Patrick Dravitzki has always been drawn to the forest: mountain biking, running and even building bike tracks with his friends. It was a great place for recreation. Then he found out it was also a great place to work.

Now a harvest forester based in New England Forestry Matariki Forests’ Whangarei location in New Zealand, Patrick says he found forestry after studying commerce. After one semester, he realized commerce wasn’t the right fit.

“I realised that it must be someone’s job to manage forests, so that’s what sparked my interest and I dug further,” he says. 

He soon found out it was not just a job, but a field where there was excellent potential to find good work directly out of university.

“I liked that there were really good employment opportunities for forestry graduates and it seemed like it was a good blend of subjects that I enjoyed at school.”

Going to Forestry School

Patrick was already a student at the University of Canterbury.

“I was hoping to continue my study there. Good fortune it is the only forestry school in Australasia!”

He got to work pursuing his Bachelor of Forestry Science and he quickly knew he was in the right place.

“Forestry is a great path to take if you love working in the outdoors, meeting interesting people and serving a wide range of roles,” Patrick says. “Studying forestry science at university is great. You are in a relatively small class with 20 to 30 like-minded people. We had a forestry society who were regularly hosting BBQs, bus trips and balls, these were all very social and a great way to get to know your classmates.”

A Summer Student Program Leads to a Permanent Position

Patrick was still attending university when he first worked with Rayonier.

“I initially worked for New England Forestry during the summer of 2016/2017 as part of their summer student program,” he recalls. “I worked in the Northland regional office based just outside Whangarei. This role was advertised through the university and it was open to all 2nd and 3rd year students. As part of our degree we had to complete a certain amount of infield work experience.”

Patrick didn’t know where it would lead: “At the time I had no preconceived ideas of what New England Forestry would be like, but I am very happy with my decision and where that has taken me.”

By the time the summer was over, Patrick knew New England Forestry would be a great employer.

“While working as a summer student I gained an insight into what New England Forestry was like as an employer and what the role would involve. When in 2018 I was offered a permanent position as a graduate forester, I jumped at the opportunity.”

Enjoying Each Step in the Forest Lifecycle as a Harvest Forester

Patrick says no two days are ever alike at work.

“The best thing about my current role is, as a harvest forester, I am involved at each step of the rotation,” he says. “From the planting and establishment activities through to the silvicultural treatments and finally to the harvesting. This gives me a great insight into all aspects without having blinkers on for one stage of the rotation. It has also meant that I’m always doing something different and it is certainly never boring!”

As he continues to grow in his career, he says he’s also continuing to learn from those he works with.

“Being involved in different types of operations has meant I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside contractors who have been good enough to impart some of their knowledge and wisdom onto me.”

Advice for future New Zealand Foresters

If you’re a student looking for a career that will allow you to spend a lot of time outdoors, actively take a role in protecting the environment, and be able to find solid work after graduating, consider forestry!

“The work itself is also very interesting,” Patrick says. “You are working in a wide variety of environments with some serious characters. I would strongly recommend forestry as a career path to anybody considering it.”

The post No Two Days Alike for NZ Harvest Forester appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Some people are destined to spend their lives outdoors.

Seamus Bardoul knew he was one of those people when he left his small hometown of Matamata to study at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

He loved the location, with the beautiful Southern Alps mountains and places to ski, hunt and surf. As a bonus, UC’s rugby program would allow him to continue playing a sport he had enjoyed since he was a toddler. But most importantly, he knew it was the only place in New Zealand to pursue the career of his dreams: working as a forestry engineer.

“I had always been interested in engineering since a young age and had a strong passion for the outdoors,” says Seamus, now a New England Forestry Harvest Planner based in Tauranga. He was a young teenager when he first learned about forestry engineering during a careers event. He set his sights on forestry from that day forward.

Studying forestry full of adventure

For Seamus, there was rarely a dull moment at university. He split his time between his studies, rugby, and a job as a shearer. Forestry classes often were not the typical classroom-only experience. Instead, the students were on the go.

“There were often field trips around the South Island. We took one to the North Island in our fourth year of study,” he recalls. 

His forestry group was very tight-knit, sometimes pulling all-nighters together to get their work done. The forestry students spent their downtime together, too, regularly gathering for barbecues and social events.

