BY SCOTT HADDOW
Wild Northerner staff
Sarah Woods still loves getting her hands dirty in the name of discovery.
Woods works as the coordinator/research manager for the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee. Her job keeps her moving and working in a lot of different capacities and environments and with many different people.
One day Woods can be educating youth in a school about turtles, and the next she could be on a creek tracking down fish.
She grew up as a farm girl in Wahnapitae. Woods got outside as much as she could and explored the land and water ways near her home. This natural passion for discovery never left her and is a primary source of drive for Woods in work and life.
“I was always outdoors as a kid,” Woods said. “I grew up in the bush catching water bugs and hiking through the forest and being close to nature as much as I could. It is a big part of me. I get to do a job that keeps me outdoors in an urban environment. I’ve gained so much in life by having access to nature. I am lucky. I want to give it back to others.”
Woods has been with the JCSC since 2008. Prior, Woods did her undergraduate at Laurentian University in wildlife and habitat ecology and Masters degree at McGill University. She did a study of red squirrels in winter, spending two seasons in the Yukon. Woods landed a contract with JCSC to do a fish survey in 2008. When the contract was over, Woods came on board permanently.
A career on the creek