Peter Stanton

James Peter Stanton (born 23 April 1940) is an Australian landscape ecologist, fire ecologist, botanist and biogeographer who individually conducted systematic environmental resource surveys throughout Queensland whilst working for the National Parks department of Forestry (Qld.) from 1967–1974. He carried out his assessments in a range of dissimilar landscapes leading to the identification and protection of many critically threatened ecosystems across the state during a period of rapid and widespread land development under the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. For this work he became the first Australian to receive the IUCN Fred M. Packard Award in 1982.

He was involved in two incidents where implemented or proposed disciplinary actions became prominent controversies. The first began with him standing in the path of bulldozers, the other with ordering that a vehicle and items seized from a smuggler be turned over to the police rather than being handled by higher-ups in his organization.

Since 2003, Stanton has worked with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy as a fire and vegetation ecologist. Provided by Wikipedia