environmentally responsible and sustainable solutions for a client. Clients often find that the greenest solution can also be the cheapest and most efficient.
...