Female foresters few and far apart.

• Author: Faye, Donna
• Position: Brief Article

Since 1996, Shelley Vescio has been the consulting city forester for the City of Thunder Bay, and one of only a handful of professional female city foresters in Canada.

One of Vescio's main responsibilities is the development of an urban forestry management program.

"I'm charting the course for the program, looking at how we'll be managing and checking trees in the city," Vescio says.

In addition to her management role, Vescio is also called upon to act as the city's arborist, checking trees that city residents are concerned about.

When Vescio wears her arborist hat, she responds to calls from city residents who want information about trees on their property by assessing the health of the tree and its structural stability and deciding what treatment is necessary.

Vescio has also developed tree protection standards to be applied to trees during construction.

Vescio also looks at how trees affect other city departments, such as water, sewage and road development.

"I'm trying to assess the conflict that trees present to (the different city departments) to develop standards that allow them to do their jobs while protecting the trees," Vescio says.

In 1980 Vescio graduated from Lakehead University with a diploma in forest technology. She then attended the University of New Brunswick, earning a bachelor of science degree in forestry in 1985. Later, Vescio received both a master of science in forestry and a bachelor of education from Lakehead University.

Although she did not remain a teacher, Vescio says her teaching education has been an invaluable asset in the work she now does for the city.

"I do a lot of presentations, and my bachelor of education has given me more confidence," Vescio says.

But there are some situations even teacher's college can't prepare one for, she adds.

There have been times when she has made a presentation and watched as members of the audience tilted their seats back, placed their ball caps over their eyes and dozed off to sleep. The sleeping audience, though, is easier to handle than angry outbursts, she says.

"(The attendees at some presentation) have been mad about trees or union management," Vescio says. "I used to take quite a lot of the abuse. I thought I had to, but from going outside the city (and observing other similar situations), I know I don't have to. People should treat you with respect."

Typically, the forest industry still remains a predominantly-male industry, she says. But being surrounded by men is...