June Wood was born in Winnipeg but moved with her family to Vanderhoof, BC, in 1953, when she was eight years old. Her father, Bert Irvine, bought a trapline and guiding territory southwest of Vanderhoof on the Nechako River, and it was there that June developed her deep bond with the river and with nature in its entirety. June and her husband of over 40 years, Denis, lived in the northern BC communities of Smithers and Quesnel before moving back to the Upper Nechako country, where they run a small nature-based tourism operation.