apeatt@siltrust.ca

Al Peatt, RPBio, FAPB, has over 35 years’ experience in managing wildlife and habitat. In 1988, he was a founding director of the Okanagan Region Wildlife Heritage Fund Society, now known as the Southern Interior Land Trust.

Al was the senior provincial wildlife/habitat biologist in the Okanagan from 1984 to 2000. He has been a manager of audits and investigations for the BC Forest Practices Board and, from 2013 to 2017, led the Okanagan Nation’s wildlife program.

He is now executive director of the Southern Interior Land Trust and a consulting biologist. “Securing habitat for wildlife and people has been the most important and lasting aspect of my career—it’s very rewarding to see wildlife and people using and enjoying the natural places that SILT has worked so hard to acquire.”

jsteeves@siltrust.ca

Judie Steeves has been writing about the outdoors for nearly five decades, particularly in the Okanagan Valley and B.C.’s interior. She is the author of Okanagan Trips and Trails, with Murphy Shewchuk of Merritt. She wrote an outdoors column called Trailmix for the Kelowna Capital News for 20 years or so and continues to write about outdoors issues for B.C. Outdoors magazine and other publications.

She grew up in the Penticton area rambling the hills and fishing with her Dad, before moving to the coast and later the Cariboo. She returned to the Central Okanagan in 1981 with her young family, and has been fishing, camping and hiking in the area much of her life. Her volunteer work has mostly involved outdoor-focussed projects as well, with three land trusts, the Peachland Sportsman’s Association, the Central Okanagan Naturalists’ Club and the Okanagan Xeriscape Association. She joined the board of SILT in 2009.

sashpole@siltrust.ca

Sara Ashpole is a Restoration Ecologist at St. Lawrence University (NY) where she is Chair of the Environmental Studies Department. Sara informs international and national policy by providing scientific expertise as the Canadian co-chair for the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group (since 2015) and served as a member of the independent advisory panel for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada Amphibian and Reptile Subcommittee (2013-2021). Sara has had positions on numerous boards of directors, and is currently a coordinating editor for the journal Restoration Ecology.

Sara has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the University of Guelph. Her research interests working for Environment Canada examining the impact of industrial persistent environmental contaminants and embryonic deformities in turtles was the basis of her Master’s of Science in Zoology & Toxicology, University of Guelph. Realizing the complexity of challenges to species survival in a highly modified landscape, Sara pursued a Ph.D. in Conservation Planning at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.

Since 1999, Sara's research has been collaborative with non-governmental organizations, as well as governmental organizations from the regional to federal level. Her environmental research has also included working closely with Indigenous peoples and private landowners in the Great Lakes region and the Okanagan River Valley, British Columbia. Research Projects include long term amphibian population monitoring, wetland construction and rehabilitation, road ecology, alien vertebrate species eradication, agricultural eco-toxicology, landowner stewardship, community outreach, education, and citizen science.

gwilson@siltrust.ca

Gord and his wife Shelley moved to the Okanagan in 1980 where they owned and operated a successful construction business for more than 37 years.

Gord’s keen interest in the outdoors and the natural world led to his involvement as a director and treasurer with the Peachland Sportsmen’s Association for more than 30 years. Gord joined the Board of the Southern Interior Land Trust in 2011 and is currently the organization’s secretary / treasurer.

He is now retired from the construction business and lives in the Vernon area.

k.moran@siltrust.ca

Kasey Moran is a PhD candidate in John Richardson’s Stream and Riparian Areas Research Lab with the Forest and Conservation Sciences department of UBC Vancouver. Her research is focussed on rivers and cottonwood forests in the Similkameen, with an emphasis on the ecological effects of river engineering and prospects for restoration.

She has done thesis work around aquatic invertebrate responses to surface and groundwater interactions in streams. She has worked as an ecosystem technician for Canadian Wildlife Service and as a laboratory technician for an evolutionary genomics lab at UBC.

She also has a background in fine arts: her paintings have been exhibited at a small number of galleries in Penticton and Vancouver, and she has produced illustrations for scientific journals, teaching manuals, posters, and brochures. For more than a decade she lived in the Penticton, Okanagan Falls and Twin Lakes areas and she still has connections to family and community there.

“I’m excited to take an active role in conserving wildlife habitat as a SILT board member,” she comments.

dchapman@siltrust.ca

Danielle has been interested in land preservation for most of her life; getting involved with SILT was a no-brainer! Growing up in the South Okanagan she was blessed to have the opportunity to be exposed to the many natural wonders of the region.  She is particularly interested in preserving and protecting lands for future generations to have the same incredible opportunity to experience the beautiful natural areas that she grew up exploring.

As a real estate professional, Danielle has developed an intimate understanding of real property market awareness, useful in identifying potential conservation corridors to further advance the mandate of SILT.

As a mother of 3 young adventurous children, Danielle is passionate about conserving and restoring the areas and wildlife population that she was blessed to have been exposed to as a child.  Back-country camping and hiking with her dad, Danielle discovered so many amazing natural wonders in the Southern Interior region of BC, specifically the Vaseux Lake area, White Lake, McIntyre canyon, Venner Meadows, and over into the Christian Valley and Rock Creek/ Kettle River areas. Fishing in Venner Meadows, learning to fly fish on the Kettle River and finding hike-in camp areas in the summer were some of her fondest childhood memories.

eeverest@siltrust.ca

Elise is a lawyer practicing business law, estate planning and real estate at Pushor Mitchell LLP in Kelowna. Originally from the greater Vancouver area, Elise moved to the Okanagan in 2013 to practice law in a region teeming with potential for her to pursue an abundance of outdoor and recreational opportunities.

Already an avid hiker through university and law school, Elise recognizes the restorative power of "Vitamin N" (nature) to enhance well-being, increase energy and improve creative-thinking, concentration and vitality - all through a simple walk in the woods or listening to the sounds of rushing water and birdsong by a stream or lake. Elise's idea of a perfect vacation is back-country camping and multi-day hiking. Some of her favourite treks in recent years include exploring the Torres del Paine National Park in the Patagonia region of Chile, following the gold rush trail through territorial parks in the Yukon, and sleeping next to the crash of waves along the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island.

When not travelling, Elise and her friends and family are weekend warriors who enjoy adventures close to home. Elise values how blessed we are in the Okanagan and Southern Interior of B.C. to have access to such diversity of wilderness areas and natural habitats. She joined the Souther Interior Land Trust Society as a director to help preserve the serenity and natural wonder of these ecosystems for future generations.

llalach@siltrust.ca

dpogge@siltrust.ca