OUR TEAM
Compass Ecospatial's dedicated experts bring decades of experience in ecological restoration, geospatial analysis, and environmental planning. We deliver science-driven, collaborative solutions to restore ecosystems and support sustainable communities.
Kelley Jorgensen | President & Principal Ecologist of Compass Ecospatial
Kelley is an experienced professional with over 30 years of experience in applied science, bringing pragmatic solutions to environmental and natural resource management. She specializes in aquatic and terrestrial restoration ecology and has managed a variety of environmental projects and programs. Kelley’s expertise includes compensatory mitigation, ecological restoration, water-dependent infrastructure permitting, and project development. Kelley has held several leadership positions, including President of Conservation for a private landowner developing Washington State’s first multi-resource and multi-credit type fish, wetland, and Oregon white oak habitat mitigation and conservation bank and is a current member and past chairperson of the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board technical review panel.
Her extensive experience with environmental regulations and her strong relationships with key regulators have helped her clients navigate complex permitting processes and paved the way for highly visible and complex projects to take shape. She is skilled at working with diverse stakeholders and facilitating productive conversations among team members to ensure that all project challenges and needs are addressed responsibly, and all perspectives are considered.
Kelley has recently joined the National Small Business Association Leadership Council, bringing her skills and knowledge of conveying lived experience to advocacy for small and emerging businesses. Kelley has experience advocating for compensatory mitigation policy reform and program resourcing to improve regulatory process predictability for permittees and reduce risk for mitigation providers and end-users of mitigation services.
Chris Watson | Founder & Principal, GIS Analyst GISP, & Field Geologist
Chris has over 25 years of environmental and geospatial work in the Pacific Northwest and currently leads the Compass team as a project manager with hydrologic modeling and GIS analytical capabilities. Chris utilizes spatial data to solve complex and often multifaceted problems. His skill set includes project management, GIS analysis, geodesign, geologic evaluation and exploration, technical writing, public education support, litigation support, computer simulations and modeling, and database design. His experience includes work for or on habitat restoration, compensatory mitigation, wind, natural gas, storm water, watershed and basin delineation, federal highways and bridges, state and municipal infrastructure, hazardous waste, landfills, mines, ports, CERCLA, and NERC CIP. Chris solves complex and often multifaceted problems using spatial data and analyses to serve his clients and support the Compass team.
Natalie Edwards | Senior Regulatory Specialist
Natalie has 20 years of experience of permitting projects in the southeast and pacific northwest as a former Regulatory Project Manager with the US Army Corps of Engineers. She enjoys collaborating with prime engineering firms, government entities, and stakeholders to come up with solutions for their projects that are least harmful to the environment. Natalie has experience with permitting complex projects and authoring mitigation bank proposals / mitigation bank instruments. Natalie enjoys creating innovative solutions with Compass Ecospatial and their clients.
Gerrit Bass | Hydrologist
Gerrit has a background in working with conservation districts to assess the success of soil and water conservation practices and has a particular passion for rivers and the way they interact with their watersheds. His skill set includes both field-based data collection of environmental parameters as well as data analysis and reporting back in the office. His field duties have included water quality monitoring, soil sampling, riparian habitat assessment, surveying, and drone-based data collection. In the office, he enjoys taking this data and figuring out the story it’s trying to tell with the help of R programming and other analysis tools.
Dash Paulson, WPiT | Aquatic Scientist
Dash is a wetland professional in training, as well as an aquatic scientist with training in wetland delineation, plant identification, data analysis with R, and water quality monitoring. He specializes in studying beaver habitat modifications and their role in making watersheds more resilient to climate change. In addition to his environmental science education at the University of Washington, Dash has a background in journalism and communications from the University of Oregon, which he draws on to translate field data into compelling stories about environmental changes and opportunities.
Stephanie Whitson | Office & Administrative Manager
Stephanie is a master organizer and talented people person skilled in project management systems, project administration, contracting, accounts receivable, human resources, and day-to-day company planning. She is our dedicated technical editor and applies her background as a paralegal to her editing and contract management roles. She is responsible for documentation, meeting management, monitoring project budgets, using her time management skills to keep systems and projects on track, managing team and program schedules, tracking assignments and communicating progress on projects and programs.
Keston Kuechel | Business Strategist & Development Coordinator
Keston is a business strategist and development coordinator with experience in market research, data analysis, branding, digital marketing, and social media management. His rigorous education, complemented by his consulting experience has provided him with a variety of successful experiences informing business strategy and driving growth.