Ian Bruce
Community Advisor: Ian Douglas
Ian Bruce founded the Peninsula Streams Society on the Saanich Peninsula in 2002 where he serves as its Executive Coordinator. Additionally, through his consulting firm, he provides ecological and fisheries services to industry, governments and First Nations. Ian is a registered professional biologist, having studied Marine Biology at UVIC originally and much later completed a Diploma in Restoration of Natural Systems (2003). Ian grew up in Victoria, moved to the Island’s West Coast for 20 years, and then returned to the Saanich Peninsula in 1997. Ian has been working in the field of salmon and salmon habitat since 1980 has served on the SEHAB Board since 2014.
Steph Cottell - alternate, MSc Education for Ecological Sustainability
An uninvited settler of Scottish ancestry, Steph is grateful to live and work in unceded Coast Salish Territory as the executive director for the Cowichan Community Land Trust (CCLT). The CCLT has delivered the Friends of Cowichan Creeks program for over 10 years. This program offers whole watershed education to the community, including riparian area and salmon health, and organizes streamkeepers, stewardship, and restoration activities to the Cowichan region in collaboration with many valued community partners. Steph also volunteers as a founding director of the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy (ThINC), a grassroots community group that is actively growing it’s citizen science initiatives such as eelgrass stewardship and forage fish monitoring. She is a curious and appreciative tender of the land and waters.