Life, Physical, and Social Science · Holland code RIC

Foresters

Manage public and private forested lands for economic, recreational, and conservation purposes. May inventory the type, amount, and location of standing timber, appraise the timber's worth, negotiate the purchase, and draw up contracts for procurement. May determine how to conserve wildlife habitats, creek beds, water quality, and soil stability, and how best to comply with environmental regulations. May devise plans for planting and growing new trees, monitor trees for healthy growth, and determine optimal harvesting schedules.

Also called: Area Forester, Procurement Forester, Silviculturist, Urban Forester, District Forester, Environmental Protection Forester, Fire Prevention Forester, Forest Silviculturist.

O*NET 19-1032.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $76,400; Middle half earn $62,710 to $91,640. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Establish short- and long-term plans for management of forest lands and forest resources.
Plan cutting programs and manage timber sales from harvested areas, assisting companies to achieve production goals.
Determine methods of cutting and removing timber with minimum waste and environmental damage.
Negotiate terms and conditions of agreements and contracts for forest harvesting, forest management and leasing of forest lands.
Perform inspections of forests or forest nurseries.
Monitor contract compliance and results of forestry activities to assure adherence to government regulations.
Supervise activities of other forestry workers.
Provide advice and recommendations, as a consultant on forestry issues, to private woodlot owners, firefighters, government agencies or to companies.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Monitoring4.0 / 5
Active Listening3.9 / 5
Writing3.8 / 5

Knowledge areas

Biology4.1 / 5
Mathematics3.7 / 5
English Language3.7 / 5
Geography3.6 / 5
Administration and Management3.5 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.4 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic72
Investigative58
Artistic4
Social22
Enterprising46
Conventional56

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

forester · DE Forstwirt/Forstwirtin · FR forestier
forestry adviser · DE Forstwirtschaftlicher Berater/forstwirtschaftliche Beraterin · FR conseiller en sylviculture/conseillère en sylviculture
conservation scientist · DE Wissenschaftler Natur- und Artenschutz/Wissenschaftlerin Natur- und Artenschutz · FR agent chargé de protection et sauvegarde du patrimoine naturel/agente chargée de protection et sauvegarde du patrimoine naturel
natural resources consultant · DE Berater Natürliche Ressourcen/Beraterin Natürliche Ressourcen · FR conseiller en environnement/conseillère en environnement
nature conservation officer · DE Umweltberater/Umweltberaterin · FR chargé de mission patrimoine naturel/chargée de mission patrimoine naturel
botanical technician · DE Botaniktechniker/Botaniktechnikerin · FR technicien botaniste/technicienne botaniste

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Conservation professionals (2151)21,900 employed
Managers and proprietors in agriculture and horticulture (1211)40,300 employed
Environment professionals (2152)80,200 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.18. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (19-1032).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test