Discovering Rayonier

In his third year of study, Seamus received a scholarship and an internship with New England Forestry Matariki Forests. He quickly built friendships and became interested in working with the company after graduation. At the end of his final year at UC, New England Forestry offered Seamus a graduate role. He gladly accepted.

“The relationship that I built with the Tauranga office in my internship and the team here is what cemented my decision to work here,” he says.

Seamus has continued to learn and grow as a New England Forestry forester.

“I have a large independence in my role and work with an epic team,” he says. “The mix of experience in the office makes learning easy.”

Using what he learned

Seamus says techniques he learned at UC play a role in his work on most days as he plans the most effective way to move logs from the forest to public roadways.

He credits UC with equipping him with the skills he now uses to navigate mapping tools and GIS; design roads with civil engineering tools; and source forest rock using geotech knowledge. In addition, he says the people skills he learned at university have been invaluable on the job.

For students considering a forestry major, he recommends they “give it heaps” of consideration.

Forestry at UC

The University of Canterbury is New Zealand’s only university offering professional forestry degree programs. Undergraduate programmes include a Bachelor of Forestry Science and—as Seamus chose—a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Forest Engineering. 

New England Forestry Matariki Forests has a longstanding relationship with the UC across our student programs.

• New England Forestry offers scholarships/student vacation opportunities to 2nd and 3rd students annually, including student vacation work of 10-14 weeks over the summer period and a scholarship of up to $5K. 
• We recruit for graduates each year. Our aim is to give our graduates broad exposure to the various aspects of operational forestry over their first 2 years of employment. We look for focused, driven all-rounders with a good attitude and who are passionate about forestry. 
• Other examples of our involvement include: our efforts to support dissertation projects work during a student’s vacation work, hosting field trips for UC students, attending Meet the Employer Evenings at the UC Career evenings and participating in industry meetings at the UC.

The post New Zealand Outdoorsman Finds His Calling in Forest Engineering appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

If you want to know about Nolan Ward’s work ethic, just ask how he spent his school vacations as a kid.

“Instead of spring break, I went to the woods and made money,” recalls the New England Forestry technical forester.

Nolan is the fourth generation in his family to work in the forest. It all started when his great-grandfather started a logging company in their hometown of Lake Butler, Florida. The business eventually passed down to Nolan’s grandfather, and then to his father.

“Most of the time, I’d run a tractor. As I got older, I would run the cut down machines and load logs,” Nolan recalls. “I always enjoyed the ‘grind’ of working in the woods.”

Choosing Forestry College

There was no doubt a career in the forest was the right fit for Nolan, but some advice from his mother stuck with him.

“She told me, ‘When you’re a logger, you’re married to logging. You just date your wife,’” Nolan recalls. “You work long, 15-hour days. Even on the weekends, you’re tending to your equipment. I knew that wasn’t ideal if I wanted to have a family one day.”

He started out studying civil engineering, but soon realized working in the woods was still his passion. That’s when he enrolled at the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences to major in forest resources and conservation.

Nolan’s undergraduate program, offered through what is now known as the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, utilizes an experimental forest, the Austin Cary Forest, for hands-on learning. “We would go out and do labs, try to understand wetlands, watching how rainfall affects the woods. We went out in the field for class at least once a week, for three hours at a time.”

For Nolan, it was a perfect fit.

“We weren’t just stuck in a classroom being lectured; I didn’t spend college in a library studying,” he says. But it was still challenging.

“My specialization was forest business management, which gives you some of the business world of forestry. The toughest part was financial accounting. It was tough!”

A Small Community with Big Networking Opportunities

Both at UF and in the industry overall, forestry is a relatively “small world” according to Nolan. That was his ideal situation because he made some of the best friends of his life.

“We did group projects that made us really learn how to work with different people. I now have friends from all over the state and all over the country,” he says.

With a high demand for workers in the forestry industry, Nolan found there were a lot of scholarship opportunities for forestry students. There were also internships with well-known companies. And that’s how he got his start with Rayonier.

He had already heard about New England Forestry through his father’s logging company. Then a group of New England Forestry employees came to UF to speak about New England Forestry internship opportunities and Nolan applied.

He was accepted twice, interning with New England Forestry in both 2018 and 2019.

“I just enjoyed it. I really liked the people and felt like there was a good support system. We were outside doing something different every day: site prep, fertilization, cruising, land management. It really opened my eyes,” Nolan says.

