Occupation Details
Forest and Conservation Workers
Under supervision, perform manual labor necessary to develop, maintain, or protect areas such as forests, forested areas, woodlands, wetlands, and rangelands through such activities as raising and transporting seedlings; combating insects, pests, and diseases harmful to plant life; and building structures to control water, erosion, and leaching of soil. Includes forester aides, seedling pullers, tree planters, and gatherers of nontimber forestry products such as pine straw.
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Interests
Realistic
Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Investigative
Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Conventional
Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Work Values
Achievement
Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Relationships
Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
Independence
Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Salary & Job Outlook
Starting Salary
$35,070.00
New York StateMedian Salary
$41,630.00
New York StateExperienced Salary
$52,150.00
New York StateNational Average for Comparison
New York State Job Market Outlook
Jobs Right Now (2018)
2,330
professionals in NYFuture Job Growth (2030)
2,380
+5 jobs/yearNew Jobs Every Year
359
new opportunities yearlyGrowth Rate
0.0%
projected increasePreparation: Experience, Training, and Education
The list below outlines the prior educational experience required to perform in this occupation.
College Helps - Some college classes or training
Experience Requirements
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Requirements
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Training Details
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Transferrable Skills and Experience
These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include hydroelectric production managers, desktop publishers, electricians, agricultural technicians, barbers, court reporters and simultaneous captioners, and medical assistants.
School Programs
The following lists school programs which are applicable to this occupation.
Licensing & Certification
State License and Certifications Requirements are not currently associated with this occupation.
Skills
The list below includes the skills required by workers in this occupation; skills are what allow you to learn more quickly and improve your performance.
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Coordination
Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Skill level is measured on a seven point scale, where one means 'some competence required for this occupation' and seven means 'a high level of expertise required for this occupation'.
Knowledge
The list below includes knowledge items, the principles and facts required by this occupation.
Geography
Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Public Safety and Security
Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Administrative
Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Education and Training
Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Knowledge level is measured on a seven point scale, where one means 'some competence required for this occupation' and seven means 'a high level of expertise required for this occupation'.
Work Environment
The list below includes the physical and social factors that influence the nature of work in this occupation.
Hover over or tap each factor to see its description.
Work Styles
Included in the list below are the personal work style characteristics that can affect how well a worker is likely to perform in this occupation.
Achievement/Effort
Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Adaptability/Flexibility
Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Analytical Thinking
Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attention to Detail
Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Cooperation
Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Dependability
Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Independence
Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Initiative
Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Integrity
Job requires being honest and ethical.
Persistence
Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
Tools & Technology
This list below describes the machines, equipment, tools, software, and information technology that workers in this occupation will use.
Tools
- Backhoes
- Backpack sprayers
- Brush hogs
- Chain saws
- Claw hammers
- Dibblers
- Directional compasses
- Dump trucks
- Electronic measuring devices
- Epicormic knives
- Fire plows
- Fire trucks
- Four wheel drive 4WD vehicles
- Geodetic ground global positioning system GPS receivers
- Hand saws
- Hard hats
- Harvesting machines
- Herbicide sprayers
- Loppers
- Mattocks
- Measuring tapes
- Motorboats
- Multipurpose tractors
- Personal computers
- Phillips head screwdrivers
- Planting drills
- Portable data collectors
- Portable ladders
- Power drills
- Protective ear muffs
Technology
- Database software
- Geographic information system GIS software
- IBM Lotus 1-2-3
- IBM Lotus Notes
- Leica Geosystems ERDAS IMAGINE
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Project
- Microsoft Windows
Duties
Duties are job behaviors describing activities that occur on multiple jobs. The generalized and detailed work activities described in the list below apply to this occupation.
- use chain saws
- use fire suppression equipment
- use hand or power tools
- interpret aerial photographs
- use fire suppression techniques
- use plant disease control techniques
- use herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides or related products
- package goods for shipment or storage
- use portable hand spray equipment
- read maps
- read measuring or metering devices used in forestry
- identify crop characteristics
- understand second language
- recognize plant diseases
- recognize tree or forest plant species
- recognize wood species characteristics
- grade, classify, or sort products according to specifications
- identify diseased, weak or undesirable trees
- move or fit heavy objects
- clean rooms or work areas
- plant, cultivate, or harvest crops, including aquaculture
- load, unload, or stack containers, materials, or products
Tasks
The list below outlines specific tasks that a worker in this occupation is called upon to do regularly.
- Gather, package, or deliver forest products to buyers.
- Sow or harvest cover crops, such as alfalfa.
- Check equipment to ensure that it is operating properly.
- Spray or inject vegetation with insecticides to kill insects or to protect against disease or with herbicides to reduce competing vegetation.
- Maintain tallies of trees examined and counted during tree marking or measuring efforts.
- Confer with other workers to discuss issues, such as safety, cutting heights, or work needs.
- Identify diseased or undesirable trees and remove them, using power saws or hand saws.
- Drag cut trees from cutting areas and load trees onto trucks.
- Sort tree seedlings, discarding substandard seedlings, according to standard charts or verbal instructions.
- Operate skidders, bulldozers, or other prime movers to pull a variety of scarification or site preparation equipment over areas to be regenerated.
- Perform fire protection or suppression duties, such as constructing fire breaks or disposing of brush.
- Explain or enforce regulations regarding camping, vehicle use, fires, use of buildings, or sanitation.
- Examine and grade trees according to standard charts and staple color-coded grade tags to limbs.
- Erect signs or fences, using posthole diggers, shovels, or other hand tools.
- Fight forest fires or perform prescribed burning tasks under the direction of fire suppression officers or forestry technicians.
- Provide assistance to forest survey crews by clearing site-lines, holding measuring tools, or setting stakes.
- Select or cut trees according to markings or sizes, types, or grades.
- Maintain campsites or recreational areas, replenishing firewood or other supplies and cleaning kitchens or restrooms.
- Thin or space trees, using power thinning saws.
- Select tree seedlings, prepare the ground, or plant the trees in reforestation areas, using manual planting tools.
- Prune or shear tree tops or limbs to control growth, increase density, or improve shape.
Learning Resources
More information on this occupation may be found in the links provided below.
Dr. Arbor Talks Trees
Often trees are taken for granted. We see them everyday, but we may never even notice them. Without trees, we would miss a great deal. Trees provide everything from the air we breathe to the roof we live under. Dr. Arbor Talks Trees focuses on tree anatomy and physiology. Students learn some of the basic inner workings, chemical principles, and fun ways to get to know trees better.
Learn MoreForest, conservation, and logging workers
Visit this link for additional information on this career from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; a publication produced and maintained by the United States Department of Labor.
Learn MoreLet's Talk About Insects
Let's Talk About Insects is designed to help students ages 9 to11 years of age gain an appreciation of insects; learn how insects grow and develop (metamorphosis), and learn the importance of insects in our environment.
Learn MoreWave Hill Street Trees Internship
Street Trees interns earn a license from the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and Trees New York to care for New York City trees. Indoor and outdoor sessions promote stewardship of neighborhood trees and knowledge of tree biology, classification, pit gardening, pruning, and pests, including the Asian longhorned beetle; and how to have a tree planted on your block. Through outdoor adventures, such as hiking, bouldering, and sailing interns learn more about the city's natural environments.
Learn More