Forest Worker Spotlight: Raven Lawson

Just because your office isn't in the woods doesn't mean you can't have an impact on the forest industry. See how Raven Lawson in Arkansas explains how her job is dependent on healthy forests.

Meet Raven Lawson, Central Arkansas Water’s Watershed Protection Manager. “Clean water is one of our most important forest products," Raven says. "When our forests are healthy, intact, and properly managed, they provide us with our first line of defense when it comes to water filtration. This makes the rest of the treatment and distribution process easier and cheaper.”

Raven is an Arkansas native who grew up exploring the Ozark mountains and their vast waterways. She earned a B.S in Biology with a Botany emphasis from Arkansas State University while working in the aquatic ecology lab at the university and as a seasonal Fire Effects Monitor for the National Parks System. She then made her way to Clemson University and eventually Texas Tech, studying Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology and Natural Resources Management, respectively. Today, she has almost 20 years of experience working in the different ecological aspects that led to her position as a natural resource manager and says that her current role of bridging #foreststofaucets is the most rewarding.

“Forests are really the unsung heroes in the drinking water world, and more attention needs to be placed on how these two things, forests and water, correlate,” she adds. Raven describes her role as a forest product worker as being forestry adjacent, but she and her team are active forest managers who practice prescribed fire, timber thinning, and forest monitoring, all in the name of water quality. 

To find out more about careers in the forest industry, click here #ForestryWorks #ArkansasForestryWorks