Minnesota Women’s Woodland Network
MNWWN Vision
Sustaining family woodlands through peer learning and building relationships.
MNWWN Mission
The Minnesota Women’s Woodland Network (MNWWN) is dedicated to building a community of women woodland stewards to nurture a land ethic. MNWWN creates supportive, informal, small group learning opportunities on topics that include trees, nature and caring for the land.
Purpose
The Minnesota Women’s Woodland Network (MNWWN) provides the opportunity to recognize and enhance the role of women in woodland management, whether they own land themselves, may inherit or purchase land in the future, or who may simply be interested in supporting this effort.
Inclusivity Statement
In alignment with the Women’s Forest Congress, we recognize that there is a need – arguably today more than ever – for more diverse perspectives to help ensure the health and future of forests. The Minnesota Women’s Woodland Network is an open and inclusive group – trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming participants are welcome, as are women and allies of all ages, perspectives, cultural backgrounds, professional levels, abilities, and education.
Goals
Provide networking opportunities for women landowners to learn from and support each other.
Foster a learning environment that encourages women to participate in woodland management education.
Connect women with resources and professionals.
Develop recognition of the important role of women as woodland stewards in Minnesota.
The MNWWN has created strong relationships, a supportive and engaging learning environment and friendships focused on woodland care and natural resources knowledge. These relationships contribute to sustainable forests and communities.
The MNWWN delivery method is based on small peer groups and horizontal knowledge exchange (shared learning, not top down), identified as women’s preferred learning styles (Redmore & Tynon, 2010). Learning activities involve field trips and “woods walks,” workshops, hands-on activities, demonstrations, work days, tours, and regular informal networking and topic discussion gatherings.