• Current WERAC Public Engagements
• Propose an Area for Protection
• WERAC Lines of Business and Values
• Today’s Council
• Join the Council
• Contact the Council
• WERAC Publications

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador passed the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Act (WER Act) in 1980. It was designed to guide the creation of a system of protected areas in the province that would preserve wilderness, representative or unique ecosystems, species, or natural phenomena.

Under the Act, an 11-member council called Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council – or WERAC – was also created. WERAC’s mandate is to advise government on the establishment, management and termination of wilderness and ecological reserves within the province. WERAC is an independent group made of citizens from a variety of backgrounds and all regions of the province. Its members are appointed by Government for three-year terms, which can be renewed. The Council’s work and recommendations are directed by scientific research and public input. WERAC makes its recommendations on reserve creation to Government; Government itself makes the final decisions.

The vision of WERAC is the conservation and preservation of natural landscapes and seascapes in Newfoundland and Labrador for current and future generations through the timely establishment of a functioning network of protected areas throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Province’s Natural Areas Program, which oversees management and establishment of wilderness and ecological Reserves, works cooperatively with WERAC. Typically, the council meets four times a year, for two days each time. The WERAC Secretariat, consisting of an Executive Secretary, operates from the Program’s headquarters in Corner Brook.

Current WERAC Public Engagements

In May, 2023, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change directed WERAC to begin public engagements for ten proposed ecological reserves. For more information and to get involved in public engagements, please visit www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/homefornature and engageNL.ca.

• Indian Arm Brook Proposed Ecological Reserve

Propose an Area for Protection

Individuals, groups, government departments or non-governmental organizations can propose an area for protection under the WER Act by completing the WERAC Reserve Nomination Form (712 KB). Together, WERAC and the Natural Areas staff work to ensure that all public and private interests are fairly heard and considered when reserves are being planned and established. Public meetings are called to acquire input when reserves are proposed; WERAC members are in attendance. Once a reserve is created, the Natural Areas Program manages it, and ensures that it keeps its ecological integrity.

The Province has made great progress in its conservation goals. Twenty reserves have been created since the WER Act was passed in 1980, and more are planned. WERAC‘s important and challenging task remains: to work towards the public release and review of the natural areas system plan, and then work cooperatively with communities, industry, and other members of the public to create a viable protected areas system.

Learn more about protected areas planning in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Today’s Council

The Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council is made up of volunteer members. Appointed by Cabinet for a three-year term, they have a variety of backgrounds and come from all regions of the province.

Members were appointed to the council in July 2022. Current membership and bios are below:

REAPPOINTMENTS

Joseph Brazil
Joe Brazil has a BScF. degree from the University of New Brunswick’s Forestry program where he specialized in wildlife management. Now retired he spent most of his career with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Wildlife Division where he was the Manager of the Endangered Species and Biodiversity Program. In that role he developed and steered through the legislative process the province’s Endangered Species Act, Regulations, and Policy. He also oversaw the province’s species assessment, listing, and recovery planning processes and participated on a number of provincial and national recovery teams, chairing several of them.

He helped oversee, develop, and sometimes co-authored management and recovery plans. He was also responsible for carrying out a number of species inventory and monitoring programs for species as varied as bats, piping plovers, Newfoundland marten, peregrine falcons, and bald eagles. He was the Province’s Scientific Authority to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and attended several international meetings as part of the Canadian CITES delegation.

He was also, for many years, the province’s representative on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada as well as other provincial and national committees dealing with species at risk and biodiversity issues. He has also been involved in the establishment of protected areas such as wildlife, wilderness, and crown land reserves for species at risk.

In retirement he has been able to pursue his passion for photography and family history and has worked on several species at risk contracts. He currently lives in Pasadena with his wife Marg. He also served on WERAC from 2017 to 2021.

