Clients choose Terrastory because we are:

✔  Deadline-sensitive.
✔  Cost-competitive.
✔ Forward-thinking.
✔ Honest and forthright.
✔  LEADERS in our field.

About 

Ecologists describe landscapes and their constituent animal and plant life, contours, and waterways. We decipher the ecological patterns that emerge - why wetland occurs here but not there - with reference to biophysical processes (e.g., climate, hydrology, etc.) but also the rich cultural and ecological histories (e.g., glaciation, agriculture, etc.) of a place. At Terrastory, we are deeply committed to unraveling the unique ecological context of areas we are retained to assess, lending greater defensibility and soundness to the reports we deliver. Hence our name, Terrastory - we tell stories about the ecology of your land.

Terrastory's expertise lies in assessing the living world outside - wetlands, species at risk, watercourses, shorelines, lakes, woodlands, trees, birds, fish habitat and more. Our studies support diverse projects and applications including residential development (building permits, site plans, severances, zoning by-law amendments, subdivisions, etc.), pits and quarries, municipal transportation and infrastructure, and renewable energy. We also assist public sector and non-profit clients with unique and diverse interests. Clients choose Terrastory for our steadfast commitment to high-quality reporting, effective communications, and solution-oriented approach. We serve clients throughout Ontario, with our primary service areas within and surrounding the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Hamilton, Guelph, Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Barrie, Collingwood, Peterborough, Haliburton, and Muskoka.

Tristan Knight (M.E.S., M.Sc.) is Terrastory's Senior Ecologist / President. Tristan has over ten years experience as an environmental professional acting in diverse private and public sector roles. He applies an intimate knowledge of the environmental policy context guiding land development in Ontario to projects large and small. Tristan is a highly accomplished field ecologist with professional training in innumerable data collection protocols including Ecological Land Classification, (ELC) Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES), Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP), Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network (OBBN), and Vegetation Sampling Protocol. He is an ISA-certified Arborist, ISA-qualified Tree Risk Assessor, Butternut Health Assessor, and Managed Forest Plan approver. He is a former instructor of the OWES certification course and a current instructor with the Ontario Master Naturalist Program (Lakehead University, Orillia Campus) and Ontario Naturalist Certification Course (Kortright Centre). Drawing on a diverse mixture of project management and field expertise, he is single-mindedly focused on generating high-quality deliverables that exceed expectations. Above all, Tristan undertakes his work with utmost integrity, objectiveness, and concern for detail.

Ash Baron (B.E.S., CEERR) is Terrastory’s Senior Ecologist / Arborist. Ash has over 14 years of experience in ecology and natural heritage planning, with focus on terrestrial systems and ecological restoration. She also has expertise in natural heritage system development, impact assessments and mitigation, monitoring, permitting, reporting and analysis, and project management. She regularly conducts vegetation community assessments, wetland evaluations, botanical inventories, wildlife surveys, tree inventories, and habitat assessments. Ash is certified in the Ecological Land Classification (ELC) and Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) protocols and is also a certified Arborist and Butternut Health Assessor. Having co-authored and managed multiple subwatershed studies, environmental assessments (EAs), environmental impact studies (EISs) / Natural Heritage Evaluations (NHEs), ecological restoration / rehabilitation plans, monitoring plans, and arborist reports for clients across southern Ontario, Ash is experienced in identifying project constraints and opportunities, and bringing together multiple disciplines to achieve common project goals. Ash’s personal interests and passions, many of which overlap with her professional career, include botany, mycology, ecological restoration, folk herbalism, camping, rock and blues music, genealogy, ethics, folklore, scuba diving, travel, and vintage.

Rob Aitken (B. Sc.) is Terrastory’s Senior Ecologist / GIS Specialist. Rob has over a decade of experience in ecology and natural heritage planning, with a focus on terrestrial systems and special expertise in GIS analyses related to Natural Heritage System (NHS) mapping and assessments. He regularly provides support for natural heritage system development, impact assessments and mitigation, wildlife monitoring, reporting and analysis for a wide range of environmental projects at various scales from site-specific to watershed-scale. Rob is certified in Ecological Land Classification (ELC) and Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) protocols.

Jessica Consiglio (B.L.A., ER(PG), M.BEMA) is Terrastory’s Intermediate Ecologist / Arborist. Jessica has nine years experience in ecology, with a focus on natural heritage inventories and implementing field survey protocols in both public and private sector roles. She is certified in the Ecological Land Classification (ELC) and Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) protocols and is an ISA-certified Arborist and certified Butternut Health Assessor. Jessica has extensive experience conducting tree inventories, botanical inventories, vegetation community classification, and targeted Species at Risk plant surveys. She is highly experienced at implementing standardized herpetofauna survey protocols; having completed numerous field methodology training courses and certifications across Ontario and northeastern North America.  Jessica also has expertise in conducting field surveys for bats, particularly in the collection and analysis of acoustic monitoring data. In her free time, Jessica enjoys volunteering as a board member with the Field Botanists of Ontario, and acting as a volunteer surveyor for universities and other research institutions.