Women In Conservation: Exploring French Creek and Marsh Creek State Parks with Kate Gundersen-Thorpe, Kim Keller

“We don’t want anyone to ever feel like they’re on an island. We don’t feel like we are!”

Our host, Marci Mowery, sits down with Kate Gundersen-Thorpe, manager of French Creek State Park, and Kim Keller, manager of Marsh Creek State Park, to discuss the third annual Women in the Big Woods retreat and the winding paths that led them both into park management.

Neither planned on a conservation career. Kate discovered it through a college internship after growing up camping in New Jersey, where state parks are scarce, while Kim abandoned a research-science track after hating her first lab job and found her footing at a regional DCNR office instead.

Kate and Kim offer a candid look at what it means to work as women in a still male-dominated field. Both describe deliberately mentoring newcomers, defending each other’s reputations, and building an informal support network that they wish they’d had starting out.

Along the way, they give a little tour of both parks. French Creek’s CCC-built cabins, 40 miles of trail, and new glamping sites; Marsh Creek’s freshly dedicated, ADA-accessible visitor center, replacing a converted residence after 52 years, plus its horse-boarding concessionaire.

They round out the conversation by discussing practical notes on Sunday hunting rules, as well as the Bark Ranger leash program.

Key Topics:

About Women in the Big Woods (07:47)
Touring French Creek: CCC History, Trails, and Glamping (11:07)
Marsh Creek: From Drinking-Water Reservoir to a New Visitor Center (17:24)
Mentorship in a Male-Dominated Field (23:17)
Start Small: Gear Swaps and Backyard Camping (27:55)
Bark Rangers and the BARK Principles (29:36)
Navigating Hunting Season on Two Different Parks (31:12)
From Intern to Manager: The DCNR Career Ladder (35:09)
Tree Complaints and Feral Raccoons (42:13)

Resources:

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The Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation inspires stewardship of YOUR state parks and forests through volunteerism, education, recreation, and philanthropy.

Women In Conservation: Exploring French Creek and Marsh Creek State Parks with Kate Gundersen-Thorpe, Kim Keller

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Women In Conservation: Exploring French Creek and Marsh Creek State Parks with Kate Gundersen-Thorpe, Kim Keller