Forester Manage public and private forested lands for economic, recreational, and conservation purposes. May inventory the type, amount, and location of standing timber, appraise the timber's worth, negotiate the purchase, and draw up contracts for procurement. May determine how to conserve wildlife habitats, creek beds, water quality, and soil stability, and how best to comply with environmental regulations. May devise plans for planting and growing new trees, monitor trees for healthy growth, and determine optimal harvesting schedules.
Forester is Also Know as
In different settings, Forester is titled as
- Area Forester
- District Forester
- Fire Prevention Forester
- Forest Practices Field Coordinator
- Forester
- Procurement Forester
- Service Forester
- Silviculturist
- Timber Marker
- Timber Sales Administrator (Timber Sales Admin)
Education and Training of Forester
Forester is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Forester
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Forester
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Forester
- Bachelor in Natural Resources/Conservation, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Natural Resources/Conservation, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Natural Resources/Conservation, General
- Bachelor in Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Pol
- Associate Degree Courses in Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Pol
- Masters Degree Courses in Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Pol
- Bachelor in Forestry, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Forestry, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Forestry, General
- Bachelor in Forest Sciences and Biology
- Associate Degree Courses in Forest Sciences and Biology
- Masters Degree Courses in Forest Sciences and Biology
- Bachelor in Forest Management/Forest Resources Management
- Associate Degree Courses in Forest Management/Forest Resources Management
- Masters Degree Courses in Forest Management/Forest Resources Management
- Bachelor in Urban Forestry
- Associate Degree Courses in Urban Forestry
- Masters Degree Courses in Urban Forestry
Training Required for Forester
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Forester in different industries are
- Forest and Conservation Technicians
- Range Managers
- Environmental Restoration Planners
- Conservation Scientists
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
- Industrial Ecologists
- Soil and Plant Scientists
- Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists
- Forest and Conservation Workers
- Brownfield Redevelopment Specialists and Site Managers
- Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
- First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers
- Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
- Fallers
- Water Resource Specialists
- Chief Sustainability Officers
- Precision Agriculture Technicians
- Hydrologists
- Agricultural Engineers
- Environmental Engineers
What Do Forester do?
- Monitor contract compliance and results of forestry activities to assure adherence to government regulations.
- Establish short- and long-term plans for management of forest lands and forest resources.
- Supervise activities of other forestry workers.
- Choose and prepare sites for new trees, using controlled burning, bulldozers, or herbicides to clear weeds, brush, and logging debris.
- Plan and supervise forestry projects, such as determining the type, number and placement of trees to be planted, managing tree nurseries, thinning forest and monitoring growth of new seedlings.
- Negotiate terms and conditions of agreements and contracts for forest harvesting, forest management and leasing of forest lands.
- Direct, and participate in, forest fire suppression.
- Determine methods of cutting and removing timber with minimum waste and environmental damage.
- Analyze effect of forest conditions on tree growth rates and tree species prevalence and the yield, duration, seed production, growth viability, and germination of different species.
- Monitor forest-cleared lands to ensure that they are reclaimed to their most suitable end use.
- Plan and implement projects for conservation of wildlife habitats and soil and water quality.
- Plan and direct forest surveys and related studies and prepare reports and recommendations.
- Perform inspections of forests or forest nurseries.
- Map forest area soils and vegetation to estimate the amount of standing timber and future value and growth.
- Conduct public educational programs on forest care and conservation.
- Procure timber from private landowners.
- Subcontract with loggers or pulpwood cutters for tree removal and to aid in road layout.
- Plan cutting programs and manage timber sales from harvested areas, assisting companies to achieve production goals.
- Monitor wildlife populations and assess the impacts of forest operations on population and habitats.
- Plan and direct construction and maintenance of recreation facilities, fire towers, trails, roads and bridges, ensuring that they comply with guidelines and regulations set for forested public lands.
- Contact local forest owners and gain permission to take inventory of the type, amount, and location of all standing timber on the property.
- Provide advice and recommendations, as a consultant on forestry issues, to private woodlot owners, firefighters, government agencies or to companies.
- Study different tree species' classification, life history, light and soil requirements, adaptation to new environmental conditions and resistance to disease and insects.
- Develop new techniques for wood or residue use.
- Develop techniques for measuring and identifying trees.
Qualities of Good Forester
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Forester
- All-terrain vehicles ATV
- Backpack sprayers
- Brush chippers
- Bucket trucks
- Chainsaws
- Computer data input scanners
- Computer laser printers
- Digital clinometers
- Forestry axes
- Four wheel drive 4WD vehicles
- Global positioning system GPS devices
- Hand pruners
- Hand saws
- Handheld dataloggers
- Hip chains
- Laptop computers
- Multipurpose front end loaders
- Multipurpose skid steer loaders
- Navigational compasses
- Personal computers
- Pole pruners
- Power loppers
- Power pruners
- Steel measuring tapes
- Stump grinders
- Tablet computers
- Tree scale sticks
- Weed sprayers
Technology Skills required for Forester
- ESRI ArcGIS software
- ESRI ArcView
- Forest Metrix
- Forest vegetation simulators
- Forest yield software
- Fountains Forestry TwoDog
- Geographic information system GIS software
- Geographic information system GIS systems
- Global positioning system GPS software
- IBM Notes
- Mapping software
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- SMART service management and route tracking software
- Trimble CENGEA
- Web browser software
- Work scheduling software