Jimmy passed away last week after an intense effort to stabilize his condition. Jimmy was there when I was born and has been a true friend, mentor, uncle and revolutionary thinker for the 46 years I have had the pleasure of knowing him. Wet willies aside! His ground- breaking work, Remembering The Future, opened my eyes to the state of the environment many years ago, before it was commonplace. Jim, exposed toxic foods, industrial pollution, war, the police state and many other hot button topics, in his book, some 30 years ago!
We may have lost a front line advocate, but fortunately, he has helped to nurture a deep care and concern for the environment, in many of us. We shall continue his fight with the same grace and compassion he has carried for so many years.
In honor of this very special man, I would like to create a lasting legacy, so others who were not so fortunate to meet him, can still benefit from his teachings. Perhaps a bursary, to help those who wish to pursue a career in environmental stewardship might be one path.
Any other suggestions are welcome, as this special man must never be forgotten.
Jimmy, I miss you and take strength knowing your legacy is carried by many of us.
Global skincare brand teams up with Fraser Riverkeeper
H2O Plus, the creator of sea-derived skincare, proudly announces its partnership with Fraser Riverkeeper. Their collaboration demonstrates a mutual commitment to restoring and protecting the world’s most vital resource. It also represents a natural evolution of H2O Plus’ original water-inspired concept.
“Our alliance with Fraser Riverkeeper is a natural fit,” said Bob Seidl, President and CEO of H2O Plus. “Our shared advocacy for clean, plentiful water is a mission that’s inherent to both of us. It’s at the heart of H2O Plus’ 20-year heritage.”
Marking the international launch of Sea PureTM, H2O Plus’ first all-natural skincare collection, this philanthropic effort underscores the brand’s regard for marine life. Sea Pure reveals naturally younger-looking, age-resilient skin by harnessing the power of sea moss, sea lavender and other marine-sourced nutrients.
Beginning December 2009, H2O Plus will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from their limited-edition Sea Pure t-shirts to Fraser Riverkeeper and other water conservation charities. The organic cotton t-shirts feature the Sea Pure natural product seal, which states that the formulas are 100 percent vegan and biodegradable; free of synthetic fragrances, parabens, petrochemicals, phthalates and sulfates; cruelty free and against animal testing.
“Fraser Riverkeeper is honored to partner with H2O Plus. Every dollar they help us raise and every story they help us tell will bring us one step closer to re-establishing the Fraser River and the salmon it sustains as the biological, economic and cultural heart of this region. We are all working towards swimmable, drinkable, fishable waters,” said Doug Chapman, Fraser Riverkeeper.
As part of their collaboration, H2O Plus and Fraser Riverkeeper will host a series of exclusive in-store shopping events. A percentage of profits from the events will support the organization’s efforts to protect, conserve, and improve the water quality and fish habitat of the Fraser River and its watershed.
H2O Plus’ entire array of sea-derived skincare, spa, bath, gifts and accessories can be found through the company’s retail stores, the company website at www.h2oplus.com, or by calling 1-800-242-2284.
For more information on H2O Plus please contact Kerri Lee Ross or Rhiannon Yarrow of Siren PR at 212.625.3500 or Kerri@sirenpr.com/Rhiannon@sirenpr.com.
In 2004, a group of concerned citizens formed a board of directors and started Fraser Riverkeeper (FRK) to respond to the increasing pressures facing the “Mighty” Fraser River system. Sewage, stormwater, industrial effluent, mining, shoreline development, and runoff from intensive agriculture cumulatively was degrading the ecological health, water quality, and fish habitat of the river.
As a result of these anthropogenic pressures throughout the watershed we have seen beach closures, unprecedented low salmon return rates, and highly altered shorelines and riverbeds.
In October 2007 FRK was officially launched in Vancouver, BC. Since then, FRK has gained charitable status, begun to build a strong and committed membership base, and formed alliances with key community-based businesses, organizations, and individuals. At the time of its launch, the organization had only one full-time volunteer Riverkeeper and one part-time executive director. FRK has grown to two part-time staff members, a full-time paid Riverkeeper, a volunteer staff, and various fundraising, legal, and scientific consultants.
Fraser Riverkeeper is a licensed member of Waterkeeper Alliance, the fastest growing grassroots environmental movement in North America, now with nearly 190 programs worldwide. Waterkeeper Alliance is an international water advocacy organization that fights for everyone’s right to clean water. The Waterkeeper movement was founded in 1999 by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and veteran Waterkeepers to promote a particularly strong model of community-based advocacy. In just nine years the Alliance has rapidly grown from 25 grassroots programs to a global network of nearly 190 member programs on 6 continents. Waterkeepers are the defenders of the river, lake, bay, or shoreline in their community, patrolling daily, responding to citizen concerns, identifying problems and confronting polluters. Waterkeeper Alliance champions clean water and strong communities by supporting its members with legal, scientific and policy expertise and capacity-building support.
