Shad Hufnagel
Forest Health Coordinator
Shad Hufnagel joined KFS as the Forest Health Coordinator in November of 2024 and provides direction and support for the holistic health and vitality of our Kansas forests. His work helps identify, track, report, and mitigate current and emerging forest threats including diseases, insects, and environmental factors.
Shad grew up in Manhattan, Kansas where he attended Kansas State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture in 2004. Following graduation, he worked in various capacities emphasizing leadership in horticulture, landscape design and installation, greenspace management, arboriculture, administration, and forestry in private, municipal, and public job sectors.
Early in his career, Shad worked for Top of the Rock Golf Course in Ridgedale, Missouri where he obtained certification as an ISA Certified Arborist. In 2015, he began work for the City of Wamego, Kansas where he earned KAA Arborist Certification and served as Park Supervisor and City Forester. Here, he also helped ensure ongoing Tree City USA achievement for the community. In 2021, Hufnagel returned to his alma mater where he served as the KSU Superintendent of Landscape Services for the university’s main campus and worked on many tree-related projects including the development of tree protection standards, FEMA-funded tree plantings, hazard tree evaluations, TCUSA specimen tree signage, and Tree Campus USA designations.
Though his interests are many, Shad particularly loves to spend time maintaining and improving a family-owned forested property, as well as hiking, traveling, dining, and playing disc golf with his wife and two children.
smh8877@ksu.edu
785-323-0100