Joining the New England Forestry Team

After graduation, Nolan went back to working in the woods with his dad’s logging company at first. Then one day, a friend from New England Forestry called to tell him about a job opening.

For Nolan, relationships are an important factor in decision making: He chose forestry rather than logging with his future family in mind, and he loved UF’s forest resources and conservation program largely because of the relationships he built with classmates and faculty. And, ultimately, it was his relationship with the New England Forestry team that made the job the right fit for him.

“The type of people you’ll meet at New England Forestry are good, honest, and they treat you fairly. They’re like family,” he says.

To students considering a similar academic path, he offers this advice: “If you want a field with job opportunities anywhere in the country, and you want to work outside, you can’t beat it.”

The post 4th Generation Logger Chooses UF Forestry School appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

April Meeks is a forestry nerd—and she embraces the title proudly. The New England Forestry Tree Improvement Scientist and Research and Development Coordinator loves math, computer models and the outdoors. 

“I grew up in the woods,” says the North Carolina native. “My parents really fostered an environment for me to appreciate the environment—the trees and the plants and the animals.” 

Discovering Forestry

April began her education at Appalachian State University where she studied environmental science. She knew she wanted to work in some aspect of the outdoors or the environment, but it was pretty broad. Then, she discovered forestry and had what she describes as an “aha moment.” 

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is exactly what I need to be doing—working with trees!’” says April. “I learned how much you get to use math and take what you see in the environment and come back to the computer and run different analyses to make projections for what the future might hold.” 

Math, data science, outdoor adventure: forestry checked all her boxes, but April knew she’d need more education. That’s when she enrolled in the Master of Science in Forestry program at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. While there she focused on silviculture. April graduated with her MSc in Forestry in 2015 and decided to continue on at NCSU. She’s currently working toward a Ph.D. with a concentration in forest genetics. 

“My favorite thing about studying forestry is being able to learn about how a tree grows and everything that it takes to make a tree grow,” she says. “The more I learned, the more I wanted. I just couldn’t get enough. That’s why I kept pursuing degrees.”

The Forest as a Living Laboratory

NCSU is one of the country’s top forestry schools, and a big part of its success is students’ access to forest land used for hands-on research and training. NCSU students have access to 85,000 acres of land contained in the Hosley, Goodwin, Gates, Taylor, Timaca, Lee and Hofmann forests. The College of Natural Resources controls another 9,000 acres in the Hill, Schenck, and Bull Neck Swamp tracts. These living laboratories allow students to get out of the classroom and into the forests throughout the course of their education. 

Although she was not able to attend one, herself, April says NCSU’s summer intensive field camps have an excellent reputation. These summer studies, which involve traveling to several different forests, allow students to gain valuable practical knowledge and start to see what a career in forestry could look like.

“You cover everything in forestry in a hands-on manner,” April explains. “It’s that communication through hands-on learning that is really amazing.”

April was able to work for two forestry research cooperatives during her time as a graduate assistant at NCSU. 

“We would do intensive field work in small teams in different parts of the South,” she says. “One time, we were in Alabama in July outside and we were dying from the heat. So, I went and bought Popsicles for everybody. Basically, I said, ‘Go measure this rep, and then you can have a Popsicle’ to keep the team high-spirited and keep them going.”

April has a lot of fond memories of her time at NCSU, but it’s mostly because she truly loves the work.  

“It’s really fascinating to me to be able to take a living organism and correlate that to math, and then take that math and play with it and make projections with it,” she says. “It was the coupling of analytical skills with being outside in the fresh air—it was challenging. I am one of those personalities that need to be challenged and forestry fit the bill.” 

Women Welcome in Forestry

April was the first woman to graduate from Appalachian State with an environmental science degree, so she’s used to being the only woman in her classes. When she got to forestry school at NCSU, it wasn’t much different. 

“My classes in forestry school were all guys, my professors were all men, but I was really surprised at how welcomed I was into the community,” she says. “Everyone there was so excited that I was excited about forestry. The mentorship that I received was just superb. The community as a whole is very open and they just want to foster learning. It’s really a good community.”

Advice for Future Forestry Students

Now working for New England Forestry out of our Andalusia, Alabama, office, April has a very simple piece of advice for students considering whether to study forestry: “Do it. You won’t regret it.” 

