RECON’s staff members bring depth and breadth of expertise to the company’s core services. Employees train together regularly to hone skills that support remote field work in Alaska, such as wilderness survival, first aid, and firearms handling.

Isaac Rowland, PE/PEng

Isaac is president and majority holder of RECON since 2024. Isaac started working for RECON in 2009 and has been a partner since 2017. His experience includes short and long-range mine planning, mine reclamations, permafrost stabilization, project management and remote logistics. He specializes in off-grid projects and has worked in remote locations ranging from Baffin Island to the western Brooks Range, Ketchikan, and the Alaska Peninsula.

Isaac’s recent and current projects include project management for access routes to oil and gas exploration sites, design of quarries and material sites, site reconnaissance and logistics planning for seismograph installations statewide, and logistics management for a remote drill program. He is always in his comfort-zone on any back-country Alaska project.

Isaac is a registered Professional Mining and Mineral Processing Engineer in Alaska (No. 13667) and a registered Professional Engineer in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Nunavut (No. L2102). He received his BS in Mining Engineering from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2004.

Steve Rowland, PE

Steve founded RECON in 1987 and has almost 40 years of experience in civil and geological engineering. His extensive experience working in undeveloped and remote areas of Alaska has afforded him the opportunity to study and evaluate a wide variety of terrain and ground conditions as they relate to infrastructure development. This knowledge base has been applied to road and trail route location and design, airfield location, school site selections, industrial facilities location, pipeline routing and general land use recommendations.

Steve provides guidance and oversight for all RECON projects. Most notably, he has had key leadership roles in investigating site access alternatives and facilities location for proposed resource development projects throughout Alaska. He has conducted site reconnaissance for a state-wide grid of seismometer installations and has been involved in planning and constructing multiple mining and drilling sites and access routes in Alaska’s interior. Steve doesn’t hesitate to ground-truth a remote route or site to provide an in-depth initial assessment of feasibility.

A lifelong resident of Palmer, Steve acquired his Alaska Professional Civil Engineering License in 1986 (CE-7241) after receiving his BS in Geological Engineering from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1980.

Maria Sanders, PE

Maria joined RECON as a seasonal engineering technician in 2016, advancing to full time in 2018. She has worked throughout the state of Alaska on remote civil and geotechnical projects. Maria is RECON’s draftsperson and is responsible for drafting and designing civil plan sets for permit applications and final bid packages. Maria brings a draftsperon’s eye for detail to the writing and review of geotechnical reports and other technical engineering memorandums. During Alaska’s busy field season, Maria is commonly the field engineer for any geotechnical investigations, larger or small. Maria is an integral part of RECON’s engineering team and always ready to find a way and make it happen for our clients.

Maria acquired her Alaska Professional Civil Engineering License in 2022 (No. 105332) and earned her BS in Geological Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2016.

Mick Ewing, PLS

Mick joined RECON in 2010 as a professional land surveyor and became a business partner in the company in 2017. With nearly 25 years in the surveying profession, his experience encompasses control, construction, hydrographic, subdivision, and engineering support surveys.

Mick’s work has involved surveying and project management with land and hydrographic surveyors, landscape architects, geologists, wetland biologists, architects, GIS specialists, and engineers of many disciplines.

His accomplishments include planning and implementing large-scale GPS control networks and supporting engineering projects throughout Alaska. He led a team of surveyors from two other companies while working on the largest of these networks, which spanned 3,500 kilometers along Alaska’s coastline. Engineering support has included route reconnaissance, topographic acquisition, boundary surveys, as-builts, as-staked, quantity calculation, and construction staking of all types. Survey work has brought Mick to all the extremes of Alaska’s geography and climate. He enjoys the unique challenges found in each.

Mick is an Alaska Registered Professional Land Surveyor (No. 11794). He received his BS in Surveying and Mapping from University of Alaska Anchorage in 1998.

David Durst, LSIT

David joined RECON in 2017 as a survey technician. His drilling and environmental experience in the oilfields of the North Slope of Alaska has given him a unique perspective on the surveyor’s role. He continues to build on his experience and has begun to lead in the field as party chief and stand out in the office as a CAD & GIS Specialist. As a lifelong Alaska resident with a background in the geology field and a can-do attitude, David is a natural fit for the RECON team.

David earned his BS in Geology from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013 and his associate degree in Geomatics in 2019 from University of Alaska Anchorage. He earned his LSIT certification in August of 2020 and his commercial Remote Pilot Certificate rating (Part 107) in 2018.

Zack Steer, Logistics Manager

Zack joined RECON in June 2017. If you need to send 2-200 people to a remote part of Alaska for project work, Zack is your man. He continues to hone his skills managing logistics for projects in remote Alaska. Passenger flights, cargo management, remote fuel delivery, camp operations and all components necessary for remote operations support are covered. Zack can work independently, or as an embedded part of your project leadership team to create an efficient field logistics program.

Zack received his BA in Political Science/Economics at Colorado College in Colorado Springs in 1995.

Jake Ziolkowski, GIS and Logistics Manager

Jacob joined RECON in April 2022 as a logistics manager. He brings his experience in the US Army and the Alaska Army National Guard for the last eight years to enhance RECON’s abilities in remote Alaska. He started his career conducting military reconnaissance operations and progressed into providing operational and logistical planning and management to conduct missions both in Alaska and overseas. He has experience with heavy lift helicopters, field communications, and resupply operations. On the weekends he is an Infantry Company Commander with the Alaska Army National Guard.

Jacob received his Bachelor of Science in Geography and a minor in Military Science from the University of Nevada in 2014.

Kirstin Kober, Business Manager

Kirstin joined RECON’s team in January 2024.

Kirstin received a graduate diploma in Meteorology in 2006 and a Phd in Atmospheric Physics (Dr. rer. nat) in 2010, both from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich.

Rachel Beachy, Administrative Assistant

Rachel joined RECON’s team in July 2021. She assists with the office bookkeeping, invoicing, and administrative management. With experience in HR management, tuition tracking, and technical writing, she uses her eye for detail in her work for RECON and is a valued member of our team.

Rachel received her BA in Technical and Professional Communication from Cedarville University in 2012.

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