I participated in the Palmer Land Conservancy’s annual TENACITY: Women in Conservation Conference in March. As I made the drive from Denver to Colorado Springs with my colleague, Catie, I couldn’t help but ponder the name of the event and my role in conservation as a woman. It was harder than I expected to define my place in the Ven diagram of these two identities (and the I-25 South traffic didn’t help). What few answers I was able to come up with weren’t so positive, remembering moments of adversity in my professional development and uncertainty around my ability to make a meaningful impact. My apprehension about attending started to grow and the nervous energy that I always feel when attending networking events became mixed with a tightness in my chest that usually signals one thing, dread. I was terrified I wasn’t going to be able to be a supportive, energetic, optimistic, driven, eco-Zena-warrior-princess. Worse, I was worried I didn’t belong. I felt like an imposter to my gender and my profession. Not great.
But it was too late to back out now. Had I been the one driving, I might have seriously considered turning us around. But I wasn’t, and I didn’t want to look like a total wimp in front of my boss – an eco-warrior in her own right. So, I swallowed my fear and prepared for the worst.
Thank God.
When I walked into the Pinery lobby, the sound of women’s energetic voices immediately enveloped me. And instead of feeling overwhelmed, as I had convinced myself for an hour in the car that I would, it was instantly comforting. Before I got five steps into the reception, another colleague from CSU hurried over to me and gave me a big, welcoming hug. She’d been coming to this event for years. I don’t know if she saw the trepidation in my eyes or if she is just naturally a nurturing soul (probably both), but she immediately acted as a sort of guide, introducing me to folks she knew and generally acting as a home base for me to launch from and retreat to throughout the evening. It was wonderful. I met new people with an ease that rarely happens in networking spaces because we all had at least two things in common – a shared context.
The evening’s main event, a conversation between three women who are shaping the future of Colorado in their respective industries featured Anne Castle, who is a Senior Fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School; Dawn DiPrince, the Executive Director of History Colorado and the State Historic Society; and Jackie Miller, the Executive Director of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO).
In front of a sold-out crowd, these three powerhouse women shared their visions, hopes, and concerns for our future. Here are a few quotes (some of which are paraphrased, drawing from my memory) that have stayed with me since the event.
“So, why women in conservation? I think we all know, there is nothing more powerful than a room full of women (and a few men) who are motivated to get stuff done. We also know that we face gender inequality. And that until a time when we are equally recognized, supported, and celebrated, it is important that we illuminate the powerful leadership and impact that women have in conservation and beyond. Our health and future very much depend on it.”
– Rebecca Jewett, President and CEO of Palmer Land Conservancy
“My superpower is that I try to live a very love-based life and I think I’m a pretty authentic human being.”
– Jackie Miller
“Water is not only a finite resource, it is shrinking…. Water is a basic human right, that not all humans have, by the way. We can’t continue to use water in the west, in Colorado, in the way that we have historically. And what that means for us is that our cities are going to look different. They aren’t going to have as much wide-open green space, there is going to be more zero-scaping. We are going to look more like Santa Fe, which would be fine, it’s a good way to live in a desert environment.”
– Anne Castle
“So many of our communities are experiencing the tension between conservation and recreation – knowing that increased use and the effects of climate change are putting extra pressure on our natural resources. People are wanting to recreate in record numbers, which is fabulous. Nature makes us healthier and happier. But how are we going to continue to protect the resource to ensure that the Colorado that we all know and love continues to thrive on a landscape level? Progress moves at the speed of trust. We need to build trust with one another so that we can work towards common solutions.”
– Jackie Miller
“One of the things that keeps me up at night is a concern about tribal communities and whether at the end of the day, we will do the right thing by the tribes. And we haven’t yet.”
– Anne Castle
“Hope isn’t something that happens to us. Hope is something that we make.”
– Dawn DiPrince
This last quote from Dawn has been coming back to me over and over – and encompasses what the event was all about – women gathering together to inspire, learn, and lift up each other as leaders in our communities even, and perhaps especially, when we feel like we don’t always belong.
I’m excited to be on this team, with these women, and for the opportunity to confront these issues and dream of a better future. And I can’t wait to see how I feel when I am driving to the TENACITY: Women in Conservation Conference next year.
