Conservation Scientist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Conservation Scientist develops resource management plans to protect and manage various environments, such as forests and grasslands, to ensure that they're safe for the species and plants that live and grow there. This involves making sure habitats are free from diseases and harmful insects, as well as working to protect them from fire.

Job Outlook

There were 56 Conservation Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2689 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Conservation Scientist industry, which includes the Conservation Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Conservation Scientist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $70,860.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $71,452.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Conservation Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $60,284.

Education and Experience

Posted Conservation Scientist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	45.15%
Master's Degree	16.07%
Doctoral Degree	6.4%
Other	17.07%

Posted Conservation Scientist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	50.31%
3 to 5 years	35.5%
6 to 8 years	7.56%
9+ years	6.64%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Conservation Scientist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Communication (42.8%)
Management (42.32%)
Planning (30.01%)
Research (21.46%)
Leadership (21.38%)
Operations (21.2%)
Writing (19.41%)
Coordinating (19.08%)
Customer Service (15.47%)
Presentations (13.95%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Conservation Planning (17.29%)
Biology (29.52%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Agronomy (11.44%)
Rangeland Management (8.84%)
Agriculture (18.03%)
Geographic Information Systems (11.69%)
Data Management (4.22%)
Natural Resource Management (16.85%)
Field Research (6.97%)
Forestry (17.39%)
Ecology (22.89%)
Environmental Education (18.71%)
Environmental Science (20.43%)
Project Management (11.89%)
Land Management (10.36%)
Land Tenure (22.4%)
Soil Science (22.05%)
Wildlife Management (11.1%)
Resource Management (12.18%)
Water Conservation (11.54%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Plant Taxonomy (5.55%)
Plant Ecology (5.8%)
Conservation Science (4.32%)
Soil Morphology (5.26%)
Soil Classification (2.95%)
Livestock Production (5.7%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Plant Taxonomy (21.52%)
Conservation Planning (67.05%)
Conservation Science (16.76%)
Plant Ecology (22.48%)
Soil Morphology (20.38%)
Livestock Production (22.1%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Conservation Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Naturalist
Reclamation Specialist
Rangeland Management Specialist
Conservationist
Conservation Specialist
Conservation Planner
Resource Conservationist
Conservation Agent
Conservation Associate

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Conservation Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

The Nature Conservancy (94)
State of Minnesota (77)
Natural Resources Conservation Service (54)
United States Department of the Interior (49)
Environmental Jobs Network (43)
State of California (39)
Usda Farm Service Agency (29)
Ca Conservation Corps (28)
State of Ohio (27)
State of Nevada (22)

North Carolina

State of North Carolina (12)
United States Forest Service (3)
Mecklenburg County (3)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2)
Hitachi (2)
Land Trust Alliance (2)
Triangle Land Conservancy (2)
Guilford County (1)
The Nature Conservancy (1)
City Of High Point (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Agriculture, Horticulture, & the Outdoors