So you think you'd like to be a forester…
Here are a few tips.
First of all, you need to love trees! Trees are the most fascinating and miraculous plants on our earth! There’s so much to know that I’m still learning new and wonderful things about trees every day. Besides knowing about trees, you need to learn about all of the other parts of the forest ecosystem. We wouldn’t have trees without soil (DON’T call it dirt!), so I studied soil science. And we wouldn’t have soil without rocks and wind and rain and ice, so I also studied geology and meteorology. And we wouldn’t have pollination if it weren’t for birds and insects, so I learned about those, too. And I learned about the animals of the forest so I could help protect and improve their home. I also needed to study math, so that I could measure the trees. I need to know how big around and how tall and how old and how crowded the trees are in a forest. That information helps me to make management decisions, like is it time to cut some trees? (It IS okay to do that sometimes!) Do we need to prune the trees so they grow straight and tall? Do we need to plant more trees? Do we need to take action against an insect or disease that threatens the trees? These are all decisions a forester helps to make.
Most professional foresters have at least a bachelor’s degree in forestry. Many also have a Master’s Degree. So if you want to be a forester, you should plan to go to college. While you’re in high school, take lots of science, math and English classes. Summer jobs or volunteer work in natural resource management give you valuable real-life experiences!
Some foresters work for the government including Federal, State, County or City. Other foresters work for companies like lumber companies or paper companies. Some foresters are private consultants, who work for themselves or a consulting company. Some foresters specialize in urban forestry. An “arborist” is trained to care for individual trees, usually in an urban setting.