About Confluence | A Team of Environmental Experts and Passionate Outdoors People

Backed by a team of environmental experts and passionate outdoorspeople, Confluence Consulting strives to design and implement innovative solutions to modern environmental challenges.

Our Mission

We aim to deliver expertise that promotes the wise stewardship of our natural environment and preserves our quality of life.

Who We Are

We are fishermen, hikers, skiers, backpackers, and runners who take time to enjoy the environment we work so hard to improve. Since our inception, we have hired a passionate crew of ecologists, engineers, and administrative staff to serve our clients best. Interested in learning more about us? Our State of Qualifications provides a comprehensive company overview, outlining our mission, services, experience, and impact.

Our Statement of Qualifications

Values

Inspired by Nature: Our love of nature is what inspires us, giving us a passion for our work. This makes us naturally inspired people who strive to excel at what we do. When we’re not at work, you can typically find us out enjoying the natural world.

Understanding Through Science: Our work is underpinned by science, which helps us to understand and solve problems in an objective, unbiased manner. Through scientific understanding, we seek and deliver truthful answers to our client’s questions.

Own It: We take ownership of everything we do, approaching our client’s projects as if they were our own.

Balanced Life: We can only give our best when work life is balanced with time for family, friends, and personal pursuits. While we appreciate hard work, we also take time for the most important things in life.

Our Team

Some of Our Clients

Our Community

We hold a deep respect for the communities where we live and work. The West is a unique and special place, from its breathtaking landscapes to unparalleled opportunities for outdoor recreation. So we’re dedicated to taking care of our community by giving back through contributions of our time and resources. Through financial donations to key nonprofit partners, we’re doing our part to contribute to preservation efforts and to ensure a sustainable future for our community.

Organizations We Support

Work With Us

Let’s build a better world together. To start realizing your vision, please click the link below to contact us.

Contact

Jim Lovell

President and Ecologist

Jim Lovell, an international expert in aquatic restoration, is the founder and president of Confluence Consulting, Inc. Jim's technical skills include design and construction of fish habitat projects, restoration for threatened and endangered species, geomorphic assessments of stream channels, and relocation of streams and rivers for fisheries conservation, highway construction, and property development. Jim's passion for nature, personality for innovation, and strong communication skills drive his success. He currently focuses on integrating drought resiliency planning with natural water storage and water quality improvements.

"Working at Confluence allows me to put my love for nature to work, restoring damaged ecosystems for fish and wildlife, leaving the world a better place one project at a time."

Rich McEldowney

Principal Wetland and Riparian Ecologist

Rich is a certified professional wetland scientist (#1439) and a returned Peace Corps volunteer (Philippines 1994-1996). For over 25 years, he has managed and contributed to riparian-, wetland-, floodplain, and stream-related projects throughout Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West. His passion is process-oriented wetland restoration that emphasizes wetland function, such as flood flow attenuation, water quality improvement, and habitat interspersion. This approach delivers dynamic restoration better adapted to evolving conditions caused by climate change. More specifically, Rich’s experience includes environmental permitting, project management, conceptual model development, wetland and riparian habitat restoration and revegetation, public involvement/stakeholder meetings, wetland functional assessments, wetland and riparian buffers for water-quality improvement, plant and wildlife surveys, management plans, construction oversight, and wetland/stream monitoring.

Mike Sanctuary

Principal Stream Group Lead

Mike incorporates his wildlife, fisheries, hydrology, and watershed science background into Confluence’s stream and river assessment projects. As one of Confluence’s principals and most experienced project managers, Mike leads multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, scientists, and construction contractors to accomplish various projects. His project experience includes several large watershed inventories, mitigation planning and design, bank stabilization, irrigation infrastructure modifications, stream channel restoration, revegetation, drought mitigation, stakeholder facilitation, and cost estimation. Mike has worked primarily in the northern Rockies states of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, and Colorado.

Ronda Creiglow

Office Manager

Ronda C. is the glue that holds the Confluence team together. As our Office Manager, Ronda stays on top of payroll, accounts payable, human resources, inventory, supplies, preparing financial reports, and 3,258 other things that can happen on any given day. Ronda spent nearly 20 years working on projects in Yellowstone National Park including historic building renovation and advising Park personnel as a member of the Safety and Environmental Committee. Her love of the outdoors finds her frequently paddle boarding, hiking, and enjoying all that Montana has to offer.

