Board of Directors
Gordon has a keen curiosity about nature and has worked continuously for 40 years to address environmental challenges around the Salish Sea. He has been a forestry worker, an environmental planner for local governments and First Nations, and the conservation director for the Whatcom Land Trust. Gordon moved to Lasqueti in 2009 and joined the LINC Board in 2011. He has been Chair since 2014. He believes the vibrant mix of Lasqueti’s unique landscapes, cultures and ecologies makes this one of the most exciting places to live in the Gulf Islands, and he is grateful to be here.
Lasqueti grabbed Wendy during a January blizzard in 1975 and ever since, it’s felt like the right place to be. She’s lived a typical island lifestyle in an array of dwellings — tent, tipi, floathouse, her own hand built house — while doing a mixed bag of jobs — cooking, gardening, plumbing. Plants, yoga and food have been constant threads; how their interaction contributes to health Intrigues Wendy. Being involved with LINC is a creative way to encourage the natural world to thrive on this island she is lucky enough to call home.
James has been a property owner on Lasqueti island since 1984. He finally retired from his landscape garden business on Salt Spring Island a few years ago and is now a full time resident.
Shirley has been involved with various aspects of the environmental movement for the last 40 years. Earlier being an active supporter of the “Save Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park” from old growth logging through the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and as a Director of WILD, the international offshoot of the Wilderness Committee that has campaigned for the rights of indigenous communities to keep their lands from the intrusion of development. For the last 30 years she has called Lasqueti home and involved herself in various social causes on island. She has a background in social work and finance
Sheila first came to Lasqueti by sailboat in the mid-’90s from Salt Spring Island. She has worked in the environmental education and conservation fields for most of her life, bringing people together to share their knowledge and inspiration about nature. As founding Executive Director of the Land Trust Alliance of BC, she has worked with many other conservationists for 25 years. With fellow Salt Spring Islander, Judi Stevenson, she coordinated and edited the Islands in the Salish Sea community mapping project and award-winning Atlas.
A Professor Emeritus at the School of Resource and Environmental Management at SFU, Ken is a forest ecologist specializing in the temperate rainforests of the west coast of North America, and has published extensively on old growth forests. Much of his recent research examines how changing climate drives ecosystem change, including effects on fires and watershed hydrology. Ken has received awards for research, contributions to forest management and conservation, and for education and community engagement.
Duane West and his husband Tejomaya moved to Lasqueti from Gabriola Island in the fall of 2018. Shortly after while standing in the yard of their place at the base of Earl’s Mountain he heard a strong voice state, “this is the home you have been seeking all your life”. Could it have been Johnny Osland? Retired from a conservation career with Parks Canada in 7 National Parks from Cape Breton Highlands to Kluane, Duane’s passions include hiking and amending soil.
Kaia spent her childhood being home-schooled in the intertidal zone of the Southern Gulf Islands, and also the concrete jungle of Tokyo. She arrived on Lasqueti in 2019 and feels very fortunate to have found a place to grow vegetables and build a house. As a marine biologist examining our role as humans in the ecological matrix, Kaia is in awe of the ecological and cultural richness of the North Pacific, and is grateful for the ability to live and learn on the lands stewarded by the Coast Salish peoples since time immemorial.