Dr. Evan Edinger
Dr. Edinger is a Professor of Geography, Biology, and Earth Sciences at Memorial University, specializing in coral reefs, cold-water corals, marine habitat mapping, and marine conservation. Current research projects focus on cold-water corals, cold-water carbonate sediments, and marine habitat mapping in the Arctic and in Newfoundland and Labrador waters, including estimating and predicting the distribution of endangered and sensitive marine species. He has taught conservation biology/geography at Memorial since 2002.

He has also contributed to compiling the Marine Special Areas Atlas for Newfoundland and Labrador waters (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, 2009, 2nd edition 2017), which is used to help guide marine conservation decision-making in the province.

He has served on WERAC from 2017-2021, is on the board at the Echo Pond Environmental Education Centre, and is a Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society NL Chapter board member. He lives in Torbay, and enjoys a variety of outdoor pursuits including hiking, skiing, and canoeing. He also served on WERAC from 2017 to 2021.

Stanley Oliver
Stanley Oliver was born and raised in Labrador and is an Inuit, who is an avid hunter, fisher, and outdoorsman. He currently holds the position of Manager with the Labrador Office of Indigenous & Northern Skills Trades. He has worked in the Labrador and Atlantic region in the Natural Resources field/industry for over 30 years, occupying several senior management and leadership positions with the Nunatsiavut Government, the Nunatukavut Community Council and the Atlantic First Nations Congress.

He holds a Diploma from Memorial University as Resource Technician, is a Certified Engineering Technician with the Association of Engineering Technicians and Technologists of Newfoundland and Labrador and numerous certificates in Indigenous Governance and Administration. He currently also sits on the National Indigenous Advisory Committee for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Canada Parks and Wilderness Society NL Chapter, Forecast NL, and the Happy Valley-Goose Bay Health Community Advisory Committee.

He also served on WERAC from 2017 to 2021.

Thomas Philpott
Thomas Philpott holds a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Manitoba and Bachelors’ degrees in Biology, Psychology, and Education from Memorial University. He worked as an educator in Western Newfoundland for over 30 years as a school teacher and curriculum developer for the District 3 school board as well as the private college system. Most recently he has been a lecturer at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University.

He has also worked as researcher and consultant for the Western Newfoundland Model Forest, mining, fishery, and aquaculture companies in the private and public sectors. His areas of work in natural resources ranged from algae and fish behaviour studies, benthic biodiversity, and mercury sediments, to waste management, composting, wind power and forestry issues. He has two published natural resources documents.

Tom was a founding member of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Ltd’s Public Advisory Committee on sustainable forest management. He is President of the Harbour Authority of Sweet Bay, Bonavista Bay.

He enjoys many outdoor pursuits including hiking, boating, canoeing, fishing, hunting, and skiing. He is a strong believer in the importance of nature and environment for peoples’ physical and mental wellbeing and is committed to assuring these traditional activities continue in a healthy natural environment and are available for people to enjoy throughout their lives.

He also served on WERAC from 2014 to 2021.

Graham Wood
Graham Wood has Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Biochemistry and in Education from Memorial University and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Ottawa. He has spent the last 36 years in a variety of roles in the Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Manitoba and British Columbia education systems, including as Principal, Vice-Principal, and Program Specialist (Math and Science).

Graham is committed to preserving our natural heritage and values, and outdoor activities, including cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, and hiking. He has served as a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Seabird Advisory Council, Aquaculture and Emerging Fisheries Committee of the Schooner Economic Development Corporation, Notre Dame Rod and Gun Club, and Marystown Shipyard Board. Graham has operated an ecotourism boat business for 20 years, showcasing local bird colonies, whales and Beothuk heritage sites.

He has served on WERAC from 1998 to 2001 and from 2014 to 2021, including as co-chair and chair.

NEWLY APPOINTED MEMBERS

Mary Alliston Butt
Mary Alliston holds a Masters of Coastal and Marine Resource Management from the University of Akureyri, Iceland (University Centre of Westfjords) and a Bachelor’s of Science (Biology: Ecology and Conservation) from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. Mary Alliston works with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans under Ecosystems Management Branch, and is currently taking an acting assignment with Environment and Climate Change Canada under their Protected Areas Unit.

