By Jed Lanyon
A man who died following a skiing accident at Mount Bogong on Thursday 29 August has been identified as Healesville resident and forest ecologist David Blair.
Police believe the 48-year-old was skiing with a group of friends before he was injured in a fall.
The group notified emergency services about 5.30pm on Thursday 29 August but he had died by the time search and rescue police, SES, and wilderness paramedics reached him at 6.30am on Friday 30 August.
Dr Blair’s death is not being treated as suspicious and police will prepare a report for the Coroner.
He was a husband and a father of two, and was a senior research officer for the Australian National University Fenner School of Environment and Society.
Dr Blair received his doctorate just six weeks ago.
He had studied mountain ash and alpine ash forests intensively for more than 10 years following the Black Saturday bushfires, looking at post-fire and post-logging vegetation recovery.
Environmental group Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum paid tribute to Dr Blair on social media.
“Dr Blair gave his time and wisdom generously to the group in the pursuit of advancing conservation of the Leadbeater’s Possum and its forest ecosystem,” the post read.
“David’s legacy will always be the intelligent dialogue, good humour and passion he brought to the group over the past 14 years.”
Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum president Steve Meacher told the Mail: “It’s a huge loss to the Healesville community, forest community and to David’s family. We’re all still coming to terms with it at this stage.”
Mr Meacher said that Dr Blair was hands-on with his work and was often measuring trees and recording the presence of bird species.
“He was hugely knowledgeable, competent and very intelligent. He was very generous with his time often leading tours on weekends,” he said.
Mr Meacher said that Dr Blair loved to play soccer with his two sons, while his wife was the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum founder.
“He was just one of those people who was so very much involved in his community,” he said.
