Stories from Women in Wood

My name is Shania Johnston, I am 25 years old; I currently operate a grapple skidder and am new to the logging/ forestry world. I graduated from Fleming College with a Law and Justice Diploma. However, I recently made some big changes in my life and chose to pursue two new employment opportunities. One being in an industry outside my element as a Skidder Operator, the other as a Volunteer Fire Fighter. I enjoy a challenge, being part of a team, and the outdoors. Harvesting wo

Hi Women in Wood! My name is Natalie, and I am an Urban Forester! There....I said it! When I was attending University, urban forestry was not a “thing”. I grew up in New Brunswick where trees were just a part of our lives and did not require a lot of work to keep them healthy and thriving. In deciding on my career path, I had it narrowed down to two choices...physiotherapy or forestry. Physiotherapy would have fed my compassion for people and forestry was something I felt. I

Ladies of Landsat is a Twitter-based organization that got its start officially in 2018. Led by a group of women hoping to increase inclusivity in the field of remote sensing and earth observation, we have grown our following to over 5,000 members since we first began! Our efforts include a weekly Twitter series highlighting research led by women in remote sensing, in-person and virtual networking events, conference symposiums, member highlight videos with the USGS, and more.

When I meet new people, the second question I inevitably get (the first one being if they pronounced my name correctly), is where my name comes from. It’s Dutch – I was born and raised in the Netherlands, and even obtained my degree in forestry from the Netherlands (and yes, the Netherlands does have trees…). So how did I end up in Canada, working for the Canadian Forest Service no less? Well, here’s my story. When I was a young teenager, I told my parents I wanted to live in

Like everyone else, we’ve been living much of 2020 in a virtual world. We’re making the most of it, and a positive has been the opportunity to reach further through digital means, and bring WIW together from opposite sides of the continent and world. The Women in Wood Facebook group has grown to more than 1,900 women - That’s 700 more than last year! We’ve held 6 WIW Virtual Meet-ups via Zoom. 4 were informal, simply providing an opportunity to chat with WIW from all over, on