This story is part of a series highlighting the contributions women have made to the Forest Service. If you’d like to nominate someone to be featured in a HerStory piece, please contact Patricia Burel.

NEW MEXICO – Meet Jen Hickman, Forest soil scientist on the Lincoln National Forest. A graduate of New Mexico State, Jen worked in nonprofit environmental organizations before taking her first position with the Forest Service. She began her agency career while still a student, through the Student Career Experience Program, and participated in projects on the Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto National Forests. Her first full time position was also on the Apache-Sitgreaves, as a soil scientist, in 2005. HNickman spent five years on the Apache-Sitgreaves before moving to the Lincoln National Forest in neighboring New Mexico, where she has remained.

“Being in the outdoors is the opportunity that I enjoy most,” Hickman says. And her career reflects that interest. Hickman prefers to work in the field to develop data and guide management decisions. While on the Apache-Sitgreaves she was closely involved with the White Mountain Stewardship Project. She also ran the Soil Disturbance Monitoring Program. Although her career path has trended toward more office work, Hickman has stayed active in forest projects. Always involved in post-fire recovery, she also serves in a suppression role as a resources advisor.

“There’s opportunities here. You just have to be willing to step out.”

Though she has only served with the agency for a little over fifteen years, Hickman notes a change in agency demographics and emphases. She recalls few women in soil science roles when she first began work with the Forest Service, a number that has increased over the intervening years. Likewise Hickman notes an increased willingness on the agency’s part to grapple with tougher issues including safety and harassment. In her activities with fire, Hickman feels that the presence of other women in fire may have smoothed her way.

One thing dear to Hickman’s heart is tribal outreach. An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, she is an advocate for tribal youth’s future in land management agencies. She recently helped facilitate a week-long natural resource camp, held on Mescalero Apache Tribe lands adjacent to the Lincoln National Forest, aimed at increasing interest in careers in land management. “We’re hoping,” she says, “that we can show a lot of the tribal youth that there is opportunity in the Forest Service.”

Read and listen to Jen Hickman’s full interview at the National Forest Service Library.