Steven Tannas BSc. PhD. PAg.

President: Senior Restoration and Vegetation Ecologist

Steven Tannas is a plant community ecologist with specializations in understanding native plant communities and the growth of native plants. With over 20 years of experience working with native plants both in propagation and inventory work he has an in depth understanding of how native species grow and the communities they are found in. 

Steven conducted his Ph.D. research in restoration of foothills fescue grasslands west of Calgary. Dr. Tannas is a technical specialist in native plants and native ecosystems with core areas of expertise including, ecological land classification, plant taxonomy, rare plants, wetlands, range management, land use, reclamation and Bioengineering.

He has been working as a plant community ecologist and restoration ecologist for the past 20 years. In addition, he has worked on the family farm since he was 14 in the native seed production facility and later helped build the native plant nursery which is now the main focus of the farm. He became the breeder plot manager in 1997-1998 and managed propagation in the summers until 2010 when he passed this work to Eileen Tannas and became the manager and propagation specialist for ESRS. He has developed new restoration techniques to restore foothills fescue grasslands leading to TCS receiving the Alberta Emerald Award for environmental commitment and becoming a finalized in the ASTECH Awards. His reclamation design works includes dozens of bioengineering programs throughout Calgary post 2013 floods as well as alpine and subalpine reclamation programs for mines and Parks Canada. He has worked across western Canada including NWT and Nunavut as a plant specialist. 

In his spare time he enjoyes wood carving, building and playing string instruments, timber framing, reading and generally being outdoors.

Eileen Tannas BSc.

Vice President, Senior Plant Propagation Specialist

Eileen has been working with native plants full time under Eastern Slopes Rangeland Seeds and now Tannas Conservation Services for the past 10 years. she has focused on plant identification including weeds, rare species and common native species across Alberta. She is experienced in completing rare species surveys  within the boreal forest as well as working in other forested systems and some grassland systems. she has worked across Alberta within the following ecoregions: boreal, upper foothills, lower foothills, montane, subalpine, foothills fescue, northern fescue, aspen parkland, and dry mixed grass ecosystems. My experience is however most extensive in the boreal ecosystems

She has worked for Eastern Slopes Rangeland Seeds Ltd. for over 10 years as a plant propagation specialist and also as a plant taxonomist conducting weed inventories, general baseline surveys and rare plant surveys. My previous employment has been with Suncor, CNRL and SGS in Fort McMurray and this work included working on sites within the mines. I understand the safety procedures on the mine sites and am comfortable working around large equipment.

Michelle Kingsmith BSc. P.Ag.

Senior Environmental Scientist

Michelle is a Professional Agrologist (P.Ag.) with Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. (TCS) in Calgary, Alberta, who specializes in reclamation and remediation. She has been working in the reclamation industry for over 15 years and is highly experienced in environmental site assessment (ESA), including Phase 1 (as per AEP standard), 2 (intrusive sampling) and 3 (remediation); site reclamation; revegetation; Detailed Site Assessments and reclamation certificate applications. Her technical skills also include soil and vegetation inventory; weed, introduced and native plant species identification by keying methods. She is also highly experienced in project management of varying types, sizes and complexities of projects, development and tracking of budgets, technical document preparation and document review, as well as leading and managing teams of staff to complete project objectives. Michelle has mentored and trained numerous junior and intermediate environmental scientists for technical, project management, leadership and team work skills.

Clare Tannas BSc.

Senior Rangeland Agrologist

Clare has been a Rangeland Agrologist for the past 40 years. Initially working for ASRD Public lands division he has extensive experience in rangeland inventories, air photo interpretation, plant community mapping, rare species management, reclamation monitoring, and weed management. Over his career Clare has surveyed over 1 million acres of land and won the Alberta Emerald Award with Kathy for his commitment to the environment. Clare has also been a contributor to publications on reclamation as well as to the "Common Plants of The Western Rangelands" publication by Kathy Tannas. Clare has also contributed greatly to education though teaching plant identification courses annually through TCS.

Ashley Easton P.Ag

Daina Anderson, MSc. 

 Intermediate Wetland Scientist

Daina specializes in terrestrial ecology, with a focus on wetland systems. Daina brings over 7 years of experience to our team. She is experienced in conducting biophysical inventories, coordinating monitoring programs, and evaluating natural resources for impact assessment and mitigation. Daina has gotten her feet wet surveying and assessing wetlands across Alberta. Daina has a MSc. in Ecology, where she researched wetland assessment methodologies for depressional wetlands, and evaluated wetland functions in natural and restored wetlands. Daina enjoys outdoor activities in all seasons, including gardening, hiking, cycling, and xc skiing.

