Jan Taylor

Regional Representative, Northeast
jtaylor@refugeassociation.org

Jan Taylor has been a Wildlife Biologist for the National Wildlife Refuges System for over 36 years.   Recently retired, she continues to be an ardent supporter and voice for wildlife and their habitats.   She began her career at the Carolina Sandhills NWR in the southeast region with a focus on Red-cockaded woodpeckers, impoundments and long leaf pine management. She moved on to positions in the Northeast at Great Swamp and Edwin B Forsythe NWRs before becoming a Regional Refuge Biologist stationed at Great Bay NWR.  Her experience and expertise ranged from coastal salt marshes to freshwater wetlands with a diversity of species and habitat types. 

Jan spent the last six years of her career as the Chief of the Natural Resource and Conservation Planning Division in the Northeast Regional Office stationed in Hadley, Massachusetts.   Jan directed a team of biologists and planners which focused on providing technical assistance to refuges throughout the Northeast. She moved the needle forward on fish, wildlife and plant population management, inventory and monitoring, research, adaptive management, evaluation of management actions and allocation of biological funding to improve science-based management on NWRs.  

Throughout her career she has worked at a national level to improve the NWRS with development of policy and guidance from wide-ranging issues such as mosquito management, Habitat Management Planning, invasive species management and strategic habitat conservation. 

Recently, Jan has been serving as a coordinator/facilitator for Island Conservation and USFWS in developing and executing a mouse eradication operation that is impacting nesting Laysan Albatross on Midway Atoll NWR. The refuge currently hosts the largest population of Laysan Albatross in the world, including Wisdom, an albatross that was banded more than 68 years ago.  It was a thrill to meet Wisdom, a beacon of hope for bird conservation. Although the project has been delayed due to COVID-19, she hopes to see implementation in 2021.