Hear a former student
talking about plant identification
Photo Gallery from
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Video testimonial from a
former student
Biological Field School
GIS
GIS Tech Support
Environmental Assessment
Dave Jolly, B.Sc.,
Senior Instructor
Dave is the designer of all 30 + certification courses offered by the Biological Field School. He is an expert in field botany consulting with over 30 years of hands-on experience and several field guide type books on vascular plant identification. In addition to consulting services, Dave operates the Earthquest Biological Field School as Senior Instructor and President to train students from across Canada and abroad regarding field biology training, SAR plants, ornithology, GIS applications, medicinal plants, wetland ecology, etc.
Additionally, Dave is a Senior Ecologist and works in the capacity of an environmental consultant providing senior technical review, aboriginal consultation, Environmental Impact Studies (EIS), environmental and natural heritage assessments, Ecological Land Classification, GIS, wetland evaluations, expert witness testimony to environmental review tribunals and flora and fauna surveys. He has worked on over a dozen EIS projects within the Greater Toronto Area, 11 renewable energy projects in southern, eastern and northern Ontario and surveyed over 15,000 hectares of natural areas.
P. Leigh Whyte, RPP, MCIP, AICP, RCIC,
Instructor
Leigh is the President of PLW Planning and Environmental Consulting, based in Fort Erie, Ontario. He has been the Project Manager on a wide variety of scales of projects from individual telecommunication towers to environmental reviews for hundreds of kilometers of hydro-electric transmission corridors or a $27 million dollar environmental review for a 1,900 MW hydro-electric project. Leigh has over twenty years of experience as a Senior Planner and Project Manager performing urban and environmental planning for numerous public, private and aboriginal clients. His responsibilities have included review and preparation of development applications, research and analysis for the preparation of complex planning reports, presentations and preparation of public outreach approaches, official plan preparation, power sector consulting, GIS project management, municipal by-law preparation, industrial site development, environmental assessment preparation and review, First Nations consultation, and preparation of various environmental reports for submittal to all levels of government in Canada and the U.S.
Mike Dennis, GIS Specialist,
Instructor
Mike joined the Biological Field School in 2015. As a GIS Specialist with 11 years of experience in the environmental industry.
Mr. Dennis provides specialty GIS services to support numerous projects as well as directly to many external clients. Mr. Dennis has a proven ability to provide skilled technical support as required. He has the ability to exercise initiative, tact, accuracy and confidentiality. In the past 4.5 years he has provided GIS support in the form of map production, thematic mapping and geographical analysis, and spatial modeling. Specific project responsibilities include:
Phase I ESA and Phase II ESA figures and conceptual site models for projects in Ontario,Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta; Map preparation for environmental baseline studies and environmental impact assessment; GIS database management; Tailings facility, waste rock and landfill location scoping; and Mapping for urban and mine geotechnical investigations; Cartography Geospatial Data Management;Geodatabase/ Database (RDBMS) Management and Administration; Geoprocessing/Automation of GIS tasks 3D Analyst Extension within ESRI Suite Spatial Analyst Extension within ESRI Suite Interpretation and Digitizing of historical maps and aerial photography Raster Data Analysis and Visualization Graphics Design/Image Processing GIS Consulting and Research General IT functions and maintenance
Courtney Baldo, M.Sc., F.T
Instructor
Courtney graduated from the EARTHQUEST Field Botany Mentorship Program in 2016.
After participating in our Bat ID & Survey course and working on a bat project on northern Ontario as a Bat Field Assistant she took on her role as GIS Tech Support for our school.
Her experience in providing this support was gained by working at ESRI Canada for 5 years as a GIS Anaylst.
Courtney has also worked in the Forestry and Environmental Education sectors in Canada and the USA.