The People of the Coastal and Water Issues Committee

Staff (alphabetically by first name):

• Ashley Sprague, Restoration Coordinator
• Jennifer Graham, Coastal Coordinator
• Jennifer West, Groundwater Coordinator
• Jocelyne Rankin, Freshwater Coordinator
• Scott Aucoin, Climate Change Adaptation Researcher
• Veronika Brzeski, Climate Change Adaptation Coordinator
  

Ashley Sprague
Email
Restoration Coordinator
(902) 442–5046

Ashley graduated with a M.Sc. from the University of New Brunswick where she researched movements and habitat use of shorebirds in the Bay of Fundy. She has worked on coastal and marine conservation issues in Nova Scotia for the past 5 years and joined the Ecology Action Centre in January, 2011. Ashley’s work at the EAC aims to demonstrate hands-on solutions that will help communities adapt to climate change impacts such as stormwater runoff and coastal erosion.

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Jennifer Graham
Email
Coastal Coordinator
(902) 442–5046

Jen Graham feels she comes by her love of the coast honestly; her mother was the rare parent who actually encouraged her children to belly slide along the Bay of Fundy mud flats whenever they visited the shore.   Since 2006, Jen has been using the “Have Fun; don’t mind the mud” approach to coastal conservation in her work as the EAC’s coastal coordinator as she encourages and nudges the province to adopt province wide coastal legislation and regulations.   Prior to actually getting paid to work at the EAC,  Jen was a long time volunteer who served on the Board of Directors, and was part of Nova Scotia’s first ever salt marsh restoration project in the Minas Basin. Jen has a degree in International Development Studies from the University of Toronto, as well as a Masters in Environmental Studies from Dalhousie University.  She has worked on community-based natural resource management projects in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam, and developed and delivered training and capacity building programs. 

Jen thinks the best part of her current job is travelling the province, seeing spectacular places, and meeting inspiring communities who are succeeding in conserving coastal areas and preventing needless destruction of coastal ecosystems and wildlife habitat. She is proud that she can sometimes help and encourage them in their amazing efforts to keep “Canada’s Ocean Playground”  healthy.  
 

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Jennifer West, MSc, PGeo
Email
Groundwater Coordinator
442-5046

A graduate of Dalhousie University with a Master in Earth Science, and a professional geologist, Jennifer West is aptly suited to tackle the position of Groundwater Coordinator at the EAC.  Jennifer grew up in the Kennebecasis River Valley in New Brunswick, and has lived in Halifax since 2002.  After completing her degree she worked as an environmental consultant with several local firms, taught a first-year geology course at Dalhousie University, and conducted home energy audits with Clean Nova Scotia.  Jennifer will be actively involved with the Coastal Issues Committee but her focus is on the Groundswell Project, which aims to improve groundwater management in Nova Scotia communities with existing groundwater quantity issues.  In addition to such hobbies as cooking, knitting and running, Jennifer enjoys long walks on beautiful beaches with her husband and young daughter.
 

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Jocelyne Rankin
Email
Freshwater Coordinator
(902) 442–5046

When she is not in an ocean, lake or pool swimming long-distances and playing with other aquatic creatures, Jocelyne can be found in the EAC's Coastal Issues office working as the Freshwater Coordinator.  She holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from McGill University as well as a Masters of Environmental Studies from Dalhousie University.  Her masters thesis focused on the influence of community-based watershed monitoring groups on decision-making in Nova Scotia.  Jocelyne completed a Water Policy Fellowship with the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation while also spearheading the Freshwater program at the EAC.  Her passion for travelling led her to the south island of New Zealand where she completed a year-long research project on options for alternative stormwater management for an urban coastal watershed.  Jocelyne is fluent in French, having grown up in Montreal, Quebec.  She has taught various French as a second language classes and she occasionally works as a community interpreter.

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Scott Aucoin
Email
Chercheur/Researcher
L'adaptation des communautés côtières au changement climatique
Coastal Communities Adapting to Climate Change

Scott lives in his native village of Chéticamp on the western coast of Cape Breton Island. When he isn’t hiking in the highlands, fishing the seas, playing music or eating good food, he likes to focus his attention on his home and its people. Scott has worked in resource management at Cape Breton Highlands National Park, as well as in the local tourism and fisheries industries. He recently completed his undergraduate studies from Dalhousie University in Environmental Science. Since Chéticamp primarily exists because of its natural resources and the hundreds of thousands of tourists that come to visit its gorgeous landscape and culture, it has inspired him to look closer at the importance of integrating local and regional ecosystem concerns with community economics and planning. Climate change adaptation for fisheries and tourism thus seemed like a great first initiative to undertake in his home community.

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Veronika Brzeski
Email
Coordinator/Coordonatrice
Coastal Communities Adapting to Climate Change
L'adaptation des communautés côtières au changement climatique
(902) 929-2757

Veronika resides in St. Ann's Bay on Cape Breton Island, near the coast and in the woods. Fishing is an important part of her family's livelihood as well as her community's. She graduated with an MSc from Dalhousie University and has worked in promoting community based coastal resources management in SE Asia and, more recently, in Cape Breton. Empowering coastal communities and ensuring the survival of the inshore fishery has been her life's passion. Veronika is currently coordinating an EAC project in Cheticamp on climate change adaptation in the fishery and tourism sectors. She brings to this project knowledge and experience in participatory research and fishery research.