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.

MISSISSIPPI—Meet Dr. Iris Montague, research forester at the Northern Research Station. Montague began her career with the Forest Service as a student forester trainee through the 1890 Scholars Program. After earning her bachelor’s degree in forestry management in 1998 at Alabama A&M University, she began working as a research forester in Princeton, West Virginia, while continuing to graduate school. She secured a permanent post with the Forest Service in 2000, focusing on forest products, economics and marketing. Montague earned her doctorate in 2009 from the University of Georgia. A wood products expert, she has worked over the years on wood product output and numerous other aspects of the industry.

As a Black woman who had no idea what forestry was until her mother convinced her to fill out the 1890 Scholars application, Montague has long been interested in forestry’s human dimensions. “I’ve kind of gotten a passion to figure out how we can market ourselves better, how we can tell our story a little bit better,” she says.

Part of that work lies in trying to broaden the diversity of the forestry and forest products industry.  In recent years, Montague has turned her focus and passion toward researching the millennial generation’s relationships with forest products. Always, her aim is to increase awareness. “When there is a lack of information, it really is a detriment to the industry, to the Forest Service,” she observes. To that end, Montague often partners with universities to get important work done. She hosts students at the research station to give them an idea of what Forest Service research is like, and co-authors papers with graduate students as well.

The Forest Service, Montague notes, has changed substantially since she first took the oath of service in front of Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy. The same applies to the profession of forestry more broadly. “When I started forestry in undergrad, I believe I was one of the first five to 10 forestry female students in the program,” she observes. The same dynamic prevailed when Montague began working for the Forest Service, with the added wrinkle that more women at that time worked in administration or support positions than leadership roles. The agency is “still not where I would like it to be in 2022,” Montague says, “but I like that there are changes being made.” 

Looking back on 26 years with the agency, Montague recalls the mentors who helped her get where she is today. First in her mind are her parents, who encouraged her not only to succeed in the Forest Service, but to pursue her education as well. She feels similarly about Bruce Hansen, her first supervisor. Hansen made her feel welcome at a strange duty station far from home, encouraged her interests, and pushed her to get her doctorate. “Really, if it had not been for him, I would not be here today,” Montague recalls.

Jan Wiedenbeck, another supervisor, helped her progress as a scientist, and Sheree Johnson “was just instrumental in helping me as a Black female, in an area where there wasn’t a lot of me.”