The EnviroKey team is led by Company Directors Principal Ecologist Steve Sass and Senior Ecologist Linda Sass and comprises professional and administration staff including ecologists, botanists and GIS analysts.
This page provides an overview of each of our Company Directors.
Steve Sass, Principal Ecologist
Academic Qualifications
Bachelor of Applied Science (Environmental Science) (Honours) CSU
Graduate Certificate in Captive Vertebrate Management CSU
Honours Thesis title “Determinants of reptile diversity in a fragmented landscape”
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
Certified Environmental Practitioner – Environment Institute of Australia & New Zealand
Ecological Consultants Association of NSW
Steve is a Director and the Principal Ecologist at EnviroKey. He is a highly experienced ecologist having undertaken hundreds of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity surveys across Australia since 1992. Steve has an in-depth working knowledge of environmental and biodiversity legislation across all states and territories which allows him to provide detailed and accurate assessments and formulate practical solutions to clients and specific projects on a case-by-case basis. Over the past 20 years, he has completed or provided specialist biodiversity advice to more than 1,000 environmental assessments for projects such as residential and industrial developments, highway upgrades and telecommunications, water, sewerage, energy, mining and electricity network infrastructure projects.
Previous and current research holds Steve in high regard within both the scientific and ecological consultants’ community. To date, Steve has published, submitted or has in preparation, 42 manuscripts within scientific journals, most of which are related to threatened species survey, monitoring or management. Steve was recently assigned ‘Expert Status’ for a number of species listed under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and he was invited to be a sitting member of the Expert Panel as part of a review of wildlife licensing making key recommendations to the Minister. He was one of the first ecologists in NSW to become an Accredited Assessor under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
Steve’s career highlight is the recent discovery of a new species of lizard in western NSW; the Barrier Range Dragon (Ctenophorus mirrityana). Steve played a pivotal role in collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Museum Victoria and EnviroKey to formally describe this new species which was recently published in the Journal of the Australian Museum.
Linda Sass, Senior Ecologist
Academic Qualifications
AssocDeg. Gen. St (Science) (CSU)
B. A, Dip. Ed (Sec), CSU
Cert III Captive Animal Management (Western Sydney TAFE)
Deans Award for Academic Excellence
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
Ecological Consultants Association of NSW
Linda is a Director and the Senior Ecologist at EnviroKey. She is a highly experienced ecologist having undertaken hundreds of terrestrial biodiversity surveys across western and southern NSW since 2005. She has an excellent working knowledge of environmental and biodiversity legislation and subsequently, she has prepared hundreds of environmental assessments including biodiversity assessment, Review of Environmental Factors and site management plans.
One of Linda’s career highlights includes the discovery of the only known population of Silky Swainson-pea in the Snowy Valleys Council area of NSW and preparing the environmental assessment for the first Rail Trail project in NSW (Tumbarumba to Rosewood).