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Women in the Woods

Tara Coleman, located in Sussex, New Brunswick, is a female harvesting supervisor with J.D. Irving, Limited.

Tara has been with Woodlands for about two years, after spending the last 20 years working in an office setting. Although it’s a huge change from her last role, she loves the transition from office to woods. 

“I’m out in the woods almost every day. Gender is not a limitation at JDI.  There isn’t anything that I’ve come across in the past two years that has limited my job or career because of my gender," says Tara about being in a nontraditional role.

Tara urges young women to realize that the only limitation on what options are available are the opinions put there by themselves. And that although forestry may have traditionally been a male-dominated industry, in today’s world, every open position is an opportunity for women to join the industry.

 

Tara Coleman from JDIrving on Vimeo.

For 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, DeDe Ketch operates a harvester in the woods in central New Brunswick. She is one of only a handful of female equipment operators in New Brunswick. 

“I don’t think you should ever not do something just because some people think it is a man’s profession." 

Today DeDe is one of the top operators on our owned and managed woodlands.

dede

 

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