Eight Waterkeeper programs in Canada form a unique national front of the greater Waterkeeper Alliance movement. This additional layer of support provides Canadian programs unique opportunities for teambuilding and strategizing on local issues that have national repercussions. Recently a Canadian Field Coordinator has been hired to create cohesion among the groups and provide support and resources to each member organization. Both the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Canadian Waterkeeper groups provide invaluable support systems and networks for the Fraser Riverkeeper program.
Fraser Riverkeeper would like to thank our supporters and friends. With your help, we can continue to dedicate to our mission of enhancing the health and beauty of the Fraser River.
Mark Mattson is the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. Mark is a litigator with experience in criminal defense, environmental prosecution, and administrative law. Over the past ten years, Mark acted as counsel for environmental and public interest groups in more than 40 hearings and represented clients in both Provincial and Federal courts.
In the past, Mark prosecuted environmental offenders for the Province of Ontario and recently acted as co-counsel in the environmental prosecution for private informants. Further, Mark has the unique experience of investigating environmental offences and testifying as a witness in court.
Caroline McDonald
Secretary/Treasurer
Carol is the Director of Administration and Human Resources at Ecojustice.
Kari Siirala
Director
After spending the first 15 years of his life in Finland, Kari emigrated with his family to New York City in 1961. Kari graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in 1969. Kari designed and ran a community based school program for those who dropped out of high school, taught emotionally disturbed children at a residential treatment centre, and started a literacy program for people with special needs. Kari is the designer and creator of Senitt Dolls and Puppets, a small family craft business producing plush animal puppets and hand bags. His long-standing friendship with the Fraser Riverkeeper as well as his belief in clean water and strong communities makes Kari very excited to be part of the Riverkeeper team.
Dr. Allan Connolly
For the past 25 years, Dr. Connolly has worked as a psychiatric physician in a public OP clinic working with the chronically mentally ill. He acted as the president of Physicians for Global Survival from 2004-2006. He acted as Canadian International Counselor with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War from 1998-2004. Dr. Al was also the International VP for North America, IPPNW from 2005-2006. He is a founding member of Canadian Campaign to End UN Sanctions against the People of Iraq.
Michael Chapman
Michael brings years of investigative and marine experience to the Fraser Riverkeeper. He holds a BA from the University of Guelph, a Transport Canada Ships Master Certificate, and is a graduate of the National Customs College.
Michael has worked on several important campaigns, including the Metro Vancouver Sewer Investigations and others in BC and Ontario. Michael looks forward to being out on the water, keeping a sharp eye open looking for trouble, and working with the board to continue developing a strong Riverkeeper program.
Advisory Board
Dr. Elaine MacDonald
Advisory Board Member
Elaine is the Senior Staff Scientist at Ecojustice, and is a registered professional engineer in the province of Ontario with experience in environmental engineering consulting. Elaine has a Ph.D. in geo-environmental engineering from McGill University where she researched the surface chemistry of heavy metal adsorption to soils and sediments. Elaine has authored numerous reports, submissions and articles on behalf of Ecojustice on a wide range of environmental concerns. Elaine provides the technical and investigative expertise needed to take on water and air polluters. Elaine’s current work focuses on the regulation of toxic pollutants as well as access to information and enforcement concerns.
John Werring
Advisory Board Member
John is a registered professional biologist (member in good standing of the College of Applied Biology of British Columbia), who is committed to ensuring that interests of the fish and wildlife of this province, and the public’s access to those resources, are taken into consideration in government and industry resource planning initiatives. He has a Masters degree in Zoology/Resource Ecology from UBC. John has extensive experience in conducting environmental investigations, specifically as they relate to alleged breaches of procedures of administrative and/or criminal law. In his current position, his primary duties involve investigating incidences where either government or industry, or both, may be violating environmental laws as they pertain to the protection of fish and wildlife and their habitats, both marine and freshwater, in BC. John worked as staff scientist and lead investigator for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now Ecojustice Canada) since 1992 and is now currently on staff with the David Suzuki Foundation’s Marine and Freshwater Conservation Program.
Staff
Doug Chapman
Fraser Riverkeeper
Mr. Chapman, the full-time Riverkeeper, is a revered prosecutor of polluters and one of the Canada’s most significant environmental fixtures in the last 30 years. He began defending criminal cases as a lawyer in Ontario in 1964, and in 1986 he was employed by the Minister of the Attorney General in Ontario and assigned to the Ministry of the Environment as a government environmental prosecutor. One of his most notable successes included obtaining the first Canadian jail sentence for a polluter (George Crowe). In 1993 he commenced his association with the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (SLDF) working in Vancouver and in Toronto as an environmental investigator and private prosecutor. He has since directed the gathering of evidence and the preparation of the prosecution briefs in 14 private environmental prosecutions in British Columbia and in Ontario.
For over 40 years Mr. Chapman was the captain or navigator on sailing and motor vessels making passages across the Great Lakes, the Mosel, Rhine and Rhone rivers in Europe, the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These passages include 2 trans-Atlantic small sailing boat crossings. He also fished commercially on the British Columbia Pacific coast for four years in a 37 foot wooden salmon troller, which he captained.
