Stories from Women in Wood

My journey into forestry began with a passion for the outdoors and a deep respect for nature. Growing up just north of Muskoka, Ontario, I spent my days biking, canoeing, hiking and swimming. By the time I finished high school, I was unsure what career path to embark upon. After one semester at university pursuing environmental studies, I realized it wasn’t the right direction. At that time, I didn’t even know that exciting outdoor careers existed. Leaving university, I worke

I did not start out as an arborist thinking I wanted to have a woman owned and operated business, I started because I love this industry and taking care of trees. I bought Texas Tree Surgeons in 2010 after working/managing the company for 3 years. Before I was hired at the company, I did not even know “tree care” was a job. I was 30 and had graduated college with a degree in psychology, taught middle school, been a paramedic for a 911 system, waited tables, was a wanderer and

It took me a bit of time to find my love for trees, which is surprising given that both my father and grandfather were foresters. My maternal grandfather was a forester working in the Black Forest region of Germany and was seconded to teach in southern Chile, where he me met my father, one of his students. After my father made a good impression by helping with some translation work (his father was a German immigrant that landed in Chile in 1908), my grandfather introduced him

In April 2023 I attended my first Women in Wood (WiW) session at the Ontario Professional Foresters Association (OPFA) annual conference in Peterborough, Ontario. This was a fireside chat that took place during some social time just before the banquet. For me this was one of the most rewarding experiences of the conference. I have been intrigued by the WiW organization for quite awhile but up to this point I have been on the sidelines, partly since I thought it was mostly fo

From road and harvesting operations, to silvicultural operations and annual planning, I’ve had the pleasure of working in several positions within the forestry industry. My name is Donald Mumby, and I am a registered professional forester. For clarification towards the context of this article, I identify as a cisgender gay male. My passion for the outdoors began the same as for most people, in my childhood. I became filled with curiosity and excitement when I was brought camp