02 NOVEMBER 2025 | GOLD HILL, OR. -- Our long-awaited Women’s Chainsaw Course took place this weekend, and was a great success. The first day of the program began at Siskiyou Mountain Club’s facility in Gold Hill, OR, where participants were introduced to the tools and procedures in a classroom setting.
The following day was a field training session hosted on the South Fork Rogue River Trail. Here, program managers Karly White and Trevor Meyer, joined by volunteer Alex Relph, mentored three groups of budding sawyers as they bucked fallen logs. Crew leader Tiffani Ayres offered additional teaching support.
Participants had a mix of prior knowledge. Some had never even started a chainsaw before, whereas others had a lifetime of informal cutting experience, and even owned a few saws themselves. One of these more experienced participants was Annette Batzer.
She had used chainsaws in the past, but wanted to take the class to learn trail-specific techniques, reinforce her safety protocols, and understand the mechanics of the tool more deeply. In the classroom session, participants were taught how to take apart their saws and clean them, and this gave Annette the confidence she needed to take apart her own saws back home.
“Outdoor recreation and manual labor in particular is very male-dominated,” says program manager Karly White. “Especially when you’re just trying to learn and use a tool that’s incredibly intimidating. So many of the women I talked to said they wouldn’t have the confidence to do this if it weren’t all female. It can feel really good when you’re just surrounded by a group of women who are there to support [you] … quash fears.”
At one point during the field session, White says she looked up and suddenly realized, “I had never seen this many ladies doing trail work at once before.”
Siskiyou Mountain Club staff use the Forest Service program “Developing Thinking Sawyers” as a basis for their training curriculum. It emphasizes self-awareness, especially when physical and mental fatigue can get in the way of performing the job safely.
“They really took it to heart,” White recalls. “Twice during the day, people picked up the tool, approached the log, and said, ‘not right now, I’m going to pass off my turn. I’m not in the right headspace.’ I thought that awareness was really cool.”
While this intensive, two-day course is a great starting point for beginners, it hopefully doesn’t spell the end for their time with a chainsaw. “This training is really just a first step … hopefully they’ll be able to join us on more trips in the future,” White says. “There’s only so much you can learn in a weekend.”
The course was capped at 12 participants, and proved incredibly popular. It filled within the first 72 hours of open registration and had a waitlist of 30 people. Noting this high demand, program manager Trevor Meyer has plans to organize another weekend of women’s-only chainsaw training on Mother’s Day weekend of 2026.
Reach out to trevor@siskiyoumoutainclub.org with any questions or to get your name on the sign-up list.
Want to get involved with other courses and volunteer trips we have on offer? Head to our calendar now, and start planning ahead for 2026.