Forester
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Forester manages large tracts of tree covered land, or manages trees in an urban setting. Directs tree harvests and plantings, develops plans for regenerating or protecting forest land, educates teachers and students about forest conservation. May inventory and appraise timber for sale by forest owners.
Job Outlook
There were 181 Forester job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4051 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Forester industry, which includes the Forester career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Forester 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 $59,734.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $57,075.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Forester postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $49,897.
Education and Experience
Posted Forester 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 | 64.65% |
| Master's Degree | 9.8% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.69% |
| Other | 10.17% |
Posted Forester 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 | 69.43% |
| 3 to 5 years | 25.24% |
| 6 to 8 years | 3.31% |
| 9+ years | 2.02% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Forester 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.
- Management (66.65%)
- Communication (39.3%)
- Planning (32.95%)
- Good Driving Record (31.67%)
- Consulting (28.93%)
- Operations (28.46%)
- Microsoft Office (27.33%)
- Detail Oriented (24.78%)
- Computer Literacy (24.44%)
- Writing (23.53%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Forest Mensuration (9.77%)
- Urban Forestry (29.41%)
- Forest Ecology (7.67%)
- Forest Management (27.42%)
- Forestry (93.4%)
- Land Tenure (34.6%)
- Arboriculture (31.24%)
- Horticulture (31.9%)
- Environmental Science (23.22%)
- Sandbag (10.64%)
- Silviculture (15.03%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Motor Vehicle Operation (12.66%)
- Herbicides (17.16%)
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) (9.58%)
- ArcGIS (GIS Software) (8.84%)
- Biology (19.24%)
- Public Relations (16.43%)
- Natural Resource Management (18.77%)
- Data Collection (17.19%)
- Contract Management (4.77%)
- Environmental Studies (10.31%)
- Landscape Maintenance (11.27%)
- Invasive Species Management (10.15%)
- Global Positioning Systems (8.7%)
- Land Management (9.96%)
- Construction (9.71%)
- Auditing (12.33%)
- Geographic Information Systems (51.27%)
- Agriculture (17.87%)
- Geology (11.11%)
- Medical Prescription (8.43%)
- Geography (11.51%)
- Project Management (16.7%)
- Pruning (16.92%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Timber Management (6.47%)
- Natural Resource Science (5.21%)
- Dendrology (6.93%)
- Forest Entomology (4.28%)
- Silvics (3.63%)
- Agroforestry (2.51%)
- Forest Genetics (3.25%)
- Reforestation (9.58%)
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.
- Forest Entomology (59.92%)
- Timber Harvesting (43.89%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Forester skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Consulting Utility Forester
- Utility Forester
- Utility Arborist
- District Forester
- Urban Forester
- Production Supervisor
- Urban Forestry Intern
- Work Planner
- Forest Supervisor
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.
- Forest / Conservation Technician
- Conservation Scientist
- Wildlife Biologist
- Soil / Plant Scientist
- Environmental Planner / Scientist
- GIS Analyst
- Field Biologist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Forester jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Acrt (396)
- Asplundh Tree Experts (289)
- The Davey Tree Expert Company (226)
- Environmental International Consultants (212)
- Davey Resource Group (159)
- Cn Utility Consulting (134)
- Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania (68)
- Sierra Pacific Industries (63)
- United States Forest Service (54)
- State of Washington (47)
North Carolina
- State of North Carolina (42)
- Environmental International Consultants (26)
- United States Forest Service (21)
- Asplundh Tree Experts (19)
- Prf Forestry Specialists (15)
- Cn Utility Consulting (9)
- Weyerhaeuser (7)
- Acrt (4)
- N.C Department Of Transportation (4)
- Plank Road Forestry (3)
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!
- General Horticulture Undergraduate Certificates
- Horticultural Science Graduate Certificates
- Horticultural Science Master's Degrees
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.