4Real Forums: Forestry majors

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Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
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Topic: Forestry majors

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jackiemomof7
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Joined: Oct 28 2005
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Posted: March 13 2006 at 9:01am \| IP Logged

Hi, I have a son in the 10th grade who is thinking of making Forestry his major. Does any one know someone working in this field and could give some advice. What kind of jobs are out there and which way should he go? Forest Ranger? Forestry Technologist? I have been researching the web and have a list of classes for him that he should finish up for high school and know that it is important to volunteer somewhere (which I am working on) But just wasn't sure if anyone could comment on this major. Thanks for the help.

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Jackie wife to Jim for 27!! years, proud army mom of Chris(25),Chef Matthew(24) and Sister Grace of Benedectines (21),Joshua(19),Nicholas(17),Jaymee(15), Elizabeth(13) and 2 in Heaven.Grandma to 3!

MaryM
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Posted: March 13 2006 at 2:01pm \| IP Logged

My father was a rangeland manager (like a forester but for range/grassland)for the US Bureau of Land Managment and an uncle was a forester for the US Forest Service, so can comment in general about these types of jobs. I tend to lump them all together as resource management occupations as that is often how they are referred to. The people we, as tourists, most often see on state or federal lands are the park rangers so that is the most visible job. But the majority of jobs in forestry are not rangers like that.

Generally the the jobs in the field of natural resource management are with the federal or state government (although there are private sector/business applications as well). Typical agencies that would have positions for someone with forestry as a degree are
US Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and to a small degree the US Geological Survey, National Resources Conservation Service, Environmental Protectional Agency. The other big employers are state agencies (typical department names you might see in individual states: Department of Fish & Game, Department of Foresty, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Conservation, Department of Natural Resources, etc.) This Natural Resource Agencies link has a listing by state - I don't think it includes all departments in each state, but is a good start. It also has the federal agencies and their links. I would suggest contacting one of the agencies in your state and having him talk to some people working there.

jackiemomof7 wrote:

What kind of jobs are out there and which way should he go? Forest Ranger? Forestry Technologist?

If he is interested in the field in general then volunteer opportunities, internships, interviewing people in the field over the next few years would be ways for him to really see what particular occupation within the field is of most interest to him. There are a variety of different types of jobs that are in the field. The Foresty Technologist positions are most often related to fire prevention and suppression (i.e. wild land firefighting) and many are temporary/seasonal postions.

You can check the individual agencies to see what kind of jobs they are hiring for. This website has federal job listings. As an example you can search here for US Forest Service jobs.

There are various specialties besides foresty that those interested in natural resource management might also find interesting - rangeland, wetlands, fish or wildlife biology, geology/mineral.

Hope this helps.

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JennGM
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Posted: March 13 2006 at 2:13pm \| IP Logged

jackiemomof7 wrote:

What kind of jobs are out there and which way should he go? Forest Ranger? Forestry Technologist?

Jackie,

I do know one job that seems interesting to me! My dh's cousin's husband (got that?

) is groundskeeper of the National Park Service at the White House. The amusing part is his last name is "Lawn" and he's in charge of the lawns at the White House. The National Park Service is in charge of keeping the grounds of the White House. The range of duties are interesting, as some things require inside-work. We see him on TV every year when they have the special on decorating the White House for Christmas.

Now he has no degree, worked his way up from the bottom and got promoted there and has worked as head since Reagan, so he's seen a lot. I'd be happy to ask questions or pointers for your son.

Does your son only want Forestry, or has he thought of conservation or agriculture? That would be another area, Department of Agriculture. My b-i-l works for them, his speciality area was soils, but has done things like beach erosion. We joke that he studied weeds.

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Becky Parker
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Joined: May 23 2005
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Posted: March 14 2006 at 5:41am \| IP Logged

My ds is only in 6th grade but he is already telling me he wants to get his degree in "Fisheries and Wildlife". I don't know a thing about this but he has a friend whose brother has this degree and he now lives in Alaska and does studies on various wildlife. This would be a "dream-job" for my son (or so he thinks - Alaska sounds too cold for me!). Anyway, I guess I don't really have a helpful comment, I just thought this was an interesting topic.
Becky

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