Danielle Green

I attribute my success to community. I feel like I could not have done this by myself. I'm lucky that my husband has been my absolute rock. He's been my support and the compassion that I needed when I was at my lowest, because we all hit our dark moments, and it's good to have friends and family and people that love us to help us find our way again. Nature also played a huge role in my journey. I came from a background where I was afraid of everybody and everything, and nature just stripped that away. The people in the natural resources field, my 'tree people family,' are just the most beautiful people I've ever met. They helped me find my strength and overcome my childhood trauma and fear. Without this community of support, both personal and professional, I wouldn't be where I am today.

The best career advice I've ever received is that in order to live, you've got to live outside your comfort zone, so you've got to always push yourself. It's easy to want to be in the comfort zone, but life happens outside of that. With all my fears and my tendency to want to isolate, that's always been my best advice for myself - to remind myself that life happens outside the comfort zone if I want to actually be alive and participate in life. I need to get outside. This advice has been crucial for me given my background of childhood trauma and fear of people. Pushing beyond my comfort zone has allowed me to grow, pursue multiple degrees, overcome breast cancer, and build a career I'm passionate about.

Don't hold back. It doesn't matter if you're in a man's world, or a woman's world, or any other world - just be you to the best you that you can be, and let your light shine. Don't let anyone or anything dim who you are or what you're capable of. I came from a place of fear and trauma, but I found my strength by being authentic and pursuing what I loved. The natural resources field welcomed me and helped me grow into who I am today. So my advice is simple: be yourself fully, don't hold back your passion or your unique perspective, and let your light shine brightly in whatever you do.

For me, I think my biggest challenge is finding seasonal workers each season that want to come work for just a season, because it's not permanent and it's not a good forever home. The jobs that we hire for aren't forever homes, so it's hard to find people that want to come back year after year. This staffing challenge makes it difficult to maintain consistent teams for our noxious weed control work. Beyond staffing, another major challenge in the field is dealing with invasive species like Japanese knotweed, which is incredibly difficult to control. It has roots that go seven feet deep and twenty feet wide, grows through concrete and baseboards, increases erosion, and creates monocultures along waterways for miles. The only effective control method is chemical treatment, but in a world where people are anti-chemical, that makes it even harder to manage these invasive species effectively.

Positivity and inclusion are the values most important to me in my work and personal life. I'm currently learning ASL right now, not because I have any deaf or hard of hearing people in my life, but because I've heard some recent stories that inspired me to learn it. I'm doing that for a community that's not even in my life right now, but just in case - because inclusion matters to me. I want to be prepared to welcome and communicate with anyone who might need it. These values stem from my own journey of overcoming fear and trauma, and being welcomed into the natural resources community. I know how important it is to create spaces where everyone feels included and supported, and to approach life and work with a positive attitude even when facing challenges.