About Us

Engaging private woodland owners to encourage sustainable forest management.’

Extension Forestry Educators lead classes and build programs to engage landowners in the sustainable management of Wisconsin’s privately owned forests. Efforts to reach out to landowners include Learn About Your Land; WI Women Owning Woodlands; Farm Forest Initiative; Your Land, Your Legacy; and new landowner engagement. Sign up for our eNewsletter to stay up to date on our offerings.

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Bill Klase

Natural Resources Educator

Bill Klase is a Natural Resource Educator providing educational programs and materials to woodland owners throughout the state.

Prior to joining Extension Bill sepnt time in the US Army and in the Peace Corps in Nepal. As a graduate student he taught undergrads how to use forestry tools and navigate the woods.

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Olivia Kovacs

Natural Resources Educator

Olivia Kovacs is the Natural Resources Educator in Forestry located in Portage, WI. Olivia designs and delivers outreach and education to women forest landowners and supports the implementation of the DNR Division of Forestry’s Private Forestry Education and Outreach Strategy.

Olivia began her role at Extension in early 2023. Before joining Extension, she worked for the US Department of Agriculture helping implement farm bill programs in southern Wisconsin. Prior to this, she worked in environmental education at schools in South and North America. She loves fostering connections to natural spaces and hearing about your latest stroll in the woods.

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Johanna Desprez

Natural Resources Educator

Johanna Desprez is the Natural Resources Educator in Forestry located in Madison, WI. Johanna is developing and implementing a program to help connect Wisconsin landowners with foresters to develop land management plans for the landowners in partnership with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Prior to joining UW Extension, she led the creation and launch of the Assessing Vegetative Impact of Deer (AVID) citizen science project with University of Minnesota Extension. While earning her master’s degree in forestry, her research focused on spatial temporal changes of tree species in the Eastern United States, and the impacts of climate change.

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Kris Tiles

Natural Resources Education Program Manager

Kris Tiles is the Program Manager of the Regional Natural Resources program. She has been working as a Natural Resources educator with Extension since 2004. Kris’ work covers the areas of forestry outreach to woodland owners and water quality improvement through soil health. She has been part of the team leading a program of broader outreach called Learn About Your Land, for new and beginning woodland owners. She has also worked with communities to facilitate dialogue around sense of place and the environment.

Prior to joining Extension in 2004 Kris worked for Cooperative Development Services working with private forest owners. She also worked for Oregon State University as a researcher looking at spotted owl habitat and in the Peace Corps as an agroforestry volunteer in Haiti.

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