Brittny Beamish RT.Ag.

Intermediate Environmental Scientist

Brittny is an intermediate environmental scientist that has spent the last 7 years working as both a reclamation specialist and vegetation ecologist in western Canada including British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. she am a member in good standing with the Alberta Institute of Agrologists (RTAg.) and Alberta Society of Professional Biologists (R.T.Biol.). her primary areas of focus have been reclamation of both upland forest and peatland sites in northern Alberta within the Chinchaga Caribou Range and completing vegetation assessments within the boreal, lower foothills, upper foothills, and montane natural subregions of Alberta. She has completed over 300 Detailed Site Assessments (DSAs) under the cultivated (including tame pasture), forested and peatland criteria and submitted the associated Reclamation Certificate Applications (RCA). Additionally, she has managed and executed various conventional oil and gas reclamation portfolios for multiple clients concurrently. She has strong plant identification skills including the identification of bryophytes. She is both familiar and comfortable with the challenges of working in remote locations.

When I am not working you can usually find me hiking, chasing waterfalls, or tending to my excessive amount of house plants.I have a love for the outdoors and if you can't find me its probably because I have wandered of to go look at a plant (definitely a plant nerd). In the winters I have been known to take of and explore the world, my last trip was 3 months in southeast Asia.

Darin Sherritt PAg. MSc.

Senior Environmental Scientist

Darin is an Agrologist with Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. (TCS) in St Albert, Alberta, and he specialize in vegetation, reclamation and revegetation. He has been working in the reclamation industry for 10 years and is experienced in site reclamation; revegetation; ecosite and wetland classification and various aspects of range management. his technical skills also include vegetation inventory, assessment and classification; weed, introduced and native plant species identification by both spot and keying methods; and wetland, rangeland and riparian assessment. He have instructed various courses to university students, colleagues and various other resource management, and mentored and trained junior environmental scientists for technical and team work skills.

My work experience has dominantly been focused within natural areas, oil and gas (upstream and midstream), and mining sectors in central, northern, western and southern Alberta.

Hilary Baker B.Sc., P.Ag.

Intermediate Vegetation Ecologist & Rangeland Specialist

Hilary is an intermediate vegetation ecologist and rangeland practitioner with over 7 years of experience, and a dual registered P.Ag through the Alberta Institute of Agrologists and the British Columbia Institute of Agrologists.  Her expertise lies in multidisciplinary practices based on ecological, environmental, rangeland, agronomic, and socio-economic principles. She has contributed to, and led teams on a variety of projects from small to large scale environmental assessments, working across multiple disciplines including ecology, wildlife, forestry, and social sciences.

Hilary's background and passions are firmly rooted in ecology and promoting adaptive stewardship to multi-use resources. She has extensive experience working throughout Alberta, and in Southern BC working with industry, oil and gas, mining, agriculture, not-for-profit organizations, emergency management, and with growers/producers/ranchers.

Hilary is a technically proficient rangeland practitioner who is well versed in plant taxonomy, ecological classification, terrestrial ecosystem mapping, post-fire monitoring, ecosystem monitoring, gap analysis, forage and browse sampling, long-term monitoring, program design, program management, technical reporting, and technical publications.

Jesse Bird

 GIS and regulatory

Jesse is an intermediate geologist/environmental scientist with Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. with 10 years of experience. He specialize in geological, hydrogeological, and environmental investigations. I also have experience with Alberta regulatory approvals including, but not limited to Water Act, Public Lands Act, and Municipal Environmental regulations including BIAs/EIAs. He provide support on projects with GIS, CAD, statistical analyses, and research. My primary focus has been in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Idaho with environmental consulting (2012 – present), mining geology (2007 – 2011), and geological mapping (2003 – 2007).

Ashley Biggar BIT

Junior Environmental Scientist

Ms. Biggar is a Biologist in Training (B.I.T.) with Tannas Conservation Services Ltd. (TCS) in Canmore, Alberta. She has been working in the reclamation industry for over 2 years and is experienced in environmental site assessments (ESA), including Phase 1, 2 and 3, site reclamation, revegetation, and completing reclamation certificate applications. Her experience has focused on soil sciences, vegetation identification, and reclamation practices with technical skills in soil and vegetation assessment and classification, weed identification, and reclamation earthworks. She has experience tracking budgets, preparing technical documents for senior review, as well as supervising heavy equipment and teams of operators to complete field work objectives. Ashley’s work experience has dominantly been focused within upstream oil and gas sectors in northern and southern Alberta (AB), and northeastern British Columbia (BC).