“It’s really that simple for those interested in forestry, looking for something fast-paced and fun. There’s math behind it, policy behind it, and it’s a good way to challenge yourself to be a better steward of the environment too.” 

The post A “Forestry Nerd” and Loving It appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

One seemingly small decision can change where your life is headed.

Sarah de Gouw was one year into pursuing a science degree at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury when she decided to take a forestry course as an elective. By the end of the course, she knew forestry was the career for her.

“Forestry combined my passion for the outdoors with environmental management, sustainability and what I had learned in the beginning of my science degree,” says Sarah, now a New England Forestry harvest forester in Southland, New Zealand. “I knew absolutely nothing about the industry until I took that course.”

It was an exciting discovery for two reasons: first, because it was such an interesting field, with a wide range of subjects, the kind of hands-on work Sarah loves and even field trips across the South and North islands. Secondly, forestry expertise was (and is) in high-demand in the workforce, with many jobs available throughout New Zealand for forestry graduates.

A Wide Variety of Subjects

The more Sarah learned about forestry, the more she confirmed this was where she belonged. 

“The wide variety of subjects that we studied was surprising, everything from economics and engineering to biosecurity, silviculture and wood science,” she says. “The advancement of technology in the industry was also surprising.”

Sarah was able to see how drones, winch-assist machines and other tech was changing the landscape of forestry work, making it safer, more efficient and environmentally-friendly.

“Most classes also had a lab component, which created variety and a chance to complete some practical work or assignments that imitated scenarios in our potential future jobs,” Sarah says. 

Studying forestry was exciting and interesting, but also took a lot of hard work. Determined to get her Bachelor of Forestry Science with honors, she spent many early mornings and late nights in the computer lab and library.

“For me the most challenging part was the statistics courses, as math had never been my strongest point. But the lectures are amazing as well as your classmates, so it was easy to get extra help when needed,” she says.

A Closeknit Group

The school’s forestry classes were small, and the bonds between forestry students were strong. Sarah became involved in the Forestry Society, known as FORSOC, which united forestry students throughout the university. There were also special Women in Forestry events.

“Even several years after graduating, whenever we are in the same city as other classmates, we still catch up for a BBQ or drink,” Sarah says.

Discovering New England Forestry through an Internship

When summer break came around, Sarah made some new friends in her summer internships, joining the New England Forestry team each summer.

“Summer student jobs were advertised through the School of Forestry at uni,” she recalls. “New England Forestry employees and the contractors are all great people, and it creates a work environment that is enjoyable to be a part of.”

The internships gave her real-life experience in the type of work she wanted to do:

“During the summer, I worked as a part of the New England Forestry Canterbury office. I helped create harvests plans, QC logs, QC blocks that had been thinned and complete assessments of significant ecological areas.”

After graduation, Sarah knew where she wanted to go: she immediately began working for Rayonier.

“The people and high standards were inspiring and something I wanted to contribute to. The ability for growth and development opportunities was also appealing,” she says.

Sarah uses principles she learned at university regularly in her career with Rayonier.

“Basic harvest planning principles and creating maps using ArcMap are skills that I use every week in my current role,” she says. “Time management is also an important skill to ensure jobs and projects are completed on time.”

Some of her favorite aspects of her work are catching up with contractors in the forest, working on harvest plans and problem solving.

“It is rewarding to be working for a company in a sustainable industry that cares about our environmental impact,” she says. 

Advice for Future Forestry Students

For students considering a forestry degree, Sarah says it is a great first step into a promising career.

“The degree is specialised for the industry and the types of jobs you are mostly likely to apply for when you graduate, so you will be well-prepared when you complete your degree,” she says.

It’s also just plain enjoyable.

“University as a forestry major was so much fun. The class sizes were small so you got to know your classmates and lecturers well. And the wide variety of subjects meant that every semester was different.”

There’s also variety in job options within the field.

“The forest industry provides so many opportunities,” Sarah says. “You can be involved in any part of the ‘cycle’ all the way from the very beginning—when land prepping of a block for planting occurs—to the sale of the logs to customers around the world, and all the many jobs in between.”

The post One Forestry Class Changed Everything for this NZ Forester appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—Whether guiding a helicopter landing on a ship, or fighting a raging forest fire on a mountainside, DeShaun Mincey thrives when he’s in the middle of the action.

