The National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) designated this year’s Women’s History Month theme as “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations.” According to NWHA, “throughout history, the process of information sharing has been a powerful catalyst for change. An honest, open examination of new insights and knowledge can create a framework for collaboration. This, in turn, promotes the well-being of groups, businesses, communities, and society as a whole.”
Here, at DEC, our goal is to ensure women of all backgrounds are able to successfully contribute and gain from the sharing of knowledge, from Central Office to the great outdoors. DEC provides several educational opportunities, including our ongoing partnership with Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW)—a valuable and successful mentoring initiative that offers programs that teach women outdoor skills in a fun, enriching, and supportive environment. Each year, BOW programs provide women with information, encouragement, and hands-on instruction in outdoor skills such as fishing, shooting, archery, hunting, trapping, outdoor photography, map and compass, survival, camping, canoeing, and outdoor cooking.
Many BOW workshops are offered over the course of a three-day weekend. In 2024 alone, 216 women ages 12 to 79 from New York and neighboring states participated in DEC’s BOW programs, with ongoing demand far exceeding capacity.
The experiences BOW program participants take away can be life-changing, including creating new confidence from skills learned with the help of volunteers and DEC subject matter experts, most of whom are women. The leaders who help these programs succeed come from many walks of life and are enthusiastic to share their insights and experiences, whether they come from long-time hunting and angling families, or blazed their own path to find joy in historically male-dominated pastimes.
As we reflect on this year’s theme and how it applies to the mission of DEC, we would like to showcase BOW staff and volunteers who dedicate their time and resources to share knowledge and skills. In honor of Women’s History Month and all that you do to educate, elevate, and encourage each other, we see you, we honor you, and we are here for you.
Katrina Talbot – NY BOW Coordinator, BOW instructor and Hunter Education Instructor
Coordinating the NY BOW program provides the opportunity to see the direct impact you are making on a person’s life and how that impact can drive them to make an impact on the environment.
I recently received the following message from a BOW alum, who attended several workshops with her daughter: “[My daughter] has now decided to go for a degree in wildlife management at Cobleskill, 100 percent inspired by her experiences with you and the wonderful crew of BOW instructors. [She] is currently in her first year… and is absolutely loving her classes.”
After hosting our first group of veterans at a BOW Workshop, I received a thank you card. “After a lifetime of being terrified of water and never being able to participate in water sports or activities with my family, I am now going out to purchase my own stand-up paddleboard! BOW has set me free!”
I love that BOW enables women to step out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves and their ideas of what they can do. So many women in New York have been inspired by this program to take up fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, and countless other outdoor and nature-based activities.
Kelly Stang – Former NY BOW Coordinator, BOW instructor
I love teaching women at a BOW workshop because it changes lives. Women gain confidence, learn new skills, achieve goals, and find new friends with similar interests. BOW participants have gone on to do things they never thought they could, such as hiking the Appalachian Trail, harvesting their first deer, and taking their children camping for the first time.
