Caitlyn Vernon

Having grown up along the BC coast under the canopy of cedar trees, Caitlyn can still be found wading in the ocean in her gumboots, poking around in tide pools, exploring coastal forests and climbing trees and mountains.   She brings this love of the coast to her work, campaigning to protect the Great Bear Rainforest and keep our coast oil-free.

A naturalist since a young age and a biologist by training, Caitlyn is motivated by an understanding that our own health – as well as our communities and our livelihoods - depend on the health of the ecosystems we live in.  She also firmly believes that ecological solutions need to work for the people who have to live with them.  To this end, much of her time is spent working in partnership with First Nations to support community-based monitoring of ecosystem-based management.  She is fortunate to spend time in communities on the Central and North Coast.

Before joining the Sierra Club in 2007, Caitlyn promoted ecosystem-based management both in Canada and internationally as a means for resource-based communities to achieve sustainable livelihoods within ecological limits.   Making the connections between ecological sustainability and social justice, she is interested in governance arrangements for natural resource management. She has a BSc in Biology and a Masters in Environmental Studies, in which her research focused on shared decision-making between First Nations and the province of BC. 

Caitlyn has just written a non-fiction book for young readers, called Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest.  The book encourages young readers to pay attention to what is happening in the world around them, and inspires them to take action and speak out for the future they want to live in.