Our People

Karen Barkley comes to Invermere from Banff with vast experience in climate change and community issues. Most recently, she was the Operations Manager with the Global Call for Climate Action for over 8 years and was Project Manager for The Resilience Institute in Canmore, AB. She has worked in international development in Nigeria and Nepal, where she helped the national office of the Federation of Community Forest Users with its strategic planning and organizational development. Over the years, Karen has managed festivals, dance companies, and theatre programs and co-founded a charitable organisation in Nepal. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work, post grad courses in Environmental Management and Climate Change, and is very excited to bring some of this background to supporting the work of Wildsight Invermere. When not at her computer, she can be found wandering hiking and ski trails with her dog Dorje.

Jillian & her family happily made Invermere home in 2013. An avid trail runner and lover of the outdoors, she is delighted to live in such a beautiful place for exploring and raising a family. She has a Masters in Architecture and blends her passion for design and advocacy for the environment as Principal of Cochrane Design Studio, where she designs healthy, sustainable spaces and places throughout the Columbia Valley. Jillian is grateful for the opportunity to learn about the Kootenays through Wildsight’s important work

Tracy Flynn came to the Columbia Valley from northern Alberta 12 years ago. She appreciates intact, healthy ecosystems but it was Columbia Lake that drew her here. Having spent most of her life in the unspoiled lake environments that northern life offered, she was pleased to find Columbia Lake. Tracy has always preferred to be outside, doing everything and anything outdoors related, including hiking, skiing and biking. She feels she has landed in the perfect spot. She hopes her passion for wild places will benefit the Invermere Wildsight team.

Cam grew up in the Columbia Valley and is thrilled to return and call it home. He has a PhD in Biology and his passion for birds and the environment comes from a life of enjoying the outdoors since he was a child. Living in Windermere, he runs Eagle-Eye Tours, which provides an opportunity for travel to remote and wonderful corners of the world. He has also been involved in several wildlife research projects from leopard frogs to wolverines.

Jessie moved to Invermere in August 2016 from Crawford Bay in the West Kootenays. She now works as a Wildsight Environmental Educator, and at Eagle-Eye Tours. Her favourite spot in the Columbia Valley is her garden, followed closely by Wilmer Wetlands and any number of local hiking trails.

Baiba Morrow has navigated much of her working life as a freelance writer, photographer, and dabbler in documentary film making. In partnership with her husband, Pat Morrow, she has travelled and explored the mountain world, especially the Himalayan region, and found inspiration from ancient cultures. Since moving back to the East Kootenay in 2007, Baiba continues to find joy in her community, the mountains, and her garden.

Taoya Schaefer moved to Invermere in 1985, and has been a member of Wildsight since its inception (as the East Kootenay Environmental Society). She is a retired physiotherapist, and along with her husband has raised two sons.  She is passionate about preserving the natural environment and loves all manner of outdoor pursuits, especially ski touring in the winter and hiking, biking, and whitewater kayaking in the summer.