Forestry Management Career | Forestry Job | Logging Jobs
Forest Management Jobs – What is the Job of the Logging Industry? What do Logging Industry Jobs Involve?
American forests are a beautiful natural resource that can be used both for recreation and commercial use. Harvesting the woodlands of a forest requires a large number of workers, which include conservation workers in order to maintain and protect the forests from fire and insect infestation.
In addition, logging workers are needed in order to harvest thousands of acres of forest annually, providing the raw goods for industrial and consumer products. Forest management workers have the responsibility of planting saplings using digging tools, and maintaining the forests as they grow.
Working under the leadership of a professional forester, forest workers will care for the trees using controlled fires in order to clean out underbrush, in to keep counts of the trees that are growing. After the trees are fully grown, timber cutters will that help in harvesting the trees and preparing them for market. After the trees have been harvested, new saplings are planted in the cycle begins again.
Some conservation workers are employed by the state or local governments in order to maintain camping areas and recreational parks. Other forest workers will work in forest nurseries, raising tree seedlings and culling bad trees.
Most forest workers are engaged in work on tree farms, where trees are planted and harvested on a regular basis as a fulltime commercial forestry operation. The responsibilities of a forest worker will vary depending on the type of tree farm that they’re working on. Christmas tree farms use forest workers in order to cut limbs and to stagger trees so that these evergreen trees will be nice and straight in order to be harvested for the holiday season.
Other responsibilities of a worker on a Christmas tree farm include planting seedlings, spraying to control weeds and insects, and harvesting the actual trees for market. In addition, forest workers may gather bark, moss, branches, and tree cones in order to make other products such as decorative Christmas wreaths.
Logging workers work on the farms of foresters, harvesting trees in large quantities. Usually logging workers do not own a tree farm itself, but a forester contracts the workout to logging professionals, who are responsible for cutting down the trees that are to be harvested. Tree faller jobs involve cutting trees down with chain saws, first cutting off the branches and then cutting down the trunks into manageable links.
Choke setters are responsible for fastening steel cables and chains around a log so that it can be polled by a tractor and loaded onto a flatbed truck, where it will be taken to either a pulp factory or a logging factory in order to be converted into commercial lumber.
Logs orders have the responsibility of checking logs to make sure that they are not diseased, and wood chippers have the responsibility of grinding any remaining logs that do not meet quality standards and turning them into mulch or sawdust products.
Logging equipment operator jobs involve using a machine called a tree harvester in order to cut down the trees and to remove their limbs. Grapple lifters will be used to load of logs directly onto flatbed trucks, and new logging equipment uses state of the art technology in order to maximize the yield from a forest.
Log scalers are responsible for checking each log in order to determine its market value, often using mobile Computer Equipment in order to keep track of the cargo.
While technology has made timber cutting and logging much more safe as compared to a century ago, the work itself is still labor intensive and requires much training.
Working Conditions for Forest Management Jobs – How is the Working Environment for Logging Jobs?
Logging jobs are physically demanding and workers will have to work in bad weather or isolated areas which may be fairly inaccessible. Falling branches and rough terrain, sometimes mountainous, presents a hazard to the logger, and the profession itself still involves lifting and climbing.
Muddy ground and poisonous plants and animals further compound the danger to a professional logger. The level of noise in a logging operation is fairly loud, so loggers will typically wear ear protection in order to protect their hearing.
Forest work or conservation work is much less hazardous, as it mainly involves counting the number of trees and checking for disease, and the job of a logger itself has become much less hazardous due to the use of complex logging machinery.
Forest Management Education – How to Become a Logger – How to Receive Your Logging Industry Training
Forest management, force conservation, and tree logging usually require a high school diploma, although conservation workers may have to have advanced training such as a bachelor’s degree in forestry. After being on the job, a logging worker will first learn the dangers of forest harvesting equipment and the proper safety precautions to take.
State Forestry Associations offer training for tree fallers, as taking down the tree requires more knowledge than a traditional logging team position. Tree fallers may have to learn how to cut trees down manually with only a saw in order to risk minimal damage to surrounding property or trees.
Common practices taught in logger training programs include management practices, endangered species training, wetlands protection, environmental compliance, and reforestation. State programs can lead to logging certification.
Independent organizations like the North Eastern Loggers Association, the Forest Resources Association, and the American Loggers Council all offer logger training programs in order to teach loggers how to use machinery safely. Community colleges also offer two years associate’s degrees in forestry and conservation management, with education in the field to teach different types of trees and pest threats.
Land Conservation Training Requirements – How to Become a Logger
Other qualifications for loggers and land conservation workers should include being in excellent health and an ability to work as part of a team. Forest managers may need to have less physical stamina as they spend most of their day counting tree stands and inspecting for past damage.
Logging team members should have good coordination and an ability to put safety first in order to minimize logging hazards. In addition, loggers who are self employed should have good business skills in order to negotiate contracts.
Logging advancement is available by becoming a supervisor of a logging team, and some individuals decide to start their own logging contractor business, applying business skills and logging knowledge in order to make a living harvesting trees.
Land Conservation Employment – What is the Forest Management Jobs?
Over the next decade, logging workers should experience employment declined of about 3%. Conservation workers and forestry workers should experience job growth of 6%, due to an increased demand to protect natural resources.
The reason for the decline in logging work has been a economically repressed logging market in the past decade, and domestic timber faces competition from foreign tree farms. Employment prospects in the logging market will mostly depend on the demand for tree products over the next decade, which is not at all certain.
Another factor to consider for logging operations jobs is that new heavy equipment is making tree harvesting safer and more automated, allowing more work to be done safely than ever before.
Most new job openings in logging should result as loggers seek a new employment do to the dangerous nature of the work and the fact that it is seasonal.
Logger Salary Pay Scale – How Much Do Logging Jobs Earn?
Most beginning logging workers earn a minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, although independent contractors will frequently earn much higher wages, especially when cutting down trees in residential areas. Logging equipment operators are paid much higher median wages at $14.28 as of 2006.
Earnings for logging workers also very depending on where they work and how large the company is that they work for. Alaskan workers will typically earn much more then logging workers in the south due to the remoteness of the Alaskan wilderness and a higher cost of living.
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