OUR STAFF
Dana Riggs
CEO, Founder and Principal Biologist
Dana is a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces and biological consultant with more than 20 years of experience working in the Bay Area, California coastal zone, and inland/Central Valley. Dana works with private landowners and businesses to evaluate their properties for biological resource constraints to development and navigate the local, state, and federal regulatory permitting systems to approve their projects in a timely and cost-efficient manner. She specializes in project management, freshwater and coastal ecology, wildlife biology, and environmental policy and has directed a broad range of biological studies from planning level to post-construction including: biological assessments, special status species surveys, avian (nesting bird) surveys, bat roost surveys, frog and salamander assessments and surveys, corridor studies, habitat management and restoration planning, regulatory permitting, environmental training, biological compliance, conservation easement planning, and expert witness services.
Andrew Georgeades
CFO, Co-Founder and Principal Ecologist
Andrew previously worked for the U.S. National Park Service as an Ecologist, and assisting with park planning, GIS technology and natural resource projects. He has more than 10 years of experience in environmental planning and land and resource management. Andrew helps private landowners and local resource agencies plan and manage their lands for conservation and recreational uses. He specializes in GIS mapping and data collection, habitat restoration, botanical surveys, biological and cultural resource monitoring, specification review, landscape design and site planning, public outreach, and agency consultation.
Sandra Etchell
Senior Biologist / Permit Specialist
Ms. Etchell is a Senior Biologist specializing in project management, plant and wildlife ecology, and environmental policy and permitting. She has 27 years of experience in the biological resources field, regulatory permitting, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Compliance Act (NEPA) documentation. She has managed both large and small scale environmentally sensitive projects for state and local agencies overseeing plant and wildlife surveys, the preparation of environmental planning documentation such as wetlands delineations, biological resource studies, botanical survey reports, biological assessments, Natural Environment Studies, and numerous other due diligence documents. She has conducted plant and wildlife surveys, wetlands delineations and construction monitoring through out Northern and Central California.
Drew Engstrom
Senior Biologist/Restoration Ecologist, CPESC, QSD, QSP
Drew is a Senior Biologist and Restoration Ecologist at Sol Ecology, Inc., with expertise in stream restoration, environmental policy, and natural resource project management. He has over 10 years of experience including wildlife biology, water resource management, habitat restoration, project design, regulatory permitting, GIS data collection, contract management, and project coordination. His skillset combines several disciplines that support his ability to efficiently and effectively resolve challenges faced during project development and implementation. Prior to joining Sol Ecology in 2021, he was the Stream Restoration Specialist at Alameda County Resource Conservation District, and he has extensive work history in environmental consultation.
Leslie Mace
GIS Technician/Solutions Coordinator
Leslie has a background in biology and earned her BA in Geography from Sonoma State University. As a generalist, Leslie has worked in a wide variety of industries ranging from real estate, local government, travel, and education to nonprofit trails and open space organizations. She has spent the last fifteen years in the environmental consulting field, where her experience includes contract management, technical writing, general accounting, and marketing. Leslie fills several roles at Sol Ecology, among them technical editing, invoicing, contract review, GIS field map generation, and creating solutions for small business functions and companywide special projects. Leslie is an avid hiker and wildlife watcher who loves to travel.
Morgan Stickrod
Associate Botanist
Morgan Stickrod is a botanist and plant ecologist with over 10 years of experience doing research and field work throughout California, the southeastern United States, Mexico, and South America. He completed his MS at San Francisco State University, where his research focused on floristics, dispersal dynamics, and rare plant management within the Suisun Marsh estuarine complex. Recently, he has also been involved in research projects studying groups such as manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.), mariposa lilies (Calochortus spp.), CFP endemic thistles (Cirsium spp.) and chapparal pea (Pickeringia montana). Prior to coming to Sol Ecology he worked at SFPUC, doing rare plant management work throughout the San Francisco peninsula watershed and Santa Cruz Mountains. He has also done consulting and floristic work throughout much of California, including vegetation mapping of Southeast Farallon Island, floristics of San Pedro Valley, and numerous rare plant mapping projects in areas such as the Klamath Mountain region, the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave Desert.
Jon Cox
Biologist
Jon is a biologist with formal training in botany and wetlands delineation. He currently assists senior biologists with surveys, biological reports, GIS analysis, and wetlands delineations. Before coming to Sol Ecology, he worked as a biologist consulting on transportation development projects in the Bay Area performing wetlands delineations, focused surveys, mitigation monitoring, and spatial analysis and figure creation in GIS, as well as assisted with drafting reports, and permit applications. Jon is continuing to develop his skills in botany, wetland science, and wildlife ecology and hopes to expand into forestry in the near future.
Elspeth Mathau
Associate Biologist/Ethnobotanist
Elspeth is a Biologist and Botanist with specialized training in ethnobotany and plant conservation training at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in the UK. She started working in the environmental science education field in 2009, and has experience with plant restoration projects, floristic inventories, and community-based research. Her master’s research was on ecological change and climate adaptation in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains with indigenous communities. She has also worked at sustainable urban agriculture and STEM education non-profits focused on equity and inclusion programming. She is currently co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force for the City of Mill Valley and enjoys spending time hiking and coaching figure skating. In addition, Elspeth is currently working on her doctorate at the University of Cambridge.
Emily Allen
Botanist
Emily has a broad background working with native plants and their use in restoration and conservation. Prior to coming to Sol Ecology she worked at a native seed production farm, Hederow Farms, for 10 years and has in depth experience with the over 120 native grassland species they grew. She worked with various agencies, nonprofits, landowners, contractors and other entities providing technical expertise in seed mix design, implementation and maangment, weed control, among other topics. She coordinated the seed mixes and nursey stock used for the Oroville Emergency Spillway project, Hamilton City Levee Setback, Willits Bypass Mitigation, among others. She also coordianted seed production contracts with Pt Reyes National Seashore, Fort Ord, The Presidio, Golden Gate Nat. Recreation Area, BLM, Forest Service, and others.