Originally published in Lake of the Woods Area News, Volume 55, Number 1, Early Spring 2025
After 20 years of dedicated service, Todd Sellers has retired as Executive Director of the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation. He says it’s time to “enjoy more family, friends and time at the lake.”
It’s well-deserved. In his founding role with the Foundation, Todd was instrumental in helping to forge international relationships at all levels and sectors in pursuit of the sustainability of the water quality of Lake of the Woods.
He’s cared about this as long as he can remember. “Rivers, lakes and fish were the anchor of our existence, growing up at the family cottage in Minaki,” he said. His grandfather bought “Sellers Island” in 1946, but the Sellers family had been coming to Minaki since 1912.
Todd’s family commuted to the cottage from Saskatoon, Ottawa, and then Winnipeg. His parents staggered their holidays, so the kids got to spend most of the summer in Minaki. Todd became a Minaki fishing guide in high school, which continued through university and to today.
His career path was pre-ordained by life on the water. He went to Trent University, on the shores of Otonabee River, where he studied biology. He was indoctrinated by many professors who were active in fisheries and other watershed developments. This included David Schindler, who was a founder of the Experimental Lakes Area project. After obtaining his B.Sc., he got a job at The Rawson Academy of Science where he worked with some of the premier water scientists of the day. After that, he followed Schindler to the University of Alberta for his Masters in Biological Sciences with field work at the ELA.
He then took a “lateral” into the technology world, working in Ottawa. But this was too long a commute to Minaki. Todd moved back to Winnipeg, starting his own company as a software developer, in the mid 1990s.
It was around that time a family friend, Catherine Milner, encouraged him to join the Board of LOWDSA’s predecessor, the Lake of the Woods Property Owners Association (LOWDPOA).
Todd was impressed to see the Association getting involved with concerns about water quality on Lake of the Woods. LOWDPOA was happy to attract a new young director with so much expertise. He was directly involved when the Association commissioned a State of the Lake Report in 2001, which declared that water quality would be a limiting factor to development of any kind on the lake. Algae blooms on Lake of the Woods, driven by excessive nutrient loading, were becoming more frequent, toxic and lasting later in the year.
In 2004, Todd was a member of LOWDPOA’s environmental committee when the first Lake of the Woods Water Quality forum was convened. This was a much-awaited gathering of all agencies—Canadian, American, Ontarian, and Manitoban—that had water quality data on Lake of the Woods.
“That first forum is what we now call the Rainy Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum,” said Todd. “It was an opportunity to get researchers and policy makers in the room together for the first time and it became an incubator for collaborative research and policy at all sides of the border.” He credits this as a highlight of his career.
He also credits the late John Turner, a former Prime Minister and long-time Lake of the Woods property owner, for his efforts to bring international policy action into the conversation. This included charting the course to secure a mandate for the International Joint Commission from Canada and the United States. The Foundation was formed In 2005, while Todd was LOWDPOA’s president.
This would be a sister organization to LOWDPOA. The aim was to put a plan in place with international coordination to support the long-term health of the watershed. Todd would be the Foundation’s first Executive Director, a role he’s held for the past 20 years.
Under Todd’s direction, the Foundation has coordinated work among government agencies, Indigenous communities, civil society organizations, the public, academia and scientists, and the International Joint Commission of the U.S. and Canada.
He championed international watershed governance, first establishing the International Watershed Coordination Program, then pressing for a mandate for the International Joint Commission’s participation in the region. The Foundation’s advocacy resulted in the establishment of the IJC’s International Rainy – Lake of the Woods Watershed Board in 2013. It plays an active role on this board, with Todd as a member since its inception.
The list goes on and on. You can read more at lowwsf.com.
Todd hopes the next generation, who he calls “the inheritors our waters”, will continue this important work. He quotes the late Prime Minister John Turner who said something to the effect of, “You get them to enjoy the place and learn to love it and they will take on the responsibility to protect it.”
He adds, “We need our young people to take these values and all this effort and carry it forward. It’s incredibly important to develop that connection.”
We are all enormously grateful to Todd and wish him more time on the water, enjoying the pristine environment he has worked so hard to uphold.