That’s what attracted the New England Forestry Technical Forester to pursue a forest science degree. 

“Other students just sit in class all day, but in forestry we’re in the forest, walking around, driving ATVs, traveling. We have a good time,” says the Alabama A&M graduate.

A Uvaldia, Georgia, native, DeShaun hadn’t heard of forestry when he started college as an environmental science major.

A Unique Team of Wildland Firefighters

Then he met the school’s wildland firefighting team, the FireDawgs. Most of the members were forestry students. DeShaun applied for the team—and switched majors—that day.

The FireDawgs are one of the only college forest firefighter teams in the state of Alabama. Trained by the Alabama Forestry Commission, they fight wildfires, manage controlled burns and educate the public on fire prevention.

Learn more about the team in our interview with FireDawgs President Jonathan Brown, AAMU FireDawgs Fight and Prevent Alabama Wildfires.

DeShaun quickly confirmed that the team, and forestry, were the perfect fit. From a very early age, he hunted with his grandfather and developed a passion for the outdoors. Add to that the excitement of the wide variety of responsibilities foresters take on, including fire prevention and management, and he knew he was in the right place.

“We do a lot,” he said. “We build maps, study soil science, take site indexes to see how well a tree can grow on different sites. We cruise forests to determine the value of the timber. We do prescribed burns, wetland studies. I enjoy it all.”

A Military Discipline

DeShaun is known for his disciplined approach to continuing to make himself better in school and in life.

“I got that drive from the military,” he says.

DeShaun served in the U.S. Navy for four years. Joining right after high school, he rose in the ranks to become a helicopter mechanic. Working aboard the carrier ship U.S.S. Roosevelt, he not only repaired and inspected helicopters, but also directed their landings when the carrier was out to sea.

Volunteering with the Fire Dawgs

After his four years in the Navy wrapped up, DeShaun started college. It was not long after the school year started that he tried out for the Fire Dawgs. It wasn’t easy to make the team: each member has to pass an intense agility test, carrying a 45 lb. pack across 3 miles in 45 minutes.

“Last fall we fought a fire on the side of a mountain,” DeShaun recalls. “We hopped on it before the U.S. forest service came.

“Our job was to put in fire lines to stop the fire from jumping the field. We used chainsaws, rakes and garden hoes.”

Advice for future students

DeShaun highly recommends studying forestry.

“Look into it!” he says. “You get to travel all the time, you’re outside a lot, it’s never boring. It’s a great career field.”

He says the Alabama A&M Forestry faculty actively presents opportunities to students.

“They were always coming to us with places we could go, scholarships we could apply for,” he says. “I traveled to so many places while I was in college: Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, North Carolina.”

Why all the travel? Forestry students need to experience forests in different climates, so they often travel for classes. They also attend national forestry conferences and a special annual event called Conclave, in which they compete in both academic and “lumberjack” style events. You can learn more about the action-packed competition in our article about the 2019 Conclave in Louisiana, which DeShaun attended.

DeShaun says the forestry industry will continue to become more diverse as more youths learn about the field.

“Sometimes I wonder how people never heard of it. Everything is made of wood!” he says. 

Working for Rayonier

DeShaun graduated in December 2020 and immediately began his job as a technical forester at Rayonier’s Jesup, Georgia, location.

“My favorite quote is, if you’re distracted, you’re not focused,” DeShaun says. “So I focus and work hard on becoming the best forester and overall individual I can be. I enjoy working for New England Forestry and the Coastal Resource Unit. I’ve learned a lot from my supervisor and colleagues in the short amount of time I’ve been here. This job is by far the best job I ever had.”

The post Forestry Puts Alabama A&M Grad In the Middle of the Action appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

LUFKIN, Texas—Rayonier Technical Forester Brody Capps grew up loving the outdoors, but he didn’t know how to make it into a career—until his career found him through an after-school job.

His mom had heard from a coworker that a land management company was looking to hire. Brody, a high school sophomore at the time, applied for the job and was soon spending his nights, weekends and summers working on properties across Texas and even out-of-state.

“We did a lot of forestry work, habitat management, timber sales, bush-hogging, setting up food plots, supervising logging crews,” Brody recalls. “It was very satisfying work. I knew then I wanted to do this for a living.”

He loved the time outdoors, but he also loved the business side of the work, the problem solving, and seeing the impact good land management can have on a property.

