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Forest and Conservation Technicians

$41.52K Median Salary 4K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 0.9% Job Growth

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About This Career

Provide technical assistance regarding the conservation of soil, water, forests, or related natural resources. May compile data pertaining to size, content, condition, and other characteristics of forest tracts under the direction of foresters, or train and lead forest workers in forest propagation and fire prevention and suppression. May assist conservation scientists in managing, improving, and protecting rangelands and wildlife habitats.

Reported Job Titles

Biological Science Aide, Forest Technician, Forestry Aide, Forestry Technician (Forestry Tech), Resource Technician, Timber Appraiser

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Skills You'll Need

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Abilities

Information Ordering

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Problem Sensitivity

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Written Comprehension

Far Vision

Near Vision

Visualization

Arm-Hand Steadiness

Category Flexibility

Manual Dexterity

Selective Attention

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Written Expression

Control Precision

Finger Dexterity

Multilimb Coordination

Originality

Static Strength

Trunk Strength

Visual Color Discrimination

Knowledge

Public Safety and Security

English Language

Customer and Personal Service

Law and Government

Administration and Management

Geography

Education and Training

Mathematics

Biology

Mechanical

Computers and Electronics

Personnel and Human Resources

Skills

Active Listening

Critical Thinking

Reading Comprehension

Judgment and Decision Making

Speaking

Time Management

Coordination

Instructing

Monitoring

Social Perceptiveness

Active Learning

Complex Problem Solving

Learning Strategies

Service Orientation

Systems Analysis

Writing

Technology Skills

Data base user interface and query software

Presentation software

Map creation software

Analytical or scientific software

Geographic information system

Inventory management software

Spreadsheet software

Electronic mail software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Office suite software

Word processing software

Computer aided design CAD software

Internet browser software

Web page creation and editing software

Web platform development software

Desktop publishing software

Tools

Commercial fishing nets

Reforestation equipment

Theodolites

Portable data input terminals

Measuring tapes

Calipers

Lumbering equipment

Recreational motorboats

Rangefinders

Wheel bulldozers

Moisture meters

Dredgers

Height gauges

Rainfall recorders

Fire suppression hand tools

Forestry increment borers

Track excavators

Light trucks or sport utility vehicles

Soil core sampling apparatus

Water pumps

Snowplow attachments

Decorticators

Radarbased surveillance systems

Open stream current meters

Dump trucks

Earthmoving shovels

Sprayers

Motorcycles

Geological compasses

Agricultural tractors

Scanners

Measuring rods

Fishing boats

Prisms

Tow trucks

Pisciculture supplies

Earthmoving buckets or its parts or accessories

Geological prospecting apparatus

Open stream water level recorders

Articulating boom lift

Handheld refractometers or polarimeters

Forestry saws

Water meters

Fire fighting pump truck

Fertilizer spreaders or distributors

Lawnmowers

Hydraulic truck cranes

Video editors

All terrain vehicles tracked or wheeled

Laser measuring systems

Conventional truck cranes

Tug boats

Magnetometer geophysical instruments

Digital camcorders or video cameras

Measuring wheels for distance

Water samplers

Lasers

Lighters

Global positioning system GPS receiver

Map measurers

Power saws

Two way radios

Water trucks

Clinometers

Front end loaders

Planters

Harrows

Track bulldozers

Notebook computers

Forklifts

pH meters

Metal detectors

Shovels

Digital cameras

Wedges

Seed drills

Axes

Dibblers

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Winches

Backhoes

Tensiometers

Abilities

Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.

Knowledge

Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Geography: Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Biology: Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Mechanical: Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Personnel and Human Resources: Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Technology Skills

Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Map creation software: ESRI Site Scan for ArcGIS; OpenDroneMap
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Geographic information system: ESRI ArcView; Geographic information system GIS systems
Inventory management software: Assisi Software Assisi Inventory
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Computer aided design CAD software: Autodesk AutoCAD; Autodesk Revit
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Web page creation and editing software: Facebook; Google Sites; LinkedIn; Social media sites
Web platform development software: Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher

Tools

Commercial fishing nets: Dip net samplers; Gill nets; Jellyfish scoops; Plankton nets
Reforestation equipment: Brush hooks; Plug spades; Tree planter spades
Theodolites: Survey transits
Portable data input terminals: Data acquisition equipment; Data loggers
Measuring tapes: Precision tape measures
Calipers: Dial calipers; Digital calipers; Vernier calipers
Lumbering equipment: Chain flail delimbers; Grapple yarders; Self-loading log transporters; Tower yarders
Recreational motorboats: Small power boats
Rangefinders: Laser hypsometers
Wheel bulldozers: Bulldozers
Moisture meters:
Dredgers: Dredges
Height gauges:
Rainfall recorders: Rain gauges
Fire suppression hand tools: McLeod tools; Pulaski tools
Forestry increment borers: Resistographs
Track excavators: Compact excavators; Hydraulic excavators; Tracked excavators
Light trucks or sport utility vehicles: Utility trucks
Soil core sampling apparatus: Grab samplers
Water pumps:
Snowplow attachments: Snowplows
Decorticators: Girdling tools
Radarbased surveillance systems: Radar navigation systems
Open stream current meters: Water velocity flow meters
Dump trucks: Rock trucks
Earthmoving shovels: Fire plows
Sprayers: Chemical sprayers; Computerized weed spray trucks
Motorcycles: Trail motorbikes
Geological compasses: Underwater compasses
Agricultural tractors: Logging tractors
Scanners: Data input scanners
Measuring rods: Surveyors leveling rods
Fishing boats: Electroshocking boats
Prisms: Right angle prisms
Tow trucks: Winch trucks
Pisciculture supplies: Fish traps
Earthmoving buckets or its parts or accessories: Crusher excavator buckets; Earthmover standard buckets; Rock buckets; Trencher excavator attachments
Geological prospecting apparatus: Crown densitometers
Open stream water level recorders: Cellular telemetry system water level monitors; Water level recorders
Articulating boom lift: Cherry pickers
Handheld refractometers or polarimeters: Portable refractometers
Forestry saws: Crosscut saws; Head saws
Water meters: Milk meters; Vehicle tank meters
Fire fighting pump truck: Wildland fire pumper trucks
Fertilizer spreaders or distributors: Fertilizer spreading equipment
Lawnmowers: Push mowers
Hydraulic truck cranes: Hydraulic booms
Video editors: Video editing equipment
All terrain vehicles tracked or wheeled: All terrain vehicles ATV
Laser measuring systems: Laser shearography flaw detectors; Verisurf Master3DGage
Conventional truck cranes: Forwarder cranes
Tug boats: Boom boats
Magnetometer geophysical instruments: Geophysical magnetometers
Digital camcorders or video cameras: Digital video cameras
Measuring wheels for distance: Distance measuring wheels
Water samplers: Mechanical sampling buckets; Sample jars
Lasers: Fiber optic visual fault locators
Lighters: Spark lighters
Global positioning system GPS receiver: Global positioning system GPS receivers
Map measurers: Planimeters
Power saws: Chain saws
Two way radios:
Water trucks:
Clinometers:
Front end loaders: Wheeled front end loaders
Planters: Crop planters
Harrows:
Track bulldozers: Wide track bulldozers
Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Forklifts:
pH meters: pH monitors
Metal detectors: Rebar locators
Shovels: Snow shovels
Digital cameras:
Wedges: Felling wedges
Seed drills:
Axes:
Dibblers: Forestry dibbles
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:
Winches: Hand winches
Backhoes: Backhoe-equipped tractors
Tensiometers: Cable tensionmeters