Written by Barb Spears, MNWWN President
In September, MNWWN partnered with Dovetail Partners Inc. and UW-Madison Forestry Extension to host three workshops geared towards female woodland owners with little or no experience using a chainsaw. The principal focus was on safety: safe posture, safe practices, safe clothing, and safe habits. These workshops empowered women to be comfortable with running a saw and increase saw knowledge. The workshops were at Northland College in Ashland, WI; MNWWN member Cheryl Jirik’s property in Webster, MN, and the UMN Hubacheck Wilderness Research Center in Ely, MN providing an opportunity for women from southern and northern Minnesota to attend. Each workshop was at capacity with 15 participants, providing a 1:5 ratio of instructors to participants, ideal for ensuring that each participant had ample opportunity to work with an instructor.
Brooke Derrickson (left) participating in the 2022 workshop.
Once again, MNWWN brought tish carr from Maine to lead each workshop and bring over 40 years of experience in chainsaw operation. Cheryl Jirik served as co-lead of the three workshops having assisted tish with last fall’s workshop. One goal of these workshops is to build female chainsaw instructor capacity in Minnesota and Wisconsin and we were able to do just that! Last fall, Brooke Derrickson attended the workshop and is now mentoring as an instructor! MNWWN also connected with Holly McKnight of Forest Safety Instruction, LLC and Brit Marx owner of Brit’s Tree Care in Wisconsin to help with these workshops. With more instructors, MNWWN can offer these workshops across Minnesota to reach more women!
MNWWN gives a huge shout-out to all the people involved who worked so hard to make these workshops happen! We give special thanks to the Tri-Lakes Sportsman’s Club for providing funding for the Webster workshop; the Minnesota Forestry Association for providing insurance for the Minnesota workshops; and, Stihl Midwest for providing two $250 gift cards, hats, and their own Danny Dietz who provided additional maintenance information and got to experience how awesome these chainsaw workshops for women are!
Brooke Derrickson teaching at this year’s workshop!
On a side note….the women who participated in the 2022 chainsaw workshop still gather regularly in the Metro/South to build on what they learned and maintain the camaraderie developed during the workshop. Awesome!