Owner - Applied Ecologist

Jesse is an applied ecologist who started and has run SwampDonkey since 2010. Jesse specializes in evaluating the efficacy of land use practices and policies to meet their intended goals, and in the development of workable and realistic management and conservation strategies.

Jesse has a broad background working as a wildlife and forest ecologist for a range of organizations including governments, universities, non-profits, and private companies across his 25-year career thus far. He has worked in many roles from a project manager for seismic operations in the Canadian boreal and sub-arctic to a researcher in the upper Amazon basin in Peru. And many places in between.

Jesse focuses on identifying and offering solutions to entrenched management, conservation, and policy challenges that are cost effective, realistic, and fair to all involved. He considers himself pretty good at finding common ground to derive shared value and positive outcomes.

Jesse lives where the “mountains meet the prairies” south of Pincher Creek in Alberta with his wife and three sons. He holds a MSc in wildlife ecology from the University of Alberta.

jesse@swampdonkeysolutions.ca

Senior Applied Ecologist - Wildlife

Nicole is an applied & quantitative ecologist who specializes in the evaluation of ungulates and their predators, wildlife habitat use, and the condition, status, and impacts of anthropogenic and natural disturbances, particularly resource extraction and wildfire.

Nicole has a broad research wildlife research background. They have worked with polar bear, ringed seal, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, wolf, furbearers, beaver, black bear, grizzly bear, and songbirds in arctic, boreal, and mountain ecosystems in BC, Alberta, and the NWT.

Nicole excels at designing, developing, and implementing statistically robust research and monitoring projects; conducting wildlife-focused field work; coding and executing quantitative analyses, and using a variety of statistical and spatial software to understand landscape conditions and patterns, and to answer targeted questions. In their role at SwampDonkey, Nicole works with a variety of rights- and stake-holders, partners, governments, and First Nations to provide clear and robust data analyses and interpretation to support decision making to drive policy and land use planning and management.

Nicole holds a MSc in wildlife ecology from the University of Alberta and a PhD from the University of Victoria. During their PhD, Nicole examined the impacts of forest harvest on calf moose survival, habitat selection of collared moose and wolf, and predator-prey co-occurrences based on camera trapping. Niole lives in Victoria, BC.

nicole@swampdonkeysolutions.ca

Applied Ecologist - Vegetation

Katie is an applied ecologist with a strong vegetation ecology background, specializing in plant responses to the environment and disturbances, population dynamics, species distributions, and interactions with wildlife.

 Katie has over a decade of experience working in boreal and mountain ecosystems across British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Washington, and Ecuador. Her expertise includes a variety of advanced ecological analytical approaches, designing effective field projects, and working with diverse datasets to tackle ecological questions. Katie thrives on creative problem solving, drawing connections across systems and concepts to develop innovative, data-driven solutions. She is also passionate about tailoring accessible science communication with a wide variety of audiences and perspectives.

Before joining SwampDonkey, Katie worked for the BC government, completed a PhD in Botany from the University of British Columbia, and an MSc in Geography from Memorial University. Her past research explored how plant population dynamics and distributions respond to environmental change. Katie currently lives by the beach in Vancouver. 

katie@swampdonkeysolutions.ca

Lead GIS Specialist

Heather is a geospatial scientist / conservation biogeographer with a strong background in wildlife and landscape ecology. She brings significant expertise in advanced geospatial analysis, wildlife-habitat modeling, conservation planning, and cartography.

Heather has many years of experience working in western Canadian ecosystems (prairies, parkland, boreal) as environmental consultant and in non-profit conservation. Her previous work focused on soil organic carbon mapping and modelling, biodiversity assessments, wildlife habitat modelling, and habitat fragmentation/linear disturbance analyses. She is a big picture thinker and enjoys the puzzle/problem solving aspects of GIS and collaborating with diverse teams to work to solve real-world conservation problems.

Heather holds an M.Sc. in Geography from the University of Calgary and is completing her PhD in Geography and Environment at Western University, where she is quantifying the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on global primate species diversity, biogeography and extinction risk. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta.

heather@swampdonkeysolutions.ca

Ecologist Intern

Cougar is an applied ecologist who brings a strong background in field biology, environmental monitoring, and land stewardship to their role in terrestrial ecological restoration. With experience spanning the province of British Columbia and the islands of Hawai'i, Cougar has contributed to diverse conservation projects focused on habitat restoration, regenerative forestry, and ecological resilience.

Cougar holds a degree in biology and has worked closely with Indigenous communities, research institutions, and conservation organizations to support sustainable land management practices. Their practical skills are backed by years of hands-on work, from remote fieldwork to ecological data analysis and community engagement.

Outside of work, Cougar can be found freediving, surfing, skiing, and mountaineering—pursuits that deepen their understanding of natural systems and reinforce a commitment to protecting the environments they explore.