Board of Directors

The Yellow Point Ecological Society is a registered non-profit society, founded in 2017. This is our 2020 Board of Directors.

President: Guy Dauncey

Guy is an ecotopian futurist who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future, and to translate that vision into action. He is founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, and the author or co-author of ten books, including Journey to the Future: A Better World Is Possible. He is an Honorary Member of the Planning Institute of BC, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. His websites are www.earthfuture.com, www.journeytothefuture.ca and www.thepracticalutopian.ca.

Vice-President: Bill Carter

Bill has made beautiful Yellow Point his home with his wife Jean for 27 years, and it affords them the good country lifestyle. An avid lover of nature and the great outdoors, he believes passionately in wise, sustainable growth for the future of our region. He has owned and operated Bastion Jewellers in downtown Nanaimo with Jean for 30 years. A Master Goldsmith and Designer, he has built his reputation on a passion for family, community, integrity, friendliness and creativity.

Secretary: Priscilla Brewer

Priscilla is a Certified Permaculture Designer, Horticultural Technician, and multi award winning Landscape Designer. Yellow Point has been her home for almost a decade, where she enthusiastically gardens, wild-crafts,  and teaches hands-on, educational workshops with a strong focus on reducing our ecological footprints, promoting the use of native plants,and growing food sustainably.

Treasurer: 

Nikki Toxopeus

Nikki moved to Vancouver Island with her husband Steffen in 2019 and is happy to be supporting community projects that protect and regenerate our environment.  She is from Zimbabwe and is an engineer with a Masters in Environmental Technology.  She worked for 20 years in Southern Africa in rural development, energy planning, industry and mining.  When the Zimbabwe economy collapsed, she closed her engineering company and moved with her family to Edmonton, where she worked another 20 years as an engineer, project manager and manager in oil and gas. She was the founding Treasurer/Secretary of her local community garden and volunteered for other local social projects, including the Edmonton Master Composter Recyclers and Habitat for Humanity.  On the Island she is a volunteer with the Kiwi Cove Community Garden, NALT Native Plant Nursery and the Ladysmith Thrift Store.  She and Steffen are keen to explore the area by hiking, biking, kayaking and sailing. 

Directors:

Carolyn Herriot

Carolyn left Victoria after 25 years of operating The Garden Path Centre and moved to Yellow Point in 2014 with husband Guy Dauncey. She left her seed business Seeds of Victoria (since 1991) behind. She is the author of 3 books, The Zero-Mile Diet, The Zero-Mile Diet Cookbook and A Year on the Garden Path. She has a regular column in Take 5 magazine. Carolyn teaches EcoNutrition at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition in Nanaimo. She runs a program at Deep Roots Farm on Barney Road called ‘Food Security 101’ with farmer Goldenrose Paquette.

Jain Alcock-White

Jain is the principle plant harvester and product formulator at Champagne Hill Botanicals, a small-batch herbalism shop where she also offers events and workshops.  She also works in the shellfish aquaculture industry, and has over 10 years of experience working with governments, industry, stakeholders, First Nations and NGOs to support conservation and compliance initiatives through public education and awareness, field monitoring, and implementation of regulatory requirements.  She is an outdoor enthusiast who believes that everyone needs to get outside, and remember what it means to be part of nature. 

Erik Piikkila

Erik is a BC Forester in Training with Ecoforestry experience in BC, Finland, the US Pacific Northwest, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Redwoods of California.  He was trained by the world renowned ecoforester Jerry Franklin.  At the BC Ministry of Forests, his work involved assisting 10 Major Forest Companies with 30 different operations, BC Timber Sales and Woodlot Licenses implement the BC Forest Practices Code.  Most recently he has been offering a 4Seasons Eco School to K – 12 students, providing eco tours of Wildwood to University students, and is involved with several watershed groups in the Cowichan Valley.

Diane Coussens

Diane has lived in Yellow Point for over 40 years. She loves Yellow Point’s rural lifestyle, forests, wildlife and wetlands. She and her husband were commercial fishers, owner/operators of a salmon troller. They initiated the community action that created and preserved Yellow Point Park. She continues to endeavour to protect Yellow Point’s natural beauty and resources.

Ross Shepherd

Ross has been visiting Yellow Point Lodge with his wife Pamela Walker, for almost 25 years. Through the years, they came to love the area, and in 2006 they purchased a 34-acre blueberry farm on Yellow Point road. Not a new adventure to Ross, who owned a 20-acre organic mixed farm in Port Alberni, they embraced the challenge to create a viable and sustainable piece of property that mirrored the aesthetic sensibilities that they held about this area. A bridge builder by trade, Ross is happy to be help steward the land and the people of the area.

Pamela Walker

Another easterner who found her way west, Pamela married an islander who was born and bred in Port Alberni. They decided to settle here for the rest of their days. While visiting the  Yellow Point Lodge on their annual holiday, they found and purchased a 35-acre blueberry farm known affectionately and forever as “the old Scofield Farm.” Even after their move, they continue to holiday at the Lodge as it was easy to run back home for a birthing sheep or burst irrigation line.  Now retired and off the farm, Pamela has more time to write, garden, and read. Pamela, who has degrees in Literature and Education, loves being a member of YES so she can pursue her annual New Years’ resolution of making the world a more beautiful place.

Nadine Henderson

Nadine is a physician who moved from Toronto to Yellow Point in 2016. Raised on a hobby farm in rural Saanich, care of the environment and conservation are life-long passions. After obtaining a biology degree with a focus on ecology and evolution, she worked as an assistant toxicologist for two years with the BC Ministry of Environment, and then went on to study medicine. While living in Ontario she volunteered with the Wildlife Centre, and the Habitat for Humanity salvage crew. She enjoys exploring locally and is a member of Nature Nanaimo.