You Belong Here

By Mar Steibel, Iowa Rivers Field Crew Leader

It’s day seven of eight of one of the most brutal hitches I ever had during my time in Arizona. We were working on a section of the Maricopa Trail, northeast of Phoenix, we hadn’t had service in the last six days, temperatures at night were below 15 degrees, it snowed, hailed, sleeted, and rained on us all in one day, and the only space we had to take a break from the wind was in our overly patched-up tents. Today was different though, the sun was shining, the wind had died down, the ground wasn’t frozen solid, and it was a perfect 55 degrees. As a Michigan girlie life couldn’t get better than that!

My friend Emma and I were working on a drain along a ridgeline when suddenly she receives a silly cute text from a boy she had been talking to. With much excitement we both read the text and break out in giggles and screams as we jump and dance around the drain, a ritual well known to woman as “frolicking”. You could hear our excitement bouncing off of the mountains around us filling the valley with pure happiness, so much so that our crew lead peeked over at us from the top of the ridge in confusion. I’ve been thinking about that moment a lot recently.

March is Woman’s History Month and I want to offer some hope and validation for the women and queer folk in natural resources. Moving to Iowa was NOT my first choice, but I have found such a strong sense of community amongst the women and queer people here it makes it hard to leave. Like most fields’ conservation is male dominated and it can be daunting feeling like your softness and femininity won’t be accepted. Myself and a few other women and queer members attended Iowa Women in Natural Resources Conference (IWINR) this last month, and I came back with a sense of belonging, support, and validation I had been longing for. Listening to women share their research and involvement in their communities while also being vulnerable about their struggles within conservation reminded me of how essential we are to this field. They made it a point to begin including members of the LGBTQIA+ community in their youth programs and are actively working on creating a more inclusive space for everyone.

Queer folk, specifically trans women, have been at the forefront of women’s history and it’s vital we create a space we can all grow together. Women spaces are queer spaces and there’s nothing queerer than nature. When I started my journey in conservation, I thought I was doing this for the earth, now I realize that it’s the strong sense of community and care that women and queer people have for nature. To all the women in natural resources I’m eternally grateful for you.

You belong here.