ABOUT US
Peak Ecological Services LLC (Peak Eco) is a small woman-owned environmental consulting company based in Nederland, Colorado. Established in 2017 by Rea Orthner, an experienced professional with two decades of botanical and ecological experience, we provide a diverse array of environmental services including consulting for compliance with various federal, state and local regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Other services include wetland delineations and Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting, rare plant surveys, vegetation mapping, quantitative vegetation monitoring, floristic inventories, noxious weed mapping, integrated weed management plans, wildlife and avian surveys, and ecological restoration. We also provide baseline documentation for Conservation Easements that meet Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines. Finally, we offer a full range of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping services.
STAFF
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Rea Orthner, MS & PWS
Principal Botanist/Ecologist
MS - University of Colorado Boulder 1999
PWS - Professional Wetland Scientist # 3247
Over the past two decades Rea has completed hundreds of botanical and ecological studies in the fields of plant ecology, wetland ecology, floristics, and rare plants. In fall of 2017, Rea founded Peak Ecological Services LLC in Nederland, Colorado, after a 17-year career at Western Ecological Resource, Inc., in Boulder, Colorado. In recent years, Rea’s main focus has been on completing large-scale (1,000+ acres) wetland mapping and rare plant surveys for Colorado ski areas and associated documentation for NEPA and the CWA. Rea is also the project manager for Pitkin County’s On-Call Ecological Services Team where she manages three sub-consultant firms and coordinates dozens of task orders with budgets. Rea regularly uses latest version of ESRI software (ArcGIS), Trimble and Garmin GPS units, and is well acquainted with the flora of Colorado and regularly contributes to iNaturalist and submits unique voucher specimens to local herbaria. Rea is an also an active member of the Colorado Native Plant Society, Society of Wetland Scientists, Gilpin County Planning Commission, and local noxious weed advisory boards.
Reba Mitchell, BS
Ecology Field Technician
Reba Mitchell has been the Ecology Field Technician at Peak Ecological Services since 2018. Prior to getting back to ecological research, Reba was the Environmental Educator and Coordinator with Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center in Nederland, CO for eight years. Reba has also worked on resource conservation efforts with the Schools Program at Ecocycle for 6 years. As the Ecology Field Technician for PeakEco, Reba assists with wetland mapping and delineation, rare plant and noxious weed surveys, vegetation mapping, monitoring, and floristics, and ecological restoration. Ms. Mitchell is trained in using Trimble and Garmin GPS units along with ArcGIS, and Microsoft Office and Google software. Reba also assists with report writing and editing. In 2020, Reba received a Certificate in Wetland Delineation & Regional Supplemental Training from the Swamp School LLC, an accredited certificate program.