GLEN at a Glance
GLEN works to empower public constituencies across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basins to drive transformational strategies and actions that will restore and safeguard the health and resilience of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence ecoregions. We seek to become a transboundary advocate, an ecoregional community “think tank,” a constituency builder, and a knowledge network and wisdom keeper. Our actions will include policy analysis and critique, galvanizing public input, oversight of and participation in public agencies, as well as workshops, webinars, and resources to support regional collaboration among established leaders and new constituents.
How we approach our work
Our work aims to...
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Serve the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basins
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Embrace ecological health, integrity, and resiliency as an overarching goal and intended outcomes
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Focus on levers that shift toward transformation (regionally and globally) as opposed to incremental actions to address symptoms
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Respect Indigenous rights, knowledge, and approaches, and develop partnerships with Indigenous peoples on shared priorities
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Adopt values of shared responsibility, respect and celebration of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence
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Lead with the ecological (including human) strategic goals/actions; follow with the appropriate institutional actions
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Leverage existing or available resources
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Enhance relationship-building by
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Being responsive to the needs of disadvantaged and under-represented people and creating opportunities for expanded representation
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Embracing justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging across our strategies
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Engaging community groups where there is alignment and mutual interest
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Respecting the unique work and challenges of allied organizations, and developing partnerships as appropriate
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Welcoming, sharing, and learning from youth
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Listening and learning; collaborating and catalyzing
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What's an Ecoregion?
Ecoregions..."represent the natural boundaries on Earth with each area representing land that contains distinct geography and natural communities that distinguish it from neighboring ecoregions." (gislounge.com)
The terrestrial (land-based) ecoregions in the Great Lakes basin (watershed) include the Northern Forests and the Easterm Temperate Forests.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes the Great Lakes ecoregion by the Great Lakes and their watershed:
“Today, the Great Lakes ecoregion contains a variety of habitats, including aquatic, forest, marsh, wetland, and dune ecosystems. Widely varying climate, soils, and topography support more than 3,500 species of plants and animals."
Why the Ecoregion Focus?
We chose "ecoregion" for our network's focus because it represents the ecological boundaries of the broader Great Lakes system, spanning the U.S.-Canada border, and embracing the Indigenous sovereign nations and tribes that call the Great Lakes region home.
We also chose "ecoregion," because it aligns with the aspirations of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to safeguard Great Lakes water quality through sustaining and restoring the integrity of the region’s chemical, physical and biological systems
A new governing structure for GLEN
As of March 2025, the Great Lakes Ecoregion Network has been operating for over three years. During that time, we have been playing an important role in stimulating cross-border action on many issues affecting the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. We have been bringing forward leading-edge visions and solutions for long-term protection of the Great Lakes. We also have put considerable effort into administrative matters and planning, including exploring fiscal sponsorship or incorporation.
As an all-volunteer organization, we have decided to shift away from efforts to incorporate as a charitable organization at this stage. Instead we will be devoting our attention to our campaigns and our Issue Teams work.
As a result, our board has been disbanded and replaced with a coordinating committee. This committee consists of the chairs of the Issue Teams – the people directly working on our campaigns and issues, and will also include our treasurer, Rupert Kindersley, and the volunteer GLEN coordinator, Stéphane Gingras.The coordinating committee will serve as GLEN’s guiding body on policy and basic operations.
Rupert Kindersley
Stéphane Gingras
Issue Team Leaders
John Jackson
GLWQA Team
For the past forty years, John has focused on working with groups throughout the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin to help shape the transboundary GLWQA and its implementation. John was a member of the IJC's Great Lakes Water Quality Board for 10 years. With extensive background in toxic pollution prevention, John is also serving as interim chair of the Toxics & Radionuclides Team
Barry Boyer
Agricultural Policy Team
Barry Boyer is Vice Chair of the Agricultural Policy Issue Team. He is a retired Law Professor from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he taught courses in Environmental Law and Regulation. Boyer has served on several Great Lakes advisory committees, including the Buffalo and Niagara River RAP teams and the Lake Erie Forum, as well as being a founding member and past President of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper.
Stéphane Gingras
Biodiversity and Habitat Team
Géographe, géomorphologue, maître Es-Science et militant écologiste depuis 40 ans au Québec et dans le monde Géographe et géomorphologue, a obtenu son baccalauréat en géographie physique de l’Université du Québec à Trois Rivières (UQTR) et sa maitrise en géographie et science de l’environnement de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) en 2001. Depuis 2014, il est chargé de projet pour le Groupe Ambioterra. De la gestion des projets, de la géomatique, ainsi que des communications… son véritable titre est « Responsable de la protection de la biodiversité » !
Geographer with a specialisation in geomorphology, M. Gingras has a bachelor degree in physical geography and a master degree in geography and environmental science from the university of Quebec in Montreal. Since 2014, M. Gingras work as a Biodiversity protection officer for the organisation Ambioterra. He is responsible for managing the tree nursery (pépinière régionale du Suroit) and the plantations. He is also supervising the plantation team, and work on overarching policy issues in regards to biodiversity protection.
Jane Elder
Climate Team
Jane Elder is the author of "Wilderness, Water & Rust: A Journey Toward Great Lakes Resilience." A lifelong advocate for Great Lakes protection, Jane founded the Sierra Club’s Great Lakes Program, headed the Biodiversity Project for ten years, and led the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters for ten years, expanding its water and climate initiatives. She is based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Don Ciparis
Agricultural Policy Team
Farming near Lake Erie since 1982, I have represented grain producers in my community for 30 years on Provincial Boards, leading to my serving on the Provincial Council then as the President of the National Farmers Union of Ontario, an accredited farm organization with a considerable environmental consciousness. Having served as a Forestry Technician on a seasonal basis for a local Conservation Authority, an opportunity presented itself to further represent Ontario agriculture by way of involvement with the bi-national Lake Erie Public Forum, which was tasked with providing input into the Management Plan for the Lake, as mandated by the International Joint Commission. As Chairman of the GLEN Agriculture & Nutrient Committee, I bring to committee members a keen interest in Great Lakes basin agriculture, climate and water/air/soil quality for the benefit of current and the next generation of basin farmers.
Margaret Wooster
Physical Integrity Team
Margaret is a watershed planner and writer on issues and wonders related to water in its natural habitat. She has a PhD in English and a Masters Degree in urban planning. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Buffalo River, now Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, and served from 1996 to 2003 as Executive Director of Great Lakes United, a bi-national coalition dedicated to conserving the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystem. She is currently a board member of the Western New York Environmental Alliance and an “Ally of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation” working to stop an industrial project called STAMP that will damage not only the Seneca territory but also the quality of the several thousand acres of “protected” wildlife refuges that surround it.
Margaret is the author of two books: Living Waters: Reading the Rivers of the Lower Great Lakes, and Meander: Making Room for Rivers both published by SUNY Press.