Our Team
Dr. Doug Schindler - Principal and Owner
Doug is the Senior Scientist at Joro and has over 40 years of experience in the design and implementation of a wide range of avian and terrestrial wildlife and multi-disciplinary research and management projects involving industry, government, stakeholders, and First Nations. Doug has led the specific baseline data collection and monitoring of effects on all-season road development, transmission lines, and forestry development related to avian and terrestrial wildlife. Doug has also functioned as a regulator in the past and was involved in the review and approval of resource development projects in Manitoba as a Regional Wildlife Manager.
Tim is an experienced field and data technician with Joro and has a strong knowledge base and wide-ranging skillset in wildlife biology and wildlife management practices. He has extensive experience working remotely in northern Manitoba, western Canada, and remote Arctic camps in Nunavut. Tim is proficient in the following wildlife-field and data collection- work: field planning and orientation, data collection, aerial telemetry systems, ArcGIS and mapping, GPS-VHF collars, mortality assessments from predators, capture operations (caribou, moose, wolves), and waterfowl banding (geese and ducks) in both urban and high remote Arctic settings. Tim has accumulated many hours flying in helicopters over his 12 years with Joro, conducting aerial moose surveys, caribou winter group counts and summer recruitment surveys, polar bear denning surveys, and wolf kill site locations. Tim has deployed trail cameras and Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) throughout the province of Manitoba and Nunavut. Tim has extensive experience in planning various aspects of field operations and logistics including arranging and coordinating fuel caches for aviation operations, and accommodations for staff. Based on personal and work-related experience, Tim also has a strong sense of knowledge and sensitivity when working with Indigenous people and communities.
Tim Verbiwski - B.Env.St. - Biologist
Robert Bruce – B. Env. Sc. - Wildlife Biologist
Rob recently retired after 34 years of service as a provincial wildlife biologist. He planned and conducted annual aerial surveys for large mammals including moose, elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, wolves, woodland caribou, and wood bison, and coordinated GPS collaring projects for moose and elk populations. Rob was also responsible for the management and protection of numerous designated Crown lands including the Oak Hammock Marsh Wildlife Management Area, Marshy Point Goose Refuge and the Narcisse garter snake hibernacula protected area.
Since retirement, Rob joined the Canadian Wildlife Service to help plan, coordinate, and conduct annual waterfowl banding, population/habitat surveys, and research programs in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut. With Joro, Rob provides a strong skillset in field work (including remote sites), project planning and logistics, field surveys, and report/technical writing. He also brings a keen interest in addressing human-wildlife conflict, and utilizing aerial surveys, remote sensing, GPS collars/backpacks and geolocators to satisfy client information/data requirements.
Katja Smutny - Office Manager
Katja joined Joro Consultants in the summer of 2014 as Office Manager. She is responsible for a wide range of activities, including financial management, office and administrative operations, budgeting, and invoice preparation for all Joro projects. She works closely with Doug and the rest of the Joro team during projects and oversees the administrative and organizational side during field missions from start to finish. Prior to joining Joro, Katja worked as Office Administrator and Executive Director for a number of sport organizations in Manitoba and has over fifteen years experience in office and financial management.
Christina Blouw - B.Sc., M.Sc., IAP2 - Associate Wildlife Biologist
Christina is a Wildlife Biologist and Socio-Economic Research Consultant at InterGroup Consultants with training in biology and ecology, holding a Masters of Environmental Science. She is currently working with Joro on a hydro-fibre link project in Nunavut and previously involved in the the mammals monitoring component for Manitoba Hydro and the resource use program as part of northern base line studies for Manitoba Infrastructure. She has experience in wildlife consulting and indigenous engagement on numerous environmental assessments with her work focused on hydro-electric generation/hydro-fibre link in northern Manitoba and Nunavut. Her work has included socio-economic research and analysis and development and implementation of key stakeholder engagement for socio-economic purposes. Christina previously worked as a Wildlife Biologist where she researched, analyzed and comprehensively detailed woodland caribou, including GIS data analysis.
Vince Kuzdak - Associate/Indigenous Engagement & Project Manager
Vince has been involved or employed in the field of natural resources and community engagement for over 20 years. His professional activities include experience and guidance within the trapping industry, forestry services, environmental services, Aboriginal engagement and traditional knowledge. Currently, Vince is a Natural Resources Consultant and Principal owner of Eagle Vision Resources and works directly with Government and Industry where he focuses on project development and Aboriginal Involvement. Vince’s recent consultation and engagement experience includes working with ESRA on the P7a EIA involving Pauingassi and Little Grand Rapids First Nations and the trapper involvement program with the communities of Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi, Berens River and Poplar River. Vince has also collaborated recently with Manitoba Hydro where he engaged with 21 First Nation and 22 Northern Affairs communities on the Bipole III transmission project EIA. Vince has also developed the community trapline monitoring program for the Bipole III project.
Kent Whaley - Associate Project Manager
Kent is a retired biologist with 40 years of service in the Manitoba government’s Wildlife Branch. where he was responsible for planning and delivery of wildlife management projects across most regions of the province. As Regional Wildlife Manager in The Pas over the last 20 years of his career, he was engaged in delivery of multispecies big game and species-at-risk population surveys, wildlife-capture, GPS-tracking, and accessing remote field operations for data collection and reconnaissance typically during the winter months. Since retirement, he has worked as an Associate/Sub-contractor for Joro on several occasions to assist in field projects involving winter animal tracking and DNA-collection for genetic research. The nature of this work has entailed aerial (helicopter) access into hundreds of remote sites and pedestrian (snowshoe) access into data collection sites over a 4-6 week period.
Bob Stewart - Biologist
Bob has over 35 years of experience in wildlife research, boreal ecology, forest planning and management, and community development work in western Canada and central America (Nicaragua). Bob started his career (1974) as a public servant in the NWT (furbearer specialist) and then as a research ecologist and large mammal population specialist until the mid 1980s. He then moved the private sector as a wildlife specialist, and then integrated resource management specialist; he guided the development of the first two forest management plans (Meadow Lake, L&M) and impact assessments of those plans. These plans clearly established the first ecosystem-based forest management plans in Canada, in which the local stakeholders, including First Nations communities were the architects and engineers that provided the forest management planning alternatives and setting of the criteria for the selection of preferred alternatives; the optimization model was constrained by valued species including woodland caribou, for which there was 0 tolerance to population declines. During these years Bob led the way in the development of HSI models and the application of GIS technology to wildlife problems in late 1980s.
David is a quantitative biologist and university professor with over 20 years of experience in field and laboratory techniques, as well as, spatial and statistical analysis of environmental data. Specific skills and knowledge include plant/animal taxonomy, environmental survey including use of Total Station and RTK GPS, laboratory sample preparation and analysis, remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems and spatial-statistical analysis of wildlife data. He has worked extensively with the private sector and public sectors on a range of projects in conservation and impact assessment. Dr. Walker has worked with hydro-electric companies in South America and on international conservation projects, promoting entrepreneurship and train-the-trainer models in resource development. His research interests are primarily in landscape systems, ecosystem dynamics, and human and wildlife interactions with landscapes and can be divided into four topical areas: invasive species research, diversity and fragmentation, data integration and modeling, and spatial methods.
