full episode

When Jamie fell in love with the mountains

Broadcast Saturday 12 Jan 2019 at 2:05amSat 12 Jan 2019 at 2:05am

Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick is at his happiest when he is on hands and knees crawling through relic vegetation from the cretaceous period.(Ann Jones)

(For RN Summer we're playing the best programs of the year, and this one first aired in June, 2018)

Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick has been crawling across lawns for more than 70 years, it's just that this one is on the top of a mountain and is full of plants from the cretaceous.

Jamie Kirkpatrick in his native environment.

It's an incredibly rare vegetation type, only found in small islands on the top of Tasmania's peaks, and it's one of the reasons that Jamie fell in love with the mountains.

For over 40 years, the geographer has spent time mapping Tasmania's vegetation, aiming to provide the best data possible so that biodiversity might be preserved.

His drive to conserve species doesn't stretch to his veggie garden though, where he can't stop himself pulling out threatened native herbs.

Meet Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick, his wonderfully dark humour and his love for the mountains.