The Oldman Watershed Council Board of Directors is comprised of 16 representatives from various organizations and four members at large. If there are any issues that you would like discussed at the meetings, contact Shannon at shannon@oldmanbasin.org at least two weeks prior to a meeting. The current Board includes the following members, each serving a two-year term.

Municipalities Reps

Terry Kerkhoff, Chairman
Mayors & Reeves Association of Southwest Alberta
Mayor, Town of Picture Butte
Terry was born and raised in Taber, AB and so has been a southern Alberta boy from the start.
A graduate of St. Mary’s High School in Taber, he received two degrees from the University of Lethbridge. He was a school principal in Picture Butte and Coaldale for 26 years and finished his career as Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator for Holy Spirit Regional Catholic Schools.

Terry retired in 2004 and continues to live in Picture Butte with his wife Barb. Since then he has been a Sessional/Term Instructor for the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge. Also upon retirement, he became involved in municipal politics in Picture Butte and was elected to town council in the fall of 2004. He was subsequently elected Mayor of Picture Butte in October/07. His position of Mayor then brought him to the Mayors/Reeves Association of Southwest Alberta. The association appointed Terry to represent them on the Oldman Watershed Council.

Jeff Coffman
Alderman, City of Lethbridge

Health Rep

Robert Rippin
Alberta Health Services
Robert lives in Fort Macleod and works as an Environmental Health Officer for Alberta Health Services. He has an Honours Chemistry Degree from the University of Victoria and is a federally registered Environmental Health Officer (EHO). In his 20 year history as an EHO he has developed a passion for water; for five years as a Senior Drinking Water Officer in BC, he was responsible for addressing foreshore development and water quality issues in the Thompson Shuswap Region. In addition to his work with Alberta Health Services he is a distance education tutor with the Water and Wastewater Treatment Programs at Thompson Rivers University and is a member of Alberta’s Technical Advisory Committee on Potable Drinking Water.

Robert would like to see the Oldman Watershed thrive as a healthy ecosystem. One that supports diversity of animal and plant life, and can be enjoyed, utilized, and protected by all.

Federal Government Rep

Shane Petry
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Shane has held several different positions in the resource management and biology fields. He has a ttended schools in Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. Shane spent time as a resource manager and land use/forestry officer for the northern Yukon (Dawson City) before moving to Ottawa and taking a position with the operations and policy group in the Habitat branch of Fisheries and Oceans Canada in 2000. Following that, Shane moved his family back to Lethbridge and is currently the senior impact assessment biologist for the Lethbridge District of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Provincial Government Reps

Bill Dolan
Alberta Tourism, Parks & Recreation, Parks Division
Bill joined the Parks Division of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation in 2009 as the
Land & Resource Management Coordinator for the Southern Area. This Area includes parks and protected areas in Alberta, south of Calgary. He has the program responsibility for the science, planning, land use, strategic communications and some resource management activities.

Prior to joining Alberta Parks, Bill worked for Parks Canada for 31 years at various national parks in northern and western Canada. He spent the previous 18 years as the Chief Park Warden at Waterton Lakes National Park in southwest Alberta. In addition to the Oldman Watershed Council, Bill has been an active member of the Prairie Conservation Forum (1990) and the Crown Managers Partnership (2001).

Ian Dyson
Alberta Environment

Ian Dyson is a geographer and planner by background, educated at London University (BA) and University of Calgary (MSc).

He has 29 years experience dealing with integrated resource management, water management and regional sustainable development plans in Alberta. His particular focus is on building multi-stakeholder partnerships dealing with approaches to address environmental cumulative effects such as water quality in the Oldman River Basin, trans-boundary collaboration to sustain ecological health in the Rocky Mountains, and the conservation of prairie and parkland biodiversity.

As a pioneer of partnerships and cumulative effects Ian is currently responsible for promoting a future-oriented and strategic approach as Alberta Environment and Water transitions to an environmental management system capable of managing cumulative effects.

In 1999 Ian was awarded an Emerald Award for Corporate and Institutional Leadership and received the Prairie Conservation Award in 2001.

Academia Rep

Andy Hurly, Vice-Chairman
University of Lethbridge
Andy is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge where he has taught and conducted research since 1991. His research interests involve two areas - animal behaviour and ecosystem ecology. Andy's interests in ecosystem ecology concern the health of bird and plant communities and how they are affected by activities such as cattle grazing and alterations to river flow.

Andy and his wife live on the banks of the Oldman River near Fort Macleod, and thus he is interested in maintaining healthy and economically viable ecosystems for his family and his neighbours.

Not-for-Profit Organization Reps

Cheryl Fujikawa, Treasurer
Southern Alberta Group for the Environment (SAGE)
Cheryl's training is in medical science, microbiology, zoology and botany. She came to Lethbridge in 1978, and currently is teaching at Lethbridge Community College. She has also worked for the University of Lethbridge, the Provincial Government, the University of Alberta, CUSO and for Alberta Environment. Cheryl has been a member of the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment for
12 years.

Richard Burke
Trout Unlimited Canada, Oldman River Chapter
As a father, grandfather, I want for my future great grandchildren, the quality of water within the watershed, to remain good, along with reasonable quantity, so that they can remain within the Oldman watershed to live and enjoy this region and all its bounty.