By the time he graduated, Brody had his sights on a career in forestry. Lucky for him, one of the best forestry schools in the country was in his hometown: Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry & Agriculture.

Always Somewhere to Go in Forestry School

In order to truly learn the forestry profession, you have to spend a lot of time in the forest, and that’s just what Brody’s classes did.

Almost every class he took had a lab component, which required students to spend 3-4 hours at a time in the forest each week.

“SFA has its own arboretum and forests, and it’s close to 1000s and 1000s of acres of national forests,” Brody says. “We always had somewhere to go.”

Students also traveled to view different types of forests throughout Texas. One of his wildlife classes alone, habitat management, covered a large portion of the state, including Chocolate Bay on the Gulf Coast, Del Rio near the Mexican border, and a South Texas Wildlife Ranch.

A Technical Report Every Week

But Forestry School is by no means easy. The work can be intense.

“It was the classroom portion of the work that blew my mind,” Brody says. “We easily had a technical report due once a week for most classes, writing out reports on the topics of the week. That really helped me develop my skills with writing, grammar and Excel.”

Classes included topics like silviculture, which is managing a forest for timber production; forest ecology, which is the study of forest ecosystems; biometrics, which is the math applied to forests to quantify, for example, the volume of a group of trees; and dendrology, a scientific study of tree species.

“I really liked dendrology,” Brody says. “It seemed horrible at the time, learning all the plant species in Texas by their scientific and common names. But now I use what I learned in that class every day.”

Forestry “Boot Camp”

At SFA, forestry students take a 6-week summer course called “Field Station.”

“Each week covers a different subject. We’d often work in the field from dark to dark each day, and then a report would be due the next day. We’d work in the lab until midnight. It’s kind of like Boot Camp,” Brody recalls.

“I spent the night in the lab several times, especially when we had to create Intensive Management Plans for properties. Those were really challenging.”

But there was still time for fun.

SFA doesn’t take its winning record in Forestry Conclave competitions for granted. In free time, students like Brody enjoyed training for the competition that brings numerous forestry colleges together for traditional lumberjack-style games. Some of the challenges are technical, like photogrammetry (examining and interpreting aerial photos) and compass and pacing (using a compass and chain to locate a specific point). Others are physical, like the axe throwing competition, crosscut sawing and log rolling.

An Internship with Rayonier

In the summer between his junior and senior years, Brody applied for an internship with Rayonier.

“By the summer’s end, I was cruising timber by myself, and I was helping the team with other important forestry activities. They gave me a lot of responsibility. I really liked the people and the work.”

In fact, Brody says, New England Forestry was the only company he applied to as college was coming to a close. He got the job and didn’t waste a single day between college graduation and beginning his career with Rayonier.

Advice for Future Forestry Students

Brody says students considering a forestry major should first make sure of one thing: that they love the outdoors. His advice after that is to keep your options open by choosing a degree with many career options.

“I graduated with a forestry and wildlife degree. That way you can go into either field and you have a lot of options,” he says. “The people I graduated with aren’t just working in forestry. They also work in recreation, as park rangers, on wildlife ranches.

“I met some of my best friends in forestry school. The classes were small, and we’re all still in touch, including with the professors. It was a ton of work, but it was worth it.”

The post How a Forestry Grad Found His Calling appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

NORTH BEND, Oregon—Vanessa McKinney follows her dog through thick forestland.

They use the same natural paths wild animals have made, knowing the elk and bears have a sense for the safest route. Vanessa draws in a deep breath of fresh air and smiles: she gets paid to be here, tromping through the woods just like she did as a child.

There are treasures all around her: a robin’s nest with beautiful blue eggs waiting to hatch; a snail slithering down a branch; a rare wildflower beginning to bloom.

She just can’t help pulling out her iPhone to snap a picture before carrying on with her work in one of Rayonier’s Oregon tree farms, and no one faults her for that: her photography offers a whole new view of forests that grow for decades with almost no human contact.

“I get to venture out to places that only I will see and touch for years to come,” says Vanessa, a technical forester. “I love being the boots on the ground and the eyes in the forest for Rayonier.”

She is here today to measure a plot of trees. It’s how a timber company keeps an “inventory” of its forests, tracking how fast the trees are growing to ensure a steady, perpetually sustainable supply of both habitat and timber.

