General Manager – Maret Tae  (until April 2024)

Honours B.Sc. Wildlife Biology – University of Guelph – 1985

B. Ed. Primary, Junior, Senior – University of Ottawa – 1995

Maret is an Ecologist with over 35 years of experience in the Natural Resource management field. She has conducted environmental studies for the forestry, hydroelectric and mining industries, as well as government. Maret has coordinated multidisciplinary teams in the collection of Environmental Baseline data and preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments. She has completed vegetation, wildlife and aquatic studies in Ontario, Nunavut, Honduras, Cuba, Ecuador and Western Canada. Her technical expertise and extensive field experience encompasses wetland ecology, botany, fish and wildlife biology, ecological restoration, aquatic science and hydrology.

Maret has also spent some years teaching; biology to college and high school students, basic skills at the North Bay psychiatric hospital, advanced sailing skills and nature appreciation.

Maret spends time hiking, canoe tripping, kayaking, cross country skiing and quietly observing the natural environment. She has undertaken challenging canoe and skiing expeditions in northeastern Ontario, and travelled extensively in Europe. In recent years her efforts have focused on market garden development, maple syrup production and running an off-grid ecotourism experience.

Contact: mtae@aofrc.org

Fisheries Biologist – Kenneth Dynia

Ken is a lifelong angler/conservationist/outdoorsmen with 30 years experience in the outdoors. He has a Natural Environment Technician diploma from Sault College and a BSc. (Hons) Environmental Sciences from Algoma University (2021).

He has worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry as a Fisheries Technician with the Provincially Significant Inland Fisheries section, Aquatic Monitoring Technician Crew Leader for the Broadscale Monitoring program and as a Fisheries Monitoring Assessment Biologist. He has also worked as a Conservation Area Technician for Credit Valley Conservation.

Research experience includes Brook trout community assessment which involved evaluating the impacts on Brook trout from interactions with increasing community complexity and presence of competitor species.

He has worked across the province of Ontario (Kenora, Thunder Bay, Algoma, Missinaibi, Temagami, Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay and various areas within the Credit River Watershed).

Contact: kdynia@aofrc.org

Fisheries Biologist – Ashlyne Norris

Ashlyne is a biologist with an Honours BEM from Lakehead University (2020). She has worked across Ontario and Alberta working with DFO, Parks Canada, Conservation Authorities, and non-profits. Her fisheries field experience is greatly diverse and includes working with a large variety of nets, boat and backpack electrofishing, eDNA research, helicopter redd and snorkel surveys, OSAP, benthic monitoring, water quality sampling and acoustic telemetry studies.

Ashlyne is not only experienced in fisheries related work but has also completed a variety of terrestrial and amphibian surveys as well as large restoration projects and public workshops. She has experience managing and leading teams, developing projects, and writing reports.

Ashlyne joined the A/OFRC in November of 2021 and is looking forward to getting our new electrofishing boat up and running and utilizing the aging equipment we recently acquired.

Contact: anorris@aofrc.org

Fisheries Technician – Emily Heil

Emily joined A/OFRC in 2022 as a fisheries technician. From a young age, Emily has been passionate about aquatic life and knew she wanted to be a fisheries biologist someday. She has worked with Parks Canada as an environmental services student on the Rideau system, conducting surveys on invasive aquatic vegetation as well as shoreline surveys. She has also worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources as a resource technician doing Broad-scale monitoring on many inland lakes across northeastern Ontario. Emily grew up on lake Nipissing and Georgian bay which is where her love for the water and its ecosystems began.

Emily graduated from the University of Guelph with a degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology (2021). During her degree she took many conservation courses growing her interest in fisheries conservation. Emily is looking forward to working along side members of partnering communities and gaining more knowledge regarding fisheries conservation.

Contact: eheil@aofrc.org