Ronda Burns, PE

Senior Water Resources Engineer and Hydrologist

Ronda Burns has 20 years of consulting and agency experience in water resources engineering and has been a Certified Floodplain Manager since 2007. Ronda specializes in hydrology, hydraulics, and sediment transport modeling. Her extensive experience includes assessing hydraulics and scour at bridges, river and stream restoration, floodplain inundation mapping, irrigation diversion design, aquatic organism passage, and floodplain permitting. As Confluence’s most experienced hydrologist, Ronda takes the lead role in many of our technical projects that utilize hydraulic modeling techniques as a management and planning tool.

Keeghan Lauver

EIT and Survey Technician

Keeghan is a recent civil engineering graduate from Montana State University. Currently pursuing his Master’s degree in civil engineering with a specialization in ecohydrology, he has developed a strong foundation in studying streams and their associated organisms through specialized coursework such as Fisheries Habitat Management, Stream Restoration Ecology, and Ichthyology. Keeghan has gained valuable project experience in fish habitat design, stream channel restoration, stream and wetland monitoring, bank stabilization, and Cutthroat trout research. His expertise in these areas has been honed through hands-on work in Montana, where he has consistently demonstrated a commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable engineering practices. As a native to Montana, Keeghan has many secret fishing holes.

Robin Jones

Aquatic Ecologist

Robin is an aquatic ecologist with a background in assessing and monitoring freshwater ecosystems. She uses her knowledge of proper ecosystem function to understand when biological, chemical, and physical conditions are impaired. She applies assessment data to restoration planning and to inform performance criteria development. While much of Robin’s technical background is in assessment and monitoring, she also has extensive experience mapping and conducting GIS analyses. Robin has provided coordination and technical support services to many public and private partners and has hired, trained, and managed numerous field crews.

Miguel Ley

EIT and Water Resources Designer

Miguel is an experienced EIT and brings a background in water resources design to Confluence’s engineering team. Miguel assists in Confluence's projects' survey, design, permitting, and construction oversight phases. Miguel’s engineering experience includes flood mitigation, water conveyance infrastructure, irrigation diversion modifications, fish screens, channel restoration, bank stabilization, sewer and road design, stormwater management, and materials testing. Miguel can hydraulically analyze projects using 1D and 2D models and perform construction oversight and inspection services. In his free time, he recently refurbished his drift boat and is excited to continue floating new stretches of water around southwest Montana.

Jared Trilling

Wetland Scientist

Jared is a well-rounded ecologist/botanist with experience in vegetation surveys, plant identification, wetland delineation, aquatic resources surveys, restoration of mining-impacted lands, rangeland and stream monitoring, and data analysis and report writing. Jared also has extensive experience in ecological research, participating in all aspects of the research process, from project design and implementation to statistical analysis and report writing. Throughout his career, he has led crews in various roles and mentored coworkers in plant identification and ecological principles.

Kris Gandrud

Construction Supervisor

Kris applies his degree in watershed sciences with a background in heavy equipment operation to manage and implement many of Confluence’s construction-related projects. His experience in building stream and wetland restoration, bank stabilization, sediment retention, and floodplain revegetation allows Kris to perform constructability reviews, cost estimation, staking and layout, and construction oversight. Kris is a certified SWPPP Administrator and often prepares construction permits for complex and multi-phased projects, including dewatering, decontamination and spill prevention plans, and wastewater management plans. Kris has managed, supervised, and directed stream construction projects throughout the Central Rockies, Upper Midwest, and the greater Chesapeake watersheds. Primary clients have included Idaho Fish and Game, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, NRCS, the U.S. Forest Service, CO Dept of Transportation, Trout Unlimited, and a variety of counties, watershed coalitions, and private entities. Kris is an avid angler and big-game hunter and appreciates the opportunity to access public lands in the West.

Stacey Weyant

Wetland Scientist

Stacey is a wetland scientist and plant ecologist with four years of field experience in vegetation surveys, plant identification, wetland delineations, aquatic resource surveys, biological monitoring activities, and rare plant surveys. Her field experience has spread across various ecosystems, including alpine, sagebrush steppe, and wetlands. Stacey is a skilled technical writer and regularly prepares complex reports for federal, state, and private clients.