Celebrating Women in Conservation

words by Margie Griggs

On February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science recognizes the impact women and girls have in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and celebrates the achievements and contributions they have made in the scientific community. International Day of Women and Girls in Science was established by the United Nations to promote gender equality in STEM fields while breaking down barriers and stereotypes that have limited the participation of women in these fields. This year, I interviewed four local women in conservation and asked them to explain their current role within it, the importance of their work, and the impact they are having for other women and girls in science and why this is so important to the work they are conducting.

Maddie Sutton is currently a PhD candidate at Marquette University studying songbird responses to climate change. Songbirds are going under widespread and staggering declines; Maddie is working to mitigate those declines through research that predicts how birds will respond to shifts in climate. Her hope is that her work will impact the community by determining which species are the most at-risk of climate related declines. Conservation is one of Maddie’s driving forces, and she has felt incredibly fortunate to be able to spend the majority of her life thus far working to conserve songbirds that are seldom seen and appreciated by the public. Most mornings of her PhD are spent in Old Growth forests of Oregon, measuring how forest dynamics are intrinsically connected to songbird communities and their health. At Marquette University, she is working on a project with undergraduates, focusing on how urban spaces impact wintering bird populations in Milwaukee.

Maddie feels like she has a duty to share with others how amazing birds are and why we have an obligation to protect and conserve them. She states that, “Women belong in the field sciences,” which has generally not been female-dominated, as women often suffer from the "leaky pipeline" of not being able to continue with field research past their degree. She mentions that she has been extremely lucky to have mentors that have allowed her to progress and have shown her that science is somewhere that she belongs. Every year she works with girls in STEM via Skype a Scientist to increase representation and to offer employment opportunities to first generation undergraduate women to work with her on some of her research on songbird declines. One of Maddie’s greatest goals, aside from songbird conservation, is to be the type of mentor that she had for future generations of women and girls in STEM.

Katharine Spencer is a conservation and stewardship volunteer at a few different sites in Cook County Forest Preserves and Chicago Parks in partnership with the Shedd Aquarium. She is certified as a brush pile burn boss through FDPCC in order to help with fire safety and invasive species management during community workdays. The stewardship teams help to remove aggressive invasive plant species, promote biodiversity, and create better habitats for all kinds of flora and fauna in the county’s natural areas. As a birder, she looks forward to seeing what birds find better quality habitats in the areas they have worked already, and she enjoys considering the future possibilities for birds that will start to take shape as the land recovers.

Katharine believes conservation is much broader than the individual tasks we do at forest workdays or litter cleanups and that it is really wonderful to watch many people contribute small gifts to the natural areas we share. People doing conservation work often get the satisfying experience of seeing their day’s labor take shape, bringing home much to consider, such as how to keep making space for nature in their own lawns or how to restructure their weekend to get out to their local forest preserve a bit more. Katharine describes herself as “a small-statured and disabled woman working in a field that, historically and sometimes still, is demographically quite different.” While she occasionally must deal with “preconceived notions and irritating comments” about her ability, overall, she notes that “conservation work is full of women, trans, and nonbinary folks supporting each other and leading incredible initiatives.”

Along with her burns through FDPCC, she does her best to invite everyone to try something new for the first time even if they are unsure. She is delighted to watch passions for the work spark and for new volunteers to ask how she started or how they can learn more about conserving and restoring the land. Katharine states that the great part is that there is no prerequisite to doing conservation work—anyone can do it!

Cristina Warnock volunteers with several organizations dedicated towards environmental advocacy and conservation of natural resources and spaces. These include COS, where she serves as a board member; the Forest Preserves of Cook County, where she has served close to 100 hours performing ecological restoration and related trainings; Sierra Club, which she has supported through events and fundraisers; and Openlands, where she has participated in tree pruning and planting events around public parks in the city. Cristina feels that participating in these activities will have a long-term impact on our communities as our natural spaces are being protected and carefully managed for generations to come and for more people and other species to enjoy. Conservation is important to her as it is the key to our future. Cristina states that, “Our current way of life is not sustainable and is putting a major strain on our planet.”

Cristina recently went back to school to study Environmental Science with the goal of working more closely in the fields of conservation and ecology to make a bigger impact. She views conservation as everyone's responsibility. She believes we all have an ecological footprint, whether big or small, and the more we support each other in making sustainable choices and spreading the word about relevant issues impacting our natural resources and environments, the bigger impact we can have. Cristina has met so many passionate and talented women in science and conservation fields through volunteering, training, and other events, who have inspired, guided, and encouraged her along the way. She thinks it is important to be inclusive and supportive of not just women in these fields, but of everyone that has a passion and an idea. Cristina mentions that we need all the help, involvement, and advocacy of as many people as possible in order to create long-lasting change.

Allie Ghaman is a Triple Crown backpacker and environmental communications professional. She spent several recent years backpacking the Appalachian, Colorado, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails and Wind River High Route end-to-end, after which she had the pleasure of working at the lead non-profit partner for the conservation of the Continental Divide Trail, a 3,100-mile Congressionally-designated National Scenic Trail. “One of the joys of communicating about treasured natural resources,” says Allie, “whether it's addressing a national audience or just hanging out with my toddler—is finding opportunities to create and support community. When we spend time outdoors, we're communing with the land that sustains us.”

Allie had the wonderful chance to work with the Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E Initiative, which seeks to create a national-level outdoor equity grant program to address systemic inequities that have precluded equal enjoyment of the outdoors. By providing funding for outdoor adventures of all kinds to historically-excluded communities, this proposed grant program would offer fresh chances for young people to find their own relationships with the outdoors. From a young age, Allie was conscious of the disparity between the way the outdoor world was presented to young boys and young girls: her Boy Scout brother did winter backpacking, but her Girl Scout troop did indoor activities with a frontcountry campout or two mixed in. As she grew up, she was deeply affected by Gary Paulsen's Hatchet and asked her parents for her own hatchet so she could get into trouble outdoors like her brothers. Wary of her accidentally hurting herself, or possibly the local flora and fauna, they instead gave her more books. For a long time, she thought that her ambitions to have adventures outdoors would have to be confined to fiction, and it wasn't until she was approaching young adulthood that she began to see just how many outdoorswomen there really are, in every profession and pursuit. Listening to her older cousin and her friends tell stories from their year on the Appalachian Trail helped her begin to believe that long-distance hiking was something within grasp. Allie believes there is great power in the role of storytelling to inspire and spark hope, and through the stories she shares, she hopes to continue paying that forward.

Through my interviews with these four women, I was able to hear about the importance of being a woman in STEM. Madison, Katharine, Cristina, and Allie are paving the way for future generations of women and girls through their work in conservation as well as their work in bridging the gap between the way science and the outdoors are presented to women and girls. International Day of Women and Girls in Science is about celebrating the accomplishments of women such as these and encouraging gender diversity in conservation, bringing new perspectives to STEM and opening up opportunities to anyone who may be interested in getting involved.