By Denise Merle
Senior Vice President and Chief Administration Officer
Last month, I had the great honor of speaking at the inaugural Women’s Forest Congress in Minneapolis. Organized over three days, the congress drew close to 500 people, mostly women, from across the forest sector to share perspectives and develop strategies and solutions to address some of the most pressing challenges for forests — and also the vital role of women in addressing them.
When I first learned of the idea for the Women’s Forest Congress in early 2020, I knew Weyerhaeuser belonged in a leading role. This event was designed to build on the original American Forest Congresses, which were incredibly influential for our company and industry. President Teddy Roosevelt gave the keynote at the 1905 Second American Forest Congress — the same gathering where Frederick Weyerhaeuser’s son also spoke — and those early congresses charted new directions for forest management and helped shape key policies and investment. They also showed that collaboration, especially across traditionally opposing views of forest management and use, is challenging but essential for everyone’s success.
We saw the first Women’s Forest Congress as a similarly powerful opportunity to convene perspectives about the future of forests and forest management from across our sector — industry, agency, nonprofit and academic, among many others — and to elevate women’s voices and representation in these conversations.
Advancing women in forestry has been very important to me throughout my career. Many of you know I grew up in the forest products industry. My father was an independent log truck driver for 45 years, and I spent many weekends with him, mainly watching, but sometimes helping him do maintenance on his truck. I fondly remember family rides in our big Buick station wagon on steep logging roads in the Pacific Northwest that terrified my mom (but the views at the end were always worth it).
Back then, I never imagined I would also be part of this industry, yet I’ve now been with Weyerhaeuser for more than 41 years. That’s four decades of watching and being part of dramatic changes in our industry, and I often reflect back on my own first days with Weyerhaeuser in 1981.
Like many women, I was often the only one in the room. I soaked up every opportunity to have a seat at the table, learning and contributing as much as I could, and eventually helping shift that room dynamic to provide opportunities for many others. I was fortunate to have great mentors to lean on and support me during my career. Yet through all of my own growth and success, there has been a simple and stubborn truth for why this first Women’s Forest Congress was so important: There are still not enough women in leadership positions in the forest and forest products sector. And we need to change that.
This isn’t about replacing or excluding men or anyone else. There’s room for all voices, and we simply need more women at the table. We need more women in positions of leadership and influence, helping support and lift each other up, and providing ideas and perspectives on every decision affecting our sector, our workplaces and the forests we care for or manage.
At Weyerhaeuser, what we’ve gained through our increased focus on inclusion is unequivocal. When you have more people around the table — not just women but diverse people of all backgrounds — and when you engage and trust those voices, you end up with better solutions. You get better outcomes. More innovation. More pride and progress and satisfaction from everyone involved.
That’s just at the scale of a single company. Across our entire sector, we need new ways of thinking, diverse ways of thinking, broad-scale collaboration and innovation like we’ve never seen before. We need to make certain we are addressing vital questions of access and ensuring that we hear, value and incorporate all relevant perspectives on key issues. Our ultimate success will depend on how well we can come together and partner to ensure a sustainable future for our working forests and all the essential products and resources that come from them.
I know that’s a challenge that occupies many of us every day, and it’s a big reason why this Women’s Forest Congress felt so special. I can hardly describe the positive energy and optimism I felt there. It was incredible. We had more than 35 women from Weyerhaeuser taking part — including Katie Cava and Marla Chappell who brought their 4-month-old babies! — and you could feel the shared sense of focus and urgency and willingness to engage from everyone there. People were open to new and different ideas and eager to consider wide-ranging solutions to critical issues, from advancing leadership for equity and inclusion, workforce opportunities for increasing recruitment, retention and advancement, and how women can act as catalysts for change.
One of the goals of the congress, after all, was to generate actionable resolutions that inspire not just the forest and forest products sector, but everyone with an interest in forests — and everyone, really, with an interest in the responsible management of the most critical natural resources on our planet. I encourage you to read all of the declarations and resolutions, but one thing that especially struck me was the clear recognition that sustainable forest management does play a critical role in the well-being of our society and our planet.
We still have work to do to foster and build systems and approaches that allow this role to fully thrive and be recognized by more people beyond our sector, but I know we will get there. And I can tell you that as a company and workforce we are committed to engaging and helping execute on the resolutions and ideas that came out of this congress. We are going to put resources and people behind it to make sure we succeed in this mission — and that we continue adapting and evolving and earning the trust of all our stakeholders and communities.
For me personally, I sure wish my dad could have seen this inaugural Women’s Forest Congress. He passed away five years ago, but he was so proud of not only me but of the industry and how far it has come since he started in 1948. I know he would have been as inspired as I was to be among so many passionate women — dedicated professionals working in and for forests, all determined to make sure we steward and protect these resources for generations to come. It was a truly memorable experience and a worthy successor to those first American Forest Congresses, and I want to thank everyone who helped organize and took part in helping shape the future of our company, industry and sector.