Prior to working with the Federal Government, Mary Alliston worked with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society as their Ocean Conservation Coordinator/Manager. She has gained great experience and knowledge in community engagement and consultations regarding the process and potential establishment of protected areas within Newfoundland and Labrador, through different avenues and tools, to support the priorities of the surrounding communities and locals.

Mary Alliston lives in Conception Bay South, and enjoys beachcombing along the coast, listening to the sound of the waves.

Tony Chubbs
Tony Chubbs, originally from Milltown, Bay D’Espoir, has been living in Happy Valley-Goose Bay since 1991. Tony worked as a Wildlife Biologist and Senior Wildlife Biologist in Labrador and for the past 27 years, with the Department of National Defence, as a Biologist and Environmental Management Systems Coordinator.

Tony has a BSc. (Hons) in Biology from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Ecology, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A.

Tony has been a member of the provincial eastern Harlequin Duck Recovery Team, Labrador Woodland Caribou Recovery Team, the eastern Wolverine Working Group, Provincial Working Group on the General Status of Wild Species in Canada, and the Land Birds Recovery Team. He has conducted monitoring and research on a myriad of species throughout Labrador including migratory and sedentary caribou, moose, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, golden eagles, osprey, and harlequin ducks. He has extensive experience in federal-provincial-Indigenous consultations and collaboration.

Tony is the founder and President of the Labrador Hunting and Fishing Association Inc., currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Goose Bay Airport Corporation, Multi-Materials Stewardship Board, and is a past Vice-President of the Stewardship Association of Municipalities. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles on Labrador wildlife species, over 200 outdoor interest newspaper and magazine articles, and appeared in two TV documentaries and one outdoor series.

Tony has a passion for the outdoors and enjoys hunting, fishing, boating, and gardening.

Annalee Hynes
Annalee Hynes, is a Resource Management Technician with Parks Canada’s Western Newfoundland and Labrador Field Unit and is a recent graduate of the Environmental Engineering Technology (Co-op) Diploma Program, from College of the North Atlantic, completing her work term report titled “A Technical Analysis of Bat Monitoring Technologies, for the Bat Monitoring Program in Gros Morne National Park” in April 2022.

She has since been working with many species at risk monitoring programs within Gros Morne National Park. Growing up on the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in St. Anthony has allowed Annalee to fully tap into her love of the great outdoors and all things environmental. She is committed to ensuring the beauty of this province is preserved and protected for future generations.

Carolyn Lavers
Carolyn Lavers graduated from Memorial University with a B.Sc. She has worked in management within the private sector; with the Provincial Government in the former Department of Rural Development; and she is a small business entrepreneur.

Carolyn has served as a volunteer on several local economic development boards in her region as well as other organizations and is the former mayor of Port au Choix. She lives in the community of Port au Choix.

Joining the Council

Individuals interested in becoming a WERAC member can apply through the Independent Appointments Commission website. The Public Service Commission reviews applications using set criteria, including the following:

• significant training, experience, or employment in a natural-resource field
• appreciation for the role of WERAC and the reserves-establishment process
• interest in and commitment to the protection of the province’s natural heritage
• ability to work in a committee setting and time to commit to the working of the Council

The Department recommends a list of nominees to Government. Once government has decided on the appointments, the Department notifies successful members.

The Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council meets for four two-four sessions per year, in a variety of locations around the province. In addition, members may attend public meetings held to discuss proposed reserves. Members are not paid for their time, but their expenses are covered.

Contact the Council

Please contact WERAC via the WERAC Secretariat at the Natural Areas Program at the contact information below:

WERAC Publications

Visit A Home for Nature for WERAC protected areas plan related publications, including the WERAC Recommendation Report on a Home for Nature Protected Areas Plan for the Island of Newfoundland.

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