As Trout Unlimited Canada Oldman River Chapter co-chair for the last 10 years, I initiated and helped develop 25-year stewardship leases to restore and maintain Crown land along about four km of the Crowsnest River and assure public pedestrian and equestrian access. The chapter has also contributed through fund-raising efforts to conservation efforts on Pincher Creek and the Upper Oldman and Castle systems as well as watershed-related research. The chapter functions in line with TU’s mission, to “conserve, protect and restore Canada’s freshwater ecosystems and their coldwater resources for current and future generations.”

I also write an outdoors column for the Lethbridge Herald, with a definite bias toward the environment, water, stewardship and conservation in southern Alberta. More than anything, it’s about highlighting, appreciating and protecting all that makes our corner of the world special. I am also a keen gardener in Lethbridge constantly seeking ways to use less water.

Irrigation Sector Rep

Keith Francis
Taber Irrigation District
Keith was born in 1929, raised in the Taber area and has been farming on irrigated land his entire life. In 1969 he was elected to the Taber Irrigation District (TID) Board of Directors and was elected as Vice-Chairman of the TID Board in 1973, and served as the Chairman of the Board since 1975. He has also served on the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association and the Oldman Watershed Council board.

Agriculture Producers Rep

Ryan Kasko

Ryan was born and raised in the Lethbridge area and completed a Bachelor of Management at the University of Lethbridge. He and his wife Shannon raise their four children on their farm near Coaldale, where he manages his family’s cattle feeding and farming business. He is also involved in various cattle organizations and is the former president of Economic Development Lethbridge.

First Nations Rep

Randall Wolf Tail
Piikani Public Works
Randall is a Civil Engineering Technologist graduate for the Lethbridge Community College in 1999. He works with the Piikani Public Works Department on the Piikani Nation as the Maintenance Management Officer. Randall Is a Level One Water operator and is a member of the Alberta Water/ Waste Water Association.

Members at Large Reps

Anne Stevick
Anne was born and raised in the Trout Creek Watershed, in the Porcupine Hills, West of Claresholm. Sh e and her husband now ranch 17 miles S.E. of Pincher Creek, within the Pincher Creek Watershed.

Anne is keenly aware of the importance of water to agriculture, and sits as an Alberta Beef Producer delegate on the Environment and Animal Welfare Committee. She has also served 9 years on the Pincher Creek Chamber of Economic Development, and the Cowboy Poetry Committee of the Agricultural Society, and has worked on the “Blueweed Pull” put on by the Pincher Creek Watershed Group. Anne has her B.Sc. in Zoology and worked as a Park Interpreter in Waterton Park, before taking on her lifelong passion of ranching.

Rodney Cyr
I am a dairy/beef farmer from Pincher Creek, where I have lived all my life. Along with the help of my wife and family, we ranch/farm in the upper region of the Oldman watershed. Growing a family and making a living within this scenic region we love, has taught us to respect the resource that has been put in our stewardship. I have spent the past 12 years, as a councilor and Reeve of the MD #9 of Pincher Creek and have served on many different committees and study groups involved in development, land-use and the watershed.

How would I like to see the Oldman watershed look and function in the future?

water care and use will determine the future of our region both urban and rural
water is a resource most precious because of our climatic fact of drought and flood
the impact of motorized vehicles in the upper Oldman watershed, will continue to undermine the quality and quantity of water to the watershed - no ban just organized use with respect the key component
we must be more concerned with our farming and cropping practices, and the impact of larger population and industrial uses will stress the watershed supply as it is presently known
irrigation and the types of land that has been put into cropping, has to also be looked at as to what we are doing to soil and what the high use of chemicals will leave for the future farming of the region.

Shirley Pickering
I am a rural resident river valley landowner in the Upper Little Bow River Basin and have been involved for the past 8 years with the Highwood Management Plan Public Advisory Committee (HMP-PAC) as the Upper Little Bow River watershed representative and as the Committee's Chairman/Project Coordinator.

I am interested in participating on the OWC Board to bring our local watershed work experience and information to the OWC to contribute to your integrated watershed management planning. As well I have a personal interest in water resource management and environmental stewardship and would look forward to working with the OWC who is undertaking work in these areas.

Brian Valgardson
I was born and raised in Taber, Alberta, attended Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho studying agriculture and then served a 2 year mission to Brisbane, Australia for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I married LorRee in 1983 and together we raised 4 boys, Chad, Jordan, Colton and Jason and started a farming operation north of Taber that includes a mixture of crops and cattle that relies heavily on irrigation. In 1995 I was elected to the Taber Irrigation Board and continue to serve on this board.

I enjoy learning about irrigation, how it has evolved through the years and being involved and making a difference in my community.

As we farm and ranch along the Oldman River, I have a vested interest in the use of this river and how it affects our community as well as our family farm and the farmers around us. It is important that the eco-system is kept in balance for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. I believe that land owners, irrigators and people who enjoy the wildlife and beauty of the river can work together in sustaining this balance.

My hobbies include photography, camping, being in the outdoors, hunting, motor biking, skiing and doing all this with my family. I have participated in the scouting program and on the Taber Minor Football board when my boys were growing up. We love to travel and enjoy meeting new people and learning about different cultures.

INDUSTRY

Vacant

Board of Directors and Staff Retreat - January 2012

Front Row: Cheryl Fujikawa, Bev Bellamy, Shirley Pickering, Leta Pezderic, Terry Kerkhoff, Bill Dolan

Middle Row: Anne Stevick, Shannon Frank, Keith Francis, Richard Burke

Back Row: Andy Hurly, Ian Dyson, Robert Rippin, Brian Valgardson, Randall Wolf Tail, Rod Cyr, Jeff Coffman

Missing from Photo: Ryan Kasko, Shane Petry