Ryann Harrington grew up in farm country, a wide expanse of dirt and sky known for growing apples, cherries, onions, potatoes and wine grapes.
She considered attending college for an agricultural-related degree. It simply made sense.
But, when she traveled halfway across the U.S. to a farm expo as a teenager, she was recruited to U of I’s forestry program instead.
Harrington, who graduates in May with degrees in forestry and wildfire ecology, is this year’s student president of the Society of American Foresters club and a student ambassador who travels to recruit students to U of I’s College of Natural Resources.
“It’s definitely full circle for me,” she said.
Harrington spent her foundational years in central Washington, a region dominated by agriculture and was familiar with growing and manufacturing crops. She had no experience working in the woods — which from her home in Quincy, Washington, seemed far away.
“I really didn’t know anything about forestry,” Harrington said.
She knew a little about fires, having seen plumes of wildfire smoke billowing on the western horizon over the Okanagan National Forest, but it wasn’t until she attended a high school trip to the National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis that the notion of earning a forestry degree presented itself.
“There were recruiters there from U of I who urged me to consider attending the College of Natural Resources,” she said. “They provided me with a new perspective.”
The idea of working in a mountainous forest with the sky overhead, instead of from head to toe, appealed to her.
After spending four years in Moscow as a Vandal, working on fire management and harvesting sites, inventorying and mapping trees, volunteering as a fire dispatcher and completing an internship with the Idaho Department of Lands — which manages more than two million forested acres in the Gem State — Harrington landed a seasonal job with the Idaho Dept. of Lands after graduation.
She has the mindset of a forester.
Randall Brooks
Professor and Extension Specialist in Forestry
After her initiation in the forestry job market, she hopes to land a fulltime position with a forest agency.
Mentor Randy Brooks, the extension forestry and fire educator at University of Idaho Extension, credits Harrington with possessing the leadership and field skills that are sought after in the industry.
“She has the mindset of a forester,” Brooks said. “She thinks long term. She understands stewardship. And she recognizes that managing forests means balancing ecology, economics and community.”
Her education at U of I not only provided Harrington with academic and hands-on forestry skills such as mapping timber sales, collecting forest inventory and learning how fuels, fire and environmental factors interact, it also taught her to lead.
“She leads with confidence and not with her ego,” Brooks said. “I’ve watched her organize field trips, coordinate service projects and intentionally make space for first year students who might otherwise feel intimidated. She doesn’t just run meetings, she builds community.”
That kind of leadership matters in forestry, where collaboration and trust are essential, Brooks said.
Harrington, whose brother is an Eagle Scout and wildland firefighter in Coeur d’Alene, said she became interested in leadership while attending Scout camps with her brother and dad, a volunteer and Eagle Scout as well.
“I was around a lot of Scout camps and learned a lot of Scout stuff,” she said.
Harrington’s decision to enroll at U of I’s College of Natural Resources and earn a forestry and fire ecology degree was one of the best decisions she’s made, she said. Forestry fits her demeanor — and attire.
“We wear sweatshirts and jeans and sometimes caulked boots when it’s wet and muddy,” she said. “I just love being outside, being in the woods, hiking around with my tools and equipment and just getting the job done. I didn’t know early on there was a career path like that but U of I helped me find it.”