'Women in the Woods' training offered

Men in beards and flannel, move over; women are headed into the forest for a Women in the Woods workshop May 19 in Sandpoint.

The workshop, held at Pine Street Woods, will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is no charge to attend, with the event sponsored by Kaniksu Land Trust and the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation.

While the event is open to everyone, Women in the Woods provides a wide range of training geared for women by women foresters to give them hands-on experience, inspiring more active participation in managing family-owned forests.

Women landowners play an increasingly important role in forest management decisions, but they are often in the minority at forestry education events in Idaho. To change that trend, Idaho Department of Lands officials are hosting women-centric forestry training.

This is the second event taught by women foresters from IDL and the University of Idaho Extension.

“We had a fabulous event in March with 40 women participating in Connecting Women in Forestry,” said Erika Eidson, IDL forest health specialist and workshop co-host. “This is another opportunity for women forestland owners to interact with professional women foresters. We will work in small groups so it’s easy to ask questions and gain confidence in managing family forests.”

There is no cost to participate. Attendees will be out in the woods, rotating through different exercises covering forest assessment and forestry work on the ground.

Information will be presented on tree identification and measurements as well as forest health. In addition, on-ground forestry work is built into the class with thinning and pruning exercises, tree selection, marking trees for harvest, and seedling planting.

Register by May 10 online at bit.ly/lewisevents. Please direct questions to Audra Cochran at audrac@uidaho.edu or 208-937-2311.