Danielle Green

I attribute my success to community. I know I could not have achieved this by myself, as we work best when we work together. 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, family, and people that love us in those moments to guide us towards finding our way again. Nature has also played a huge role in my journey. I came from a background where I was taught to be afraid of everybody and everything, while nature stripped that away providing comfort and peace. 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 to overcome my childhood trauma and fear. I also owe a lot of my motivation to my beautiful daughter, Alexandrea, who I hope to reconnect with one day. 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... "in order to live, you've got to live outside your comfort zone", so you've got to always push yourself. I find that it is easy to want to stay comfortable, but life truly happens outside of that. With all my childhood fears and trauma, I tend towards isolation... so, that's always been the 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. Pushing beyond my comfort zone has allowed me to grow, pursue multiple degrees, overcome breast cancer, and build a career that I am passionate about.

Please, don't hold yourself back. It doesn't matter if you're in a man's world, 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 come from a place of fear and trauma, but I found my strength by surrounding myself with supporters 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 women trying to get into this field, I think the biggest challenge is understanding that the pay is frequently less than a livable wage and the positions are often non-permanent, so you will likely need to find ways to supplement your lifestyle. It helps to have a detailed resume that can be rearranged to fit a variety of positions. The position that my agency is able to hire for is a seasonal position with no room for growth, so we are always having to retrain new hires every year. Beyond staffing, other major challenges include species and landowner challenges; for instance, dealing with invasive species like Bohemian knotweed, which is incredibly difficult to control. This knotweed 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, which also means having to navigate in uneven, sloped, and/or rocky terrain (and sometimes while carrying up to 4 gallons on our backs). The only effective control method for knotweed is chemical treatment, yet in a world where people are anti-chemical, this makes it even harder to manage such 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.