Georgia (Left), Amanda (Center) and Angie (Right).
By Angela Gupta, UMN Extension Forester and MNWWN Board member, agupta@umn.edu
This picture, from the Women’s Forest Congress in Minneapolis this past October says it all! Georgia, my “old” Extension Forestry friend from Michigan; Amanda, an “old” only-over-Zoom friend from Women Owning Woodlands, and I were able to meet, have fun, learn, support each other, and be our whole selves. I love that I’m in heels, a skirt, trapper hat and plaid vest and holding a large oak tree cookie while Georgia expresses her wild side and chainsaw confidence and Amanda, wielding a forestry manual and donning a cruising vest, looks on in horror! MNWWN Board members Ginger Kopp and Barb Spears, arranged to bring a forestry cruising vest, vintage forestry equipment, historical documents, and the large tree cookie to use as photo props. They also kept a close eye on the “toothless” chainsaw (used by tish carr from Maine for her chainsaw workshop at the hotel) that was loaned to MNWWN by Tim’s Small Engine in Lonsdale through MNWWN Board member Cheryl Jirik. Jennifer Teegarden, also a MNWWN Board member, helped provide the historic picture from the MN DNR that served as the backdrop.
It was so much fun to focus on women and on forestry, enjoy each other and have our many identities as women present. There was a Wellness Lounge, Innovation Lab, Creativity Space and Nursing Mother’s Room. There were great breakout sessions and inspiring women keynote speakers. One of the final presenters was Natalie Warren who authored Hudson Bay Bound, the signed book I’m now enjoying. In my almost 30 years in forestry I’ve never been to a forestry conference centered on women. To have almost 500 women forestry professionals in the same space at the same time was amazing!!!
I chose to focus this short piece on my delightful experience, but know much work was done during the Congress that resulted in these 10 challenges to organizations in the forest and forest products sector to: foster, broaden, build, promote, enable, create, assess, intentionally identify, increase and apply to create a more holistic forestry sector. For a full detailed list of the Women’s Forest Congress Resolutions visit: https://womensforestcongress.org/2022-congress/2022-wfc-declaration