NIAGARA ESCARPMENT BIOSPHERE NETWORK BLOG

Doran Ritchie Hired as Manager of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Network

12/05/2025

The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Network has hired environmental conservationist Doran Ritchie as its manager. In collaboration with the organization’s Board of Directors and with the support of Environment and Climate Change Canada and Plenty Canada, Doran will manage the activities of the Network including outreach, fundraising, relationship-building, and engagement with network members of various sectors.

Doran is highly regarded in the field as an Indigenous governance specialist, environmental advocate, wildlife manager, and Indigenous rights strategist from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation. As manager of the Network, he will lead with a vision rooted in the principles of shared responsibility, land-based knowledge, and co-governance. As a committed Indigenous advocate, Doran has spent decades advancing cultural integrity, environmental justice, and meaningful inclusion of Indigenous peoples in local, provincial, and national policy frameworks.

Doran lives the knowledge he brings forward — actively engaged in hunting, trapping, fishing, harvesting, and ceremonial practices that connect him to the land. His governance approach is shaped not only by ancestral teachings and clan responsibilities, but also by an ongoing study of global governance models, ethical philosophy, and sustainability science. He brings these worldviews together in a way that respects Indigenous legal orders while building bridges across sectors and cultures.

Over his career, Doran has led and contributed to numerous landmark initiatives, including:

•  Wildlife and bear management research, combining Western science with Anishinaabe understandings of territory, spirit, and relational ecology.

•  Major infrastructure and environmental projects, including award-winning work in aggregates policy reform, archeological oversight, and joint stewardship of ecologically sensitive areas.

•  Co-developed governance frameworks with government bodies and Indigenous Nations, including land claims, Parks Canada agreements, and regional planning tools informed by free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC).

•  Strategic leadership on the Denny’s Dam Rehabilitation Project, which earned the Buzz Besadny Award for Fostering Great Lakes Partnerships from the International Great Lakes Fishery Commission — a testament to the power of Indigenous-led, collaborative restoration.

Doran is also the founder of 8th Fire Consulting, an initiative dedicated to rebuilding Indigenous capacity in governance, education, and spiritual sovereignty. The name “8th Fire” draws from the Anishinaabe prophecy that foretells a time when people of all nations must come together to choose between destruction or unity. In this era — our present day — the Eighth Fire represents a pathway of renewal: a return to the land, truth, and balance, where Indigenous knowledge systems help guide humanity toward healing and responsibility.

Through his work with the Network and beyond, Doran continues to walk the path of the Eighth Fire — bringing vision, structure, and heart to the work of building a sustainable and just future for all peoples and for the lands that sustain us.

Critical among his responsibilities will be to build productive relationships with various rightsholders and stakeholders including First Nations, municipalities and other government bodies, NGOs, private sector, and other organizations and communities. This includes his ability to understand work within a co-governance model based on Ethical Space and Two-Eyed Seeing through the collaboration of western and Indigenous governance systems.

The Board of Directors welcomes Doran as an essential member of the team.