Board of Directors

Season Snyder
Jack Chapman
James Appleyard
Izabela van Amelsvoort
Jeff Bakker
Kathryn Arthur
Jennifer Neill
Val Deziel
John F. Foster
Shayla Jackson
Julie Hall
President
Past President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Burlington ON
Delhi ON
Toronto ON
Cambridge ON
Burlington ON
Essex ON
Stouffville ON
Roseneath ON
Oshawa ON
London ON
Windsor ON

To contact any of our directors, please send an email to info@tallgrassontario.org and your message will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

Executive

Season Snyder
President

Season Snyder is a Senior Plant Ecologist and Restoration Specialist with WSP. She received her PhD in Biology, working in grasslands in Colorado and New Mexico and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of California, Riverside.

Jack Chapman
Past President

Jack Chapman is the current Past President of Tallgrass Ontario.

Jack was a representative of Ontario Natural Resources and Forestry Fire Management Branch, establishing Tallgrass Ontario in 2001. Jack is retired from Forestry and Fire Management and lives in Norfolk County.
Read more
James Appleyard
Vice President

James is a venture capital investor and entrepreneur.  He serves as chair of the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts, vice-chair of the Canadian International Council, and as a senior fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto.  James and his family are currently restoring a farm property in Dufferin County, Ontario.

Izabela van Amelsvoort
Secretary

Izabela van Amelsvoort is a Terrestrial Ecologist with North-South Environmental Inc. and is the Secretary of Tallgrass Ontario. 

Izabela completed a B.Sc. in Environmental Science (Guelph) and Masters in Forest Conservation (Toronto). She has since worked in environmental consulting as a Terrestrial Ecologist with a primary focus on botany. Her experience includes tallgrass prairie and other restoration projects and managements plans as well as studies and research relating to Species at Risk in Ontario.
Read more
Jeff Bakker
Treasurer

Jeff Bakker is a business initiatives director at RBC with an interest in environmental restoration and invasive species control. Jeff is the Treasurer of Tallgrass Ontario.

Directors

Kathryn Arthur
Director

Kathryn Arthur is a Restoration Biologist at the Essex Region Conservation Authority, Essex, Ontario.

Val Deziel
Director

Val Deziel completed her Hon. BSc in Restoration Ecology at Trent University. She is currently the Director of Restoration Programs at Forest Ontario and is responsible for coordinating and conducting stewardship work and habitat restoration in forest and grassland ecosystems.

Jennifer Neill
Director

Jennifer Neill is an ecologist and Principal of  Insight Environmental Solutions Inc. during the day and a multidisciplinary Artist by night. 

Julie Hall
Director

Julie Hall is a guide for the City of Windsor's Ojibway Prairie Complex and volunteer with Friends of Ojibway Prairie. Julie received a Master of Fine Art from the University of Guelph and her Landscape Horticulture Diploma at St. Clair College. She is a certified Interpretive Guide and Ontario Master Naturalist.

Shayla Jackson
Director

Shalya received a Master of Science at the University of Winnipeg in Bioscience, Technology and Public Policy where she studied differences in the diet and behaviour of coyotes in southwestern Saskatchewan grasslands. She is currently working on her Ph.D. at the University of of Guelph studying wildlife biology and conservation.

John F. Foster
Director

John is a Teacher and Botanist who completed his B.Ed. and H.BSc. at Lakehead University. He volunteers for many environmental and art groups.

Previous Directors of Tallgrass Ontario (years served in brackets)

Cathy Quinlan (7), Mark Emery (6),  Wayne MacMillan (2), Peter Carson (6), Lee McLean (6), Lindsay Rodger (4),  Paul Pratt (6),  Ken Nentwig (6), Christine Elliot (4),  Tony Jovan (2), Will Wilson (3), Paul Ohara (2), John Haggeman (5), Jane Bowles (4), Graham Buck (9),  Nikki S. May (6), Todd Farrell (5), David Morris (2), Ken Towle (5), John Henderson (2), Scott Martin (7), Alistair MacKenzie (3), Kathy Hodgins (3), Glenn McLeod (3), Kristen Thompson (2), Dan Barcza (6), Barbara Macdonell (5), Dan Lebedyk (9), Carol Dunk (2), Elizabeth Reimer (6), Danielle Aullenback (3), Steve Rankin (11), Jennifer Lau (4), Pat Deacon (9), Jack Chapman (18), Tom Purdy (18), Dan Stuart (9), Karen Cedar (9).

Others who made significant contributions:  Wasyl Bakowsky, Paul Smith, Mary Gartshore, Allen Woodliffe, Don Gordon, Ron Ludolph and Kyle Breault.