Kelsey Taylor joined the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Health team as Forest Invasive Plants Coordinator in October 2026. / Photo Credit: Kelsey Taylor

By Art Kabelowsky, DNR Communications Specialist, Fitchburg
608-335-0167; Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov

Often, the best way to solve a problem is to look at it from many angles and through a variety of experiences.

That makes Kelsey Taylor ready to take on the set of challenges she’ll face as the new Forest Invasive Plant Coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) – battling buckthorn, scrapping with stilt grass and going after garlic mustard.

“I’m able to bring a fresh perspective on invasives because I’ve worked with private industry, I’ve worked with the tribes and I’ve worked with state agencies,” Taylor said. “I find it invaluable to (most recently) have been in a consultant role because before that, my role was governmental and regulatory. So, I’ve seen the invasives problem from many sides.”

Taylor replaces the retired Mary Bartkowiak as part of the Division of Forestry’s Forest Health team. She started on Oct. 5, working temporarily out of the Superior Field Office, but will soon relocate to a permanent office in the Eau Claire Service Center.

“Kelsey was selected from a very large and highly qualified candidate pool,” Forest Health team leader Becky Gray said. “It was the most applicants we’ve ever had for a Forest Health position by a few orders of magnitude.”

With the DNR, Taylor plans to leverage her technical skill, project planning and conservation management experience, and project development and team leadership experience to focus on the control of invasive plant species.

Originally from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Taylor earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota in 2013 and started working with invasive plants in 2014 when she became a crew leader for the Conservation Corps, working in Minnesota and Iowa. She went on to work as an invasive species technician for the 1854 Treaty Authority.

She then spent eight years as Invasive Species Program Manager for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, where she developed, planned, implemented and evaluated short- and long-term tribal conservation projects focused on invasive species, resource management and environmental compliance. Her responsibilities covered more than 10 million acres in three ceded territories, including in Wisconsin.

“While I was working for the Fond du Lac Band, we built the invasive species program from the ground up, applying for grants, working with the state, working with other regulatory agencies,” Taylor said. “It was a brand-new program (and) we had to find all the funding. We were eventually able to hire up to 21 staff to help with seasonal invasive plant control, prevention, and terrestrial and aquatic surveillance work. We worked on a variety of properties and areas, which had site specific management plans were guided by the Invasive Species Management Plan created for the Reservation, Fond du Lac-owned lands, and the 1854, 1837 and 1842 ceded territories where FDL retains usufructary rights, including areas in Wisconsin.

“Most of the boots-on-the-groundwork was at a smaller level, the regional level,” Taylor said, “I did participate in a lot of statewide efforts when it came to policy and statewide invasive species management planning, including participating in authoring the Minnesota State Invasive Species Management Plan. I also have written management plans with a broader scope in cooperation with agencies and private companies.”

She further broadened her experience and contacts through service as President and Co-Chair of the Minnesota Invasive Species Advisory Council and the Minnesota Noxious Weed Advisory Committee and has had multiple papers published on forest health topics such as invasive species management planning and emerald ash borer quarantine regulations.

Taylor most recently worked as a senior permitting specialist for Barr Engineering Company, out of their Duluth, Minnesota, office. She reviewed state, federal, tribal and local ground disturbance permit applications and coordinated endangered species reviews to ensure compliance with statutes, rules and legislative directives throughout Minnesota and the Midwest. She prepared vegetation management plans for multiple clients and coordinated inspections and reports to comply with permit conditions.

“It’s extremely valuable to have gained experience in a consultant role because before that, my experience has always been with governmental and regulatory agencies. This gave me a chance to look at it from the other side, where business and government work together to create a successful outcome,” Taylor said.

Taylor is looking forward to her role with the DNR because it will be anything but an always-the-same, daily grind.

“Each task will be different, depending on what you see when you get out there,” Taylor said, “with some uniform guiding principles and management strategies to help figure out the best solutions.”

Taylor will soon relocate to the Eau Claire area with her husband and two young sons. While Mom says the Taylor children are “mostly excited” about moving, there’s no word on whether they are, ahem, growing like weeds.