Forester job description

Foresters inventory and cruise timber, plan harvests and reforestation, write fire and fuels plans, supervise the crews doing the work, and keep all of it inside state forest practice rules. BLS counted 13,200 of them for 2025, projects growth of about 2 percent to 2035, and expects roughly 900 openings a year. Pay reached $76,400 at the midpoint in May 2025, in a reported range of $50,790 to $109,700. State government employs 28 percent, support activities for forestry 12 percent, federal government 11 percent, and local government 10 percent. The Handbook is blunt about conditions: long walks through dense growth, protective gear around logging and fire, all weather, and weeks past 40 hours when travel is involved.