GENERAL CAREERS OVERVIEW
Occupations
Jobs Outside for Every Skill Set
The Forest Service employs more than 30,000 permanent employees in hundreds of locations across the country. Forest Service employees focus their skills to manage and improve our nation's forest lands in many ways. Many work in forest and range research, some develop the skills of others at our Job Corps Centers and others provide expertise in State and private forestry partnerships across the country. That means that if you're as dedicated to advancing our mission as we are, you should seek job combinations where your skills mix and background would be most competitive, and that drive your personal need for career challenges and enrichment.
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Professional
Forest Service careers in professional scientific and engineering fields require college degrees, except in Research where advanced degrees are needed. Forest Service professionals work in physical, biological and engineering disciplines applying their expertise to meet the challenges of our mission. The variety in Forest Service jobs and career paths and natural resource specialties may range from developing and evaluating forest and fire management plans, providing technical advice, to designing plans with interdisciplinary teams of employees to keep forests and grassland environments healthy. We need recreation specialists, professionals with expertise in fire and fuels management, environmental/land use planners, and conservation, watershed and wildlife management professionals. Most professionals use GIS/GPS and remote sensing skills, and many apply skills in contract administration and monitoring. Visit the variety of program areas of the Forest Service on our website to help guide your job search. Find the career that motivates you, fills your need to accomplish, and matches your work and living style. Here are some of the professional jobs that many of our men and women perform every day.
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Forester [PDF 88KB*] Soil Scientist [PDF 89KB*] Range Management Specialist [PDF 93KB*] Hydrologist [PDF 92KB*] Geologist [PDF 89KB*] Ecologist Biologist Entomologist [PDF 78KB*] |
Botanist [PDF 90KB*] Archeologist [PDF 96KB*] Fish Biologist [PDF 86KB*] Wildlife Biologist [PDF 93KB*] Outdoor Recreation Planner Engineer [PDF 106KB*] Civil Engineer [PDF 106KB*] Landscape Architect [PDF 117KB*] |
Technical
The technical workforce is the backbone of the Forest Service. Many technical positions do not require a college degree and they present wide-ranging combinations of challenging and interesting work.
Technicians
The largest number of employees providing technical support in the Forest Service is our technician workforce. Forest Service technicians are considered full members of professional teams that support our mission. The Forest Service hiring needs for technicians on forest lands is largely determined by the natural resource problems of the geographic area and the type(s) of access needed by the public. Technician support is vital to programs, projects and action plans that range from firefighting, improving roads, trails, to insect and disease control. Many technicians collect, test, analyze/process biological or other samples for further professional analysis for a variety of programs (e.g., resource management, fuels, engineering recreation, research, wildlife management evaluation). Others apply their technical knowledge of techniques and procedures in instrumentation, or collect data for environmental impact studies to meet national environmental plan assessment (NEPA) requirements, for compliance/inspections, or timