My name is Taylor Phillips, and I am excited to have been selected as the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge’s newest naturalist. I will serve as the volunteer coordinator while implementing educational and interpretive programming for park visitors. I’m thrilled to join my fellow naturalists in promoting environmental and ecological awareness.
After serving in the US Army, I attended the University of North Texas, where I earned a BSc in Ecology for Environmental Science. There, I truly learned the benefits of an ecological consciousness and how all things in nature are connected to one another. I worked with several groups whose goals were to restore native Blackland Prairie ecosystems to a healthy state. I then worked with a native plant nursery and founded a native-focused landscaping company to bring native plants to homes and businesses.
Later, I began working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, eventually becoming the assistant office manager at Ray Roberts Lake State Park, Isle Du Bois Unit. There, I became involved with wildland firefighting, earned my certifications, and participated in several large-scale prescribed burns. Early this year, I was hired by the Fort Worth Nature Center as one of its field technicians and gained an immense amount of hands-on experience across the Refuge, from plant surveys to alligator research.
I am an avid backpacker. While I love to travel and see the wild and natural places on this planet we call home, I’m proud to say that I can work in a place like the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge in my backyard.