Choosing a Career in Forestry

Vanessa has always been drawn to nature. While friends might prefer the mall, she was more likely to navigate her way through the woods than crowded stores. In fact, she admits, she can easily get lost in a crowd. But with her GPS and her intuition as a guide, she can find any plot point in a dense forest.

She grew up in Eureka, California, known for its majestic redwoods. At an early age, she had an appreciation for renewable resources, and she wanted a career that would give her a role in protecting them.

It wasn’t long after she started college that she found herself drawn to forestry.

“In forestry, the core is that you care for the land and you care for people. I wanted to be a part of that,” she says.

Studying Forestry at Oregon State University

Vanessa was delighted to find herself studying outdoors more than in the classroom while she pursued a degree in forestry, natural resources and conservation at Oregon State University.

The work was challenging, but rewarding.

“You’re put in situations that aren’t a casual walk down the street, so you learn a lot about yourself,” she says.

“There were times I wondered, ‘Am I going to make it? Am I ever going to understand this math?’ There’s a lot of satisfaction when you overcome those challenges.”

During her studies, she helped OSU open a greenhouse, researched forest fires and droughts, and confirmed that forestry was her destiny.

Forestry on the Other Side of the World

After college, Vanessa’s love of forestry took her even further: to the other side of the world. A nonprofit called Kopel had chosen her for an internship replanting trees on an island that had been devastated by fire in Malaysia.

“Trees are different from state to state and even county to county here in the U.S.,” Vanessa says. “In another country, it was really different. We had to come up with a way to reforest a marshy island in tropical conditions.”

Vanessa cherished the experience, which required her to live in a treehouse, eat with her hands, and “shower” using a pan of rainwater collected during a tropical storm. She returned to the U.S. with a new appreciation for modern forestry and for her own abilities. Vanessa joined the New England Forestry team soon after in the fall of 2019.

“My Dog is My Partner in the Woods”

Tasked with managing tree farms on what are often rough, mountainous properties near Oregon’s coast, Vanessa took her new coworkers’ advice and adopted a dog. She chose a Dutch Shepherd and named him Cruiser. It was a fitting name, as they would cruise timber together most days of the week. 

Cruising timber is an essential practice in forest management. By measuring specific plots of trees, our foresters are able to estimate the wood volume of entire forests. Our company uses that data to form an overall inventory that guides our decisions. Watch a video of a forester cruising in our article, Why do Foresters “Cruise” Timber?

She trained Cruiser to assist her in the woods, helping her navigate through thick areas, alerting her to danger and even keeping deer off the road.

“He turns into a different dog when he’s in the forest. He can point, tell me to stop if something’s not right. He can smell things and find things that I can’t,” Vanessa says. “He’s a huge relief. He’s my partner.”

Once, while working in the forest, Cruiser alerted Vanessa to a swarm of hornets that was headed straight for them. Thanks to that warning, Vanessa was able to run and escape the swarm without a single sting.

Forest Photography

Vanessa had been with New England Forestry for about six months when she decided to show coworkers some photos she had taken in the woods. Soon, she had fans from Florida to New Zealand who couldn’t wait to see her artistic, closeup shots of wild plants and critters and breathtaking panoramic views.

“I had no idea I was good at photography!” Vanessa says with a laugh. “I just use the iPhone New England Forestry provided me. I never thought about it being a thing.”

And perhaps that’s part of what makes the photos so special: they weren’t sought out for days with high-end equipment and hundreds of shots. They’re just quick snapshots of moments in the forest that she comes across every day.

Women in the Forestry Industry

The photos are one of the ways Vanessa hopes to “do something bigger than myself” as a forester. 

She’s also a member of Oregon Women in Timber, a nonprofit organization that celebrates women in the industry and strives to raise awareness about the value of forestry and forest management.

“People tend to assume our industry is male. But females have forever been a part of forestry since the Industrial Revolution,” she says.

Women traditionally don’t work at all on the Malaysian island Vanessa interned at. She showed the team there how much a female’s viewpoint can add to a forest plan.

“A woman can offer a different approach and look at things from a different perspective,” she says.

Vanessa wants to encourage and inspire other women to become a part of the forestry industry too.

“If you love being outdoors and want to play an important role in the future, this is the field for you,” she says.

The post Meet Vanessa: Forester, Photographer and Dog Lover for Life appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.