Lauren Brown Hornor
Executive Director
Lauren Brown Hornor is working to develop a strong Riverkeeper program on the Fraser from the ground-up. Lauren provided legal support and guidance to Waterkeeper organizations located across the country while working at Waterkeeper Alliance in New York. She was responsible for Waterkeeper’s Clean Water Act Defense program, designed to maintain a strong and active national presence on Clean Water Act defense issues and protect the Act from regulatory and Congressional rollback. She prepares Waterkeeper Alliance’s Water Enforcement Bulletin, a quarterly publication tracking regulatory changes to the Clean Water Act, recent case law and Congressional action, all of which impacts clean water protection.
Lauren holds a bachelors degree in Environmental Studies and Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder and graduated with honors from Pace University School of Law, receiving a Certificate in Environmental Law. While at the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, Lauren represented the Riverkeeper in various enforcement actions on the Hudson River and in the Catskill Mountains.
Mary Woodbury
Outreach Director
Mary has a B.A. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, where she majored in English and anthropology/cultural studies. After college, she worked as a managing editor at Macmillan Publishing, and later moved toward technical writing in the health and animal health industry. Mary is also the editor of an online journal focused on ecology and literature and the owner of Moon Willow Press, a new small green press in the Vancouver area.
Mary manages the content of Fraser Riverkeeper’s website, newsletters, and other publications. She also coordinates volunteers and events, manages the office, and maintains the member database.
Since its inception in 2002, the 1% For the Planet network has become one of the largest funders of environmental work around. 1% for the Planet exists to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet.
Fraser Riverkeeper is a proud recipient of donations from the 1% FTP program. Please consider joining 1% FTP and selecting Fraser Riverkeeper as a recipient non-profit.
Why should a business join?
By joining 1% FTP, businesses can help drive positive environmental change, while gaining recognition for their responsibility. In addition, they can promote further action on the part of consumers, their employees and other companies. Joining also creates an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the rest of our membership, foster new business relationships, connect with like-minded individuals and share ideas and resources. Nowhere else will you find such a vast network of successful businesses across multiple industries, all working toward solving the environmental crisis through philanthropy.
Membership in 1% FTP is a clear indicator of sincere commitment to sustainability. A growing base of consumers recognize this commitment in the products they buy, the brands they support, and in their members’ use of the 1% FTP logo.
Fraser Riverkeeper is a licensed member of Waterkeeper Alliance, the fastest growing grassroots environmental movement in North America, now with nearly 190 programs worldwide. Waterkeeper Alliance is an international water advocacy organization that fights for everyone’s right to clean water. The Waterkeeper movement was founded in 1999 by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and veteran Waterkeepers to promote a particularly strong model of community-based advocacy. In just nine years the Alliance has rapidly grown from 25 grassroots programs to a global network of nearly 190 member programs on 6 continents. Waterkeepers are the defenders of the river, lake, bay, or shoreline in their community, patrolling daily, responding to citizen concerns, identifying problems and confronting polluters. Waterkeeper Alliance champions clean water and strong communities by supporting its members with legal, scientific and policy expertise and capacity-building support.
Eight Waterkeeper programs in Canada form a unique national front of the greater Waterkeeper Alliance movement. This additional layer of support provides Canadian programs unique opportunities for teambuilding and strategizing on local issues that have national repercussions. Recently a Canadian Field Coordinator has been hired to create cohesion among the groups and provide support and resources to each member organization. Both the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Canadian Waterkeeper groups provide invaluable support systems and networks for the Fraser Riverkeeper program.
Mr. Chapman, the full-time Riverkeeper, is a revered prosecutor of polluters and one of the Canada’s most significant environmental fixtures in the last 30 years. He began defending criminal cases as a lawyer in Ontario in 1964, and in 1986 he was employed by the Minister of the Attorney General in Ontario and assigned to the Ministry of the Environment as a government environmental prosecutor. One of his most notable successes included obtaining the first Canadian jail sentence for a polluter (George Crowe). In 1993 he commenced his association with the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (SLDF) working in Vancouver and in Toronto as an environmental investigator and private prosecutor. He has since directed the gathering of evidence and the preparation of the prosecution briefs in 14 private environmental prosecutions in British Columbia and in Ontario.
Lauren Brown Hornor is working to develop a strong Riverkeeper program on the Fraser from the ground-up. Lauren provided legal support and guidance to Waterkeeper organizations located across the country while working at Waterkeeper Alliance in New York. She was responsible for Waterkeeper’s Clean Water Act Defense program, designed to maintain a strong and active national presence on Clean Water Act defense issues and protect the Act from regulatory and Congressional rollback. She prepares Waterkeeper Alliance’s Water Enforcement Bulletin, a quarterly publication tracking regulatory changes to the Clean Water Act, recent case law and Congressional action, all of which impacts clean water protection.
Mary has a B.A. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, where she majored in English and anthropology/cultural studies. After college, she worked as a managing editor at Macmillan Publishing, and later moved toward technical writing in the health and animal health industry. Mary is also the editor of an online journal focused on ecology and literature and the owner of 
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