Our Board
The KCP Board is made up of elected representatives and provides strategic direction to the KCP and its various initiatives.
Derek Petersen – Chair
Derek Petersen recently retired after a 40-year career as an Ecosystem Scientist with Parks Canada. Though his career spanned postings in many western and northern Canada locations, most of the last two decades focused on developing and delivering an Ecological Integrity Monitoring Program for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. Derek has enjoyed living and exploring in the East and West Kootenays since he arrived from Jasper in 1993. Derek has been involved with Kootenay Conservation Program since its inception and has been part of the KCP Board since 2007, assuming the Chair role from 2013 to present. Derek has a Master’s degree in Science, an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and Economics and a diploma in Renewable Resources Technology. His current interests include the development of regional scale Conservation Action Plans.
Ian Adams
Ian Adams is based near Cranbrook in the beautiful East Kootenays where he has worked as a professional biologist in many capacities for over 30 years. Much of his work has focused on species at risk. Since 2021, he has been the BC Coordinator for Key Biodiversity Areas with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, identifying sites of high ecological importance around the province. Previous positions include working on behalf of the Ktunaxa Nation Council for wildlife conservation throughout ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa. He has also worked for the Rocky Mountain Trench Ecosystem Restoration Program, has been a consulting ecologist in various capacities and taught undergraduate biology courses at College of the Rockies. Projects he has led include the East Kootenay Urban Deer Translocation Trial, Rocky Mountain Tailed Frog eDNA surveys and previously chaired the BC Badger Recovery Team. Ian is also on the Board of Directors with Columbia Outdoor School / Blue Lake Camp as well as long-time President of Symphony of the Kootenays. He lives with his wife, Kari, and two children who aren’t kids anymore. He enjoys photography and has particular difficulty walking past a flower with a camera.
Suzanne Bayley
Dr. Suzanne Bayley is an expert in the ecology and management of wetlands and shallow lakes. Her primary interest is in applied ecology, effects of climate change on aquatic systems and enhancing the understanding of the value, health, and ecological processes of aquatic systems. She now works increasingly on wildlife with an emphasis on the role of beaver in aquatic systems. She hailed originally from the U.S. where she earned a PhD from John Hopkins University, followed by Post Doctoral Fellowship and Assistant Professor positions at the University of Florida. She then became Director of the Coastal Ecology Laboratory (and Associate Professor) at Louisiana State University. After relocating to Canada, Suzanne first worked at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwest Ontario, then moved west with her husband Dr. David Schindler to become an Associate Professor and Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta from 1989 to 2010. She’s now an Emeritus Professor of Ecology and most recently, in 2016, became the President of the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners (CWSP). Suzanne lives in Brisco in the East Kootenay.
Dave DeRosa (Interim Board Member)
David DeRosa, B.Sc., P.Ag, Major Projects Biologist for Okanagan Nation Alliance, is a habitat and ecosystem biologist with over 35 years of experience managing and conducting biological work for government, industry, and non-profit organizations throughout Western Canada. In his career, David has worked with several large organizations: Okanagan Nation Alliance, BC Hydro, Alberta Fish and Wildlife, and Teck Metals Trail. Currently, David leads an ONA team of biologists and technicians on wildlife inventory and habitat enhancement projects out of Castlegar, in the Eastern Territory. He is an ONA technical lead on all Territory-related hydro projects, including sitting on various Columbia River Treaty technical committees. David’s personal priorities in life are his family, the cabin at Slocan Lake, and the kids’ hockey…”living the Kootenay dream every day”.
Rick Hoar
Richard (Rick) Hoar has lived in British Columbia since 1969 where he obtained post-secondary diplomas in Forestry Resources followed by one in Fisheries, Wildlife and Recreation Management. In 1974 he went to work for the BC Conservation Officer Service and worked in several areas around the province retiring in 2006. He currently is President of the Lake Windermere District Rod & Gun Club and sits on the Boards of the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners and Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society. He is the representative for the East Kootenay Wildlife Association on the KCP Board.
Adrian Leslie
Adrian Leslie, MSc, RPBio is the South Selkirk Program Manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada and has been working in the Columbia Basin on ecosystem conservation, restoration and research for over 10 years. He is a Registered Professional Biologist with experience working in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems from low elevation floodplains to high elevation forests throughout the Columbia Basin. He has a Master’s degree in Environment and Management and has lead several research and restoration projects, and has extensive experience helping organizations complete environmental projects. Adrian has worked with a variety of environmental stakeholders in the Columbia Basin including non-profit, governmental, educational, industrial, and private organizations.
Braydi Rice
Braydi Rice, RPBio, works on behalf of Shuswap Band as a Biologist primarily in areas of fisheries, aquatics, and territorial stewardship. A local to Invermere, Braydi came back to the Kootenays in 2020 bringing professional experience from her past positions within Federal and Provincial government, not for profit conservation organizations, and environmental consulting. Happy to be back in the Kootenays after her time away, Braydi spends most of her time off work chasing around her busy toddler and enjoying time with family.
Chris Bosman
Chris Bosman is the Kootenay Conservation Land Manager for The Nature Trust of BC (NTBC). Chris has worked for NTBC for nearly twelve years in different roles and has several years of government work experience at the local, Indigenous & provincial levels. Chris has always considered himself a ‘specialist at being a generalist’ with wide-ranging work and life experience and degrees in Geography, History and Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism. Originally from Southern Ontario, Chris has been living the ‘good life’ in the Kootenays for more than twenty years. He resides in Kimberley with his partner Barb and their daughter Briar.
Ivy Whitehorne
Ivy Whitehorne is a Conservation Coordinator with the Canadian Wildlife Service – Environment and Climate Change Canada. She completed her MSc from Simon Fraser University in 2009, studying the ecology of the American Dipper. Since starting at CWS-ECCC in 2010, Ivy has worked on a variety of initiatives from conservation planning for migratory birds to wetland restoration. Ivy currently works on species at risk stewardship programs, including managing the Community-Nominated Priority Places for Species at Risk program in British Columbia. She is a keen birder, and is known to carry binoculars everywhere and get distracted whenever something goes “chirp” in the bushes.