Careers in forestry

Black Collegian, Jan 1994 by Roussopoulos, Peter J, Biesterfeldt, Robert C

For many students, forestry has never ranked in the top 10 as a profession. Compared to teaching, medicine, law, and the basic sciences, it is a small profession. But a majority of those who choose it build meaningful and satisfying careers. Because so few African Americans have chosen forestry in the past, most of the profession's colleges and employers are actively seeking African-American graduates. The results are outstanding opportunities for African Americans who want what forestry and related conservation professions have to offer.

SPECIAL KINDS OF SATISFACTION

Like any profession, forestry tends to attract people with a certain set of motivations--people who are looking for particular kinds of satisfaction in their lives. Successful foresters can earn a great deal of recognition, particularly in the small communities where they often work. Most, however, are attracted more by the inner satisfactions that natural resource conservation offers. Foresters get satisfaction from nurturing living things and natural systems and taking actions vital to the future of the Earth and its people.

During the early portions of a successful career, a forester is likely to live near a publicly owned forest, a company forest, a game refuge, or a municipal watershed. If the starting salary is lower than that in some other professions, the cost of living in a rural setting is likely to also be lower. For the right person, choosing forestry can mean doing the sorts of things you want to do, living in the kinds of places you want to live, and being the kind of person you want to be.

EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

A majority of the nation's Land Grant Universities offer four-year degrees in forestry, and some private universities have similar programs. The Society of American Foresters can supply a list of accredited professional forestry schools in the United States. It also has a list of schools where technician degrees are offered. Its address is included at the end of this article.

Four-year forestry programs are designed to prepare students to become professional land managers, who must deal with the expected and unexpected in creative and successful ways. Professionals must know most of the things that technicians know and a good deal more. If they succeed, professionals are paid primarily to supervise the work of others. Technicians are paid primarily for the work they do themselves. In the long run, that difference translates into considerably more responsibility and a considerably larger paycheck for the professional.

A four-year forestry curriculum typically includes a balance of general courses in liberal arts, basic sciences, and mathematics, as well as more specific courses in things like plant identification, forestry sampling, and forest engineering. The particular balance varies among universities and among students with various interests and talents, but universities have always struggled to provide all the key courses within four years. Most successful foresters are good communicators, but the number of credits a student can include in a forestry degree program is limited. Similarly, forest inventories require detailed knowledge of sampling, statistical analysis, and computer use. Because of the difficult tradeoffs among course opportunities, many forestry students spend more than four years earning a bachelor of science degree. Many others enter master's degree programs to pursue special interests and improve their employment prospects.

EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK

Traditionally, graduating foresters have looked first to public agencies and second to forest products corporations for employment. The largest single employer has always been the Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With cutbacks in public programs and agencies in the 1980s, some graduating foresters found it difficult to get certain jobs. Even now, "downsizing" is a word that is frequently spoken in the U.S. Forest Service and in many other state forestry agencies. Nevertheless, the Society of American Foresters reports that as many as three-fourths of new forestry graduates are finding jobs in the profession. Given the tendency of students to change their minds, the percentage of degree holders working in forestry is as high as that of any profession.

There are several reasons for a bright forestry employment outlook, particularly for African-American graduates:

1. Large numbers of public foresters who began their careers in the late 1950s are retiring, creating opportunities for young foresters despite downsizing.

2. Reductions in timber cutting on national forests have caused lumber and timber prices to rise, increasing the profits from timber growing. Forest products companies with large landholdings are hiring foresters to intensify their timber-growing efforts.

3. Increasingly, owners of small forest tracts are hiring forestry consultants to help them manage their land. The Society of American Foresters reports that many recent forestry graduates are being hired by small consulting firms.