Female foresters few and far apart.

Since 1996, Shelley Vescio has been the consulting city forester for the City of Thunder Bay, and one of only a handful of professional female city foresters in Canada.

One of Vescio's main responsibilities is the development of an urban forestry management program.

"I'm charting the course for the program, looking at how we'll be managing and checking trees in the city," Vescio says.

In addition to her management role, Vescio is also called upon to act as the city's arborist, checking trees that city residents are concerned about.

When Vescio wears her arborist hat, she responds to calls from city residents who want information about trees on their property by assessing the health of the tree and its structural stability and deciding what treatment is necessary.

Vescio has also developed tree protection standards to be applied to trees during construction.

Vescio also looks at how trees affect other city departments, such as water, sewage and road development.

"I'm trying to assess the conflict that trees present to (the different city departments) to develop standards that allow them to do their jobs while protecting the trees," Vescio says.

In 1980 Vescio graduated from Lakehead University with a diploma in forest technology. She then attended the University of New Brunswick, earning a bachelor of science degree in forestry in 1985. Later, Vescio received both a master of science in forestry and a bachelor of education from Lakehead University.

Although she did not remain a teacher, Vescio says her teaching education has been an invaluable asset in the work she now does for the city.

"I do a lot of presentations, and my bachelor of education has given me more confidence," Vescio says.

But there are some situations even teacher's college can't prepare one for, she adds.

There have been times when she has made a presentation and watched as members of the audience tilted their seats back, placed their ball caps over their eyes and dozed off to sleep. The sleeping audience, though, is easier to handle than angry outbursts, she says.

"(The attendees at some presentation) have been mad about trees or union management," Vescio says. "I used to take quite a lot of the abuse. I thought I had to, but from going outside the city (and observing other similar situations), I know I don't have to. People should treat you with respect."

Typically, the forest industry still remains a predominantly-male industry, she says. But being surrounded by men is nothing new to Vescio, and was never an issue in university.

When Vescio studied forestry in the early 1980s, most of her professors and fellow students were male, but she says being one of the few women in the program never posed a problem.

She says her love of trees convinced her forestry was the right career path.

After nearly 20 years in forestry, Vescio is encouraged to see more women joining the ranks. But she says the number of female city foresters in Canada can be counted on one hand.

"They're in the ranks, just not at the top. It's going to take time because it's a new industry. Eventually we'll see matching numbers."

With a wide range of jobs available in forestry - in science, genetics, fire prevention and urban forestry - Vescio is surprised more women aren't in the field.

"It's not one of the highest paying jobs, but people in forestry are passionate about trees," she says. "You don't do it for the money." Like so many other careers where women are under-represented, the road to a forestry career is blocked for individuals without high school math and science credits.

Vescio can empathize with teenage girls who drop math and science in high school. Surrounded by the common stereotype that math and science were for boys, not for girls, Vescio herself gave up on both subjects in Grade 10. But her determination to fulfill her dream of working with trees brought her back to school to earn the credit at the age of 22.

One of the biggest hurdles Vescio now faces as a female city forester is communicating effectively with her mostly-male colleagues.

With men comprising about 96 per cent of her colleagues, Vescio is starting to believe the saying that women are from Venus and men from Mars holds much truth.

"I'm becoming more aware of (the differences in men and women) as I get older," Vescio says.

As a teacher, a manager and a consulting forester, Vescio often has to communicate with men in all levels of the hierarchy. At times, she senses a lack of respect from a select few of the men, she adds.

Some co-workers have advised Vescio to yell or act tough, but she says she doesn't feel she should have to compromise her personality in order to gain the respect of male co-workers.

"I can't act like a man and puff out my chest," Vescio says.

But until Vescio and her "Martian" co-workers achieve a healthier understanding, laughter is proving to be good medicine, she says.

"I laugh a lot at myself and the situations," Vescio says. "That way, I don't die of a coronary (attack)."