Conservancy News

Conservancy Creates Network for Women Forest Landowners

On a beautiful fall weekend this October, Conservancy Stewardship and Education Coordinator, Amanda Subjin with her three month old baby Zebbin in tow, headed out to Camp Susque in Trout Run, PA to lead the Women and Their Woods Educational Retreat.

Amanda along with Allyson Muth, Forest Stewardship Program Associate at Penn State University and Nancy Baker, Pennsylvania landowner, facilitated a four-day educational retreat for twenty-one women landowners from across the state of Pennsylvania and some from as far away as New York state and West Virginia.

Attendees were selected through an application process focused on women who would be willing to attend the Retreat in order to become mentors for other women landowners across their regions. Participants attended workshops with thirteen presenters representing diverse organizations like PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Penn State University, USDA Forest Service, Oregon State University and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The women bunked together, shared meals, and learned in group settings through dynamic and fun hands-on workshops. Post-retreat all participants will build on the momentum of their experience and employ the knowledge they have gained to increase education about the value of forest land and sound stewardship practices among other women forest landowners in their communities. “It was a wonderful experience,” states enthusiastic landowner Phoebe Shaw, “I rushed back to Heron Hill and shared my information with three fellas who help me on the property.  I was a mine of information, just discovered.  I’m thankful to all the lovely young ladies for a meaningful retreat. I was happy to meet my Wayne county group.”

The Retreat was the culmination of a series of prior workshops.  In 2008, the Conservancy realized that due to demographic trends, increasing numbers of women are becoming the owners and managers of forestland. Because women landowners often feel they lack the knowledge to make informed decisions about land, the Conservancy, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and PA DCNR, began offering conservation education programs targeted to women forest landowners, and Women and Their Woods was born.  

The Conservancy and Penn State University will continue to provide educational outreach to the women mentors and support them in creating their regional Women and their Woods groups. The Conservancy will also be participating in a national effort to research the educational needs of women forest landowners and to develop a curriculum to be used by various educators to enhance the Women and Their Woods network. “The Women and their Woods program provides a great opportunity for the Conservancy to reach out to a vital group of landowners across PA and the surrounding area,” states an enthusiastic Amanda, “We’ve been very lucky to work with a great group of women landowners who are excited to share their knowledge and love for sustainable forest management with other landowners. We look forward to many more successful programs in the future.”