Helga Guderley made St. Margaret’s Bay her home since retiring in 2010 from being a professor of comparative physiology at Université Laval for 30 years. She continues to teach graduate students at Dalhousie University because the amazing variety of physiological adaptations of living organisms continues to delight her. Helga became involved with environmental advocacy shortly after arriving in Boutiliers Pt., fighting the clear cutting on nearby Crown lands. The strong support of her petition against the use of biomass for power generation started her collaboration with the Ecology Action Centre, in particular the Wilderness section. The EAC’s work in its various departments has consistently impressed her and she looks forward to working more closely with the organization.

Helga was born in Dayton Ohio, to recently arrived German immigrants. She did her PhD in Zoology at the University of British Columbia where she met her husband, John Himmelman. They have two grown sons and a lovely little grand-daughter. They look after a mix of gardens and forest in Boutiliers Pt. and enjoy being near John’s homelands along the La Have river. She enjoys hiking, biking, swimming, being in natural landscapes and knowing the names of the plants she sees.