Rocky Mountain Youth Corps debuts its all-woman chainsaw crew.
Don’t be surprised if you see a gaggle of girls wielding chainsaws as part of Colorado’s wildfire mitigation efforts this summer. Steamboat Springs’ Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC) is fielding an all-woman chainsaw crew, firing up their blades for fire-suppression work throughout Northwest Colorado. “It’s unique to have such a team,” says Chris Green, assistant fire management officer for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. “It’s a pretty male-dominated profession, so whenever we can increase diversity it’s pretty special.” As for the workload, he adds, there’s no favoritism. “They’re all out there doing the same job, which can be pretty hard—the women’s crew is no different from any other.” And the camaraderie is probably even better. “There’s a special dynamic when it’s all women, we feel really comfortable around each other,” says last year’s inaugural crew leader Taylor Roe. “It’s empowering and a super badass team. We’re a saw crew just like anyone else, but even better.” As for any potential discrimination issues, program manager Ashley Roscoe says it comes with the territory and you have to see the forest for the trees. “The women just shrug it off and get to work,” she says, adding they had way more applicants than they could fill this year. “They’ve faced a little discrimination in the field, but it just fuels their fire to work even harder.” —Eugene Buchanan
Cover Photo courtesy Steamboat RMYC.
