My dad died when I was 8 years old, so my early life was mostly influenced by strong elderly women and included our bus driver, an aunt, and a teacher. In their own rights, none were recognized for grand personal achievements, but each believed in me and took an interest in me and my achievements. You might have thought that my mother would have been one, as she was one of the first recruits to the new Women's Army Corps in WWII, and as a widow, managed our family ranch. Instead, she was more a living example of what was possible, without necessarily talking about it! Our ranch was a foster home for over 40 children across 25 years, and with an average family size of 12-16, it was easy to get lost in the crowd. That made it even more significant that I had a number of interested adults looking out for me. Certainly some sense of self-importance and increased confidence was a result of that attention.

Our family was poor, and except for a few small scholarships, I put myself through college by working BLM fire crews in the summer in Craig, Colorado. My Fire Management Officer (FMO) was a gnarly old Korean war veteran, who was truly an equal opportunity manager, and held equally high expectations of all his firefighters. He assigned me as BLM's first woman helitack supervisor and later as his Assistant FMO. In my career I was the first BLM woman Sector Boss and Division Supervisor, FMO, and Operations Section Chief. I have to admit that "mentoring" as a term or action meant nothing to me until I went to work for the Forest Service in Region 5 in 1990, where they were operating under a consent decree. I was asked by a male District Ranger what I had done to actively support and promote women, and I admitted that I hadn't consciously done anything. That made me think, though, and soon found that mentoring came naturally to me. Certainly my experience with a consent decree and a region in conflict provided new tools in supervision and employee relations that made me much more competitive in subsequent positions. I have also been mentored by several outstanding individuals, both male and female, and have successfully changed my career direction twice, based on their guidance, and am now a Field Manager.

I actively began mentoring new employees hired through the fire apprenticeship program. I remember, and jokingly asking one young woman what she wanted to become "when she grew up". She pointed at my chair and said, "I want your job!" I am currently mentoring several men and women employees at different levels, and challenge them to return the favor, by providing guidance to others. I think active mentoring positively benefits both parties, and certainly provides for diverse perspectives, delivered in a non-threatening manner. Overall, this makes a stronger, more stable workforce.

I believe that life experience is critical, along with some degree of that experience being pertinent to the mentee. Communication skills such as listening, reframing, and clear expression are important. A mentor needs to be able to speak honestly, even when the guidance may hurt. When two people share a mentorship, they are also forming a relationship…"ship" being the operative word here….in it together. The mentor needs to understand the mentee's goals, personality, skills and capabilities, and shortcomings.

Being mentored, and serving as a mentor are both standard operating procedure for me now, and I intend to continue this until I retire! I find that my long-standing mentors have changed somewhat, as my career has changed. I now seek mentors who are ahead of me in the natural resource management hierarchy, who have "been there and done that." And I find that the skills that made me successful in fire management are they very ones that make natural resource managers successful (vision, flexibility, ability to prioritize and direct work, and hold people accountable, supervision experience, etc.), yet upcoming resource managers rarely have the opportunity to gain this experience in their career ladder. Now I am actively challenging more fire people to try on resource management, and resource people to be active in fire! We all win!

Next jobs….Washington, DC!!    District Manager out West somewhere!!    State Director!