Executive Committee

Geoff Ross moved to Muskoka in 2010 after a career as a Professional Engineer developing water and air pollution control standards and programs with Environment Canada. His work included control of coal-fired power plant emissions contributing to acid rain, smog, climate change and other major air issues. He represented Canada in technical work under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and participated in negotiation of the Ozone Annex to the Canada/U.S. Air Quality Accord. Geoff holds degrees in Engineering and Physiology. He is a past President and member of the executive of the Skeleton Lake Cottagers’ Organization, and devotes his spare time to carpentry, sailing, canoeing , curling, XC skiing and tennis. He joined the Muskoka Watershed Council in 2012.

Kevin Trimble is an ecological consultant with more than 25 years of experience assessing the impacts of many types of land use change in Ontario, most recently with Golder Associates in Barrie. Originally from an aquatic background, he integrates a number of terrestrial and aquatic disciplines with the water resource and groundwater sciences and has directed many types of restoration projects. After cottaging on Lake Simcoe his entire life, Kevin and his family relocated to Muskoka in 2014.

Karen Maxwell sits on MWC as a representative from the McKay Lake Cottagers’ Association. She has been a cottager on McKay Lake for over 29 years and more recently became a full-time resident. As co-president of her lake association, Karen manages, communicates and advances various environmental programs and initiatives for her lake.

Karen grew up cottaging on Georgian Bay where she developed a deep love of the water. This love brought her to Muskoka and its natural rocks, forests, small bodies of water and hidden environmental gems that she works hard to protect. Volunteering with MWC is Karen’s way of staying connected to her mother, an Information/Education Officer for the Credit Valley Conservation Authority for almost 30 years, and protecting lake health for the next many generations to come.

Peter F. Sale is an environmental scientist whose research into ecology of coral reefs spanned a career at the University of Sydney, (1968-87), University of New Hampshire (1988-93), University of Windsor (1994-2006), and most recently United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (2007-2014). He remains University Professor Emeritus at the University of Windsor. Educated at the University of Toronto and the University of Hawaii, he now lives with his wife Donna in Muskoka, continuing to write and speak on critical environmental issues. His recent book, Our Dying Planet, tells the story of our impacts on the environment from the perspective of an ecologist who has seen environmental decline with his own eyes. He brings his expertise in aquatic ecology to the deliberations of the Muskoka Watershed Council.

Daryle and his wife own a cottage on Otter Lake just south of Parry Sound. They purchased the cottage in 1998 after arriving back to Canada from living in Luxembourg and now split their time between Toronto and Otter Lake. While they can only drive in to their cottage during the three seasons, they enjoy coming up in the winter, first by foot, then by snowshoe, by snowmobile, and lastly by car in 2020 when they had their road plowed. According to Daryle, winter at Otter Lake is 100% better than in the summer even with the challenges: less people, less noise and you get a better sense on life with the fire burning inside. When you go out and breath-in, when it is cold, your nostrils stick together, tobogganing, skating on the lake and playing in the snow – how Canadian.

Daryle sat on the Otter Lake Ratepayers’ Association’s Board from 2014 to 2018 as its treasurer and membership director in 2017 and 2018. In Fall 2018, he was elected as a municipal councillor with the Township of Seguin. He also sits on his local cottage road association as the secretary and treasurer and (as a founding member) had many challenges in that role that he did not appreciate until stepping into an issue – he has learned a lot about practical road issues to write a book.

Daryle is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years experience and has been working as a sole practitioner for about 5½ years with a focus on taxation. He continues to spend more time at the cottage except for 2020 when COVID-19 restricted his travel north (and as a municipal councillor, you need to lead by example). While he enjoys spending time with friends and family at the cottage, what he most likes to do is work on his hobbies and build, renovate and the like at the cottage to try and improve things for his family and hopefully his daughter’s family down the road. He would like to retire sooner rather than later so he can move permanently north to the West Parry Sound area, but he will put that on his cottage goal list, so he has something to reach for over the next few years.

Biography not available.

Biography not available.

Michael Peppard is the founder and Executive Director of EcoMuskoka Conservation, a not-for-profit corporation whose mission it is to engage communities in local greening projects. For the past fifteen years Michael has been engaged in managing environmental programming for not-for-profits across Ontario. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Guelph and a Certificate in Restoration Ecology from Niagara College. Michael is a community engagement specialist who is striving to bring his skills to his new home in Muskoka.

Paul Wiancko has a degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of Guelph and a degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Toronto. Following a brief time as an environmental consultant, Paul spent most of his career with Ontario Hydro/Ontario Power Generation in various environmental positions for fossil and nuclear stations, including fisheries, radiological emissions and zebra mussels, before retiring in 2002. A long time cottager on Six Mile Lake, Paul is involved in the Six Mile Lake Cottagers’ Association, Baxter Snow Riders, and the Southeast Georgian Bay Chamber of Commerce. Paul was a Township of Georgian Bay councillor from 2003-2006 and is currently serving as a councillor for Georgian Bay as well as the District of Muskoka.

Samantha Hastings is the Commissioner of the Community and Planning Services Department for The District Municipality of Muskoka and serves as a liaison between the District and the Muskoka Watershed Council on the Executive Committee.