Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation

Lynn serves as President and Board Director of Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation and is the Founding Director of Whistler’s Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and a Master’s in Natural Resource and Environmental Management. Throughout her 35-year working career and, more recently, in retirement, Lynn has served in a variety of roles in water protection and sustainability. Her passion for stewardship and citizen science is driven by her belief that the work of Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation is, in some small way, protecting Whistlers’ lakes for generations to
come. Lynn leads an energetic, healthy lifestyle – enjoying road trips and spending time with family and friends at their 1943 cabin on Alta Lake.

Peggy is a retired family counselor and certified mediator. She was a founding member and secretary of the Whistler Lakes Conservation Association and now a Director involved in Community Outreach for the Foundation. Her favourite volunteer contribution is monitoring Lost Lake.

The WLCF’s treasurer is John Doyle, a retired financial advisor with a major Canadian bank and a full time Whistler resident. When not on the pickleball court or his motorcycle he can be found golfing, cycling and working part time as a ski instructor/coach in the winter.

John is on his strata council and has been team leader or team member on several pro bono dental missions around the world. He grew up sailing back east and recognizes the importance and need to protect Whistler’s wonderful lakes. 

Nick Collins spent 44 years as a professor of Biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Early on in his career he studied ecosystems in extreme environments like Yellowstone hot springs and the Great Salt Lake, because they involved only a few tolerant species that made detailed study of the whole system feasible.  Then he discovered that ecological questions he’d been asking about how extreme ecosystems worked were also key questions for understanding the more typical ecosystems of freshwater lakes.

A grad student inspired him to use the “new” and relatively clunky video surveillance technology of the 90s to study how fish and bottom organisms actually behaved outside the lab in lakes. He studied fish traffic and feeding patterns to understand why fish small lakes seemed unable to take advantage of an abundant food supply.  He particularly enjoyed teaching a course in freshwater biology because it encouraged students to integrate phenomena from physics, geology, geography, chemistry, biology, and sociology. It also involved field trips that brought largely urban students out to an Ontario countryside in glorious fall colours, put them into small boats on lakes in both day and night, and helped them discover fascinating things about lake environments and the organisms living there. 

Since becoming involved with the WLCF lake monitoring program in 2021 he’s been delighted to help summarize and interpret what our data are telling us about how Whistler Lakes are being affected by local human impacts and climate change.

Tom was an Associate Professor of Law at UBC and then practised corporate commercial law for 58 years. He has had extensive Board experience including past Chair of the Health Professions Review Board, the Vancouver Economic Commission, the Vancouver Aquarium, BC Sports Hall of Fame and Discovery Foundation. He was a founding member in 2020 of Whistler Lakes Conservation Association and now he is Chair of the Foundation.

I am a retired businessman and long-term resident of Whistler. I spent most of my life in Whistler and Alta Lake in particular. My parents purchased a fishing lodge on Alta Lake in 1965 and I spent many winters and summers helping out in the lodge. At that early age I knew I would move to Whistler and make it my home. I raised 2 beautiful daughters here who are now off in university and come home to Whistler to work in the summer. I have served on the board of other non-profits. Most recently the board of Whistler Community Service Society. Volunteering for this organization was one of my most rewarding experiences I have had. The dedication of the people who run it and the services they offer to our community is outstanding.

Whistler started as a summer resort with the many fishing lodges on Alta Lake. I have seen the growth of Whistler over this time and the impact the growth is having on our lakes and rivers. I became a founding member of the Whistler Lake Conservation Foundation as I am concerned of the impact this growth is having. At the time there wasn’t any government or non-profit organization looking out for our lakes and rivers. I am happy that our foundation is now looking out for the health and long-term viability of our precious resource. I’m very happy to volunteer and serve on the board of this important foundation.

Andrew is an enthusiastic leader and entrepreneur with a love for the outdoors and a deep commitment to sustainability. As COO of 7Gen, he’s at the forefront of promoting the adoption of Commercial Electric Vehicles (EVs), driving efforts to reduce carbon emissions in transportation.

His outdoors pursuits include hiking, skiing, mountain biking, backcountry camping & sailing. His biggest trips to-date have been a transpacific ocean crossing of 7,000km where he spent 27 days at sea and a 34,000km drive across Canada.

Andrew’s passion for the environment shines through his role as Director of the Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation, where he actively works to protect Whistler’s lakes and natural ecosystems.

He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce from the Sauder School of Business. Andrew has completed the Innovation Governance Program from the Canadian Council of Innovators and the Not-For-Profit Governance Designation through ICD.

Tim is a part-time resident of Whistler who resides on the shores of Alpha Lake. He’s presently a volunteer member of Whistler’s Lake Monitoring Program. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and a Master’s degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Management from the University of Victoria. Upon graduation, he worked at the Institute of Ocean Sciences on the environmental team assessing potential oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea, as a Land Use Planner with BC Ministry of Agriculture and as a Parks Planner with the BC Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing. After these employment experiences, he established and continues to operate, though semi-retired, an environmental services consulting firm for over 30 years providing a range of varied environmental services including agricultural land use planning, fish habitat restoration and enhancement, environmental impact assessment, contaminated site remediation, and environmental management planning. Throughout his consultancy, his main client has been and continues to be BC First Nations. To that end, while operating his environmental consulting firm, he also worked full-time for 16 years with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) as the Senior Environmental Specialist in BC for Treaty and Self-Government. He’s eager to work with Whistler residents, Squamish Nation and Lil’wat Nation to contribute in whatever ways needed to achieve the sustainable management and protection of Whistler’s and the First Nations’ abundant and unparalleled environmental resources.