About our guest author: Melody Starya Mobley’s experiences as the first black woman serving as a forester for the USDA are remarkable: both for the firsts she embodies and for the years of abuse and oppression she experienced within that system.
Now, Melody shares her personal stories to create positive change for groups historically excluded from accessing American natural spaces.
With the few federal protections that exist currently being stripped away, it’s more important than ever for stories like these to be told. Learn more about Melody and watch her documentary The Dark White Forest on her website at starya.org.
Image credit: Kirth Bobb
The rural reality
USDA Forest Service foresters are often stationed in very rural communities, where it can be challenging to regularly visit more densely populated areas.
I was placed in Mt. Hebron, California, a town of only 100 people; and Skykomish, Washington, a town of barely 200 people. During my time in these isolated places, I developed clinical depression.
Seven ways my needs weren’t met
Here are some of the ways my critical needs weren’t met:
1 – Monotony
Foresters often face repetitive tasks, especially when they first begin their career. Planting hundreds of tree seedlings every day for several weeks can test anyone with boredom.
2 – Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Complaint Recovery
After filing (and hopefully settling) an EEO complaint, the word usually gets out that you are a troublemaker even though the law says all aspects of the complaint will be anonymous. Retaliation from supervisors and colleagues is often brutal: they treat you differently, IF they interact with you at all. Friends are lost. Social isolation increases and interactions wane.
3 – Isolation from Friends and Family
This is especially hard on people of color that then lose a sense of community. In tiny towns where you are the only or one of few people of color, your activities are imagined to be obvious.
When I was stationed in Eustis, Florida, a married African American colleague often came over to my house to play card games. I was friends with his family and went to Disney World with his wife and son. My district ranger saw my colleague’s vehicle parked at my house, called me into his office, and accused me of inappropriate behavior with a colleague and warned me to quit having my colleague over, furthering my feelings of isolation.
4 – Lack of Anonymity
Everyone needs privacy. When I was stationed in Skykomish and Mt. Hebron, there were no other African Americans in town, except for an Indigenous person or two. Everyone knows who you are, where you go, and, they suppose, what you are doing with whom. It can be excruciatingly painful to be subject to countless rumors and innuendos.
5 – Transportation Issues
I didn’t have a vehicle when I began my career in Skykomish. Even if I’d had reliable transportation, everything I needed (like a church of my denomination, a grocery store, somewhere to get my hair done, entertainment, etc.) was at least 20 miles away. Usually, it was 70 miles away in Seattle.
6 – Cultural Differences
People of color in small towns often struggle to get their needs met, and to find ways to interact with people who look like you or participate in shared cultural activities. Certain foods (Kosher, for example) are not readily available. You cannot wear certain attire (African, for example) without being ridiculed.
7 – Healthcare needs
There is rarely a specialist, or even a qualified doctor, in tiny towns. When I was sexually assaulted in 1978, there was no doctor to treat me nor a mental health professional to help me get through it.
A call for change
All these issues can negatively affect one’s mental health, especially when two or more issues exist together.
Over 25 years ago, the USDA Forest Service completed a booklet called “Towards A Multicultural Organization” that addressed many of these issues, but it was never fully implemented. (You can also review the findings from a study done about that period.) Planning without implementation is a waste of resources and leads to a whole faction of employees feeling hopeless.
Something must change if we truly want diverse organizations with the best and brightest of all people contributing to the resolution of today’s complex natural resource conservation issues.
Stay tuned for my next blog series sharing practical tips for how to address many of these mental health needs.
Missed part 1 of Melody’s mental health for foresters series? Read it here.
Read more of Melody’s writings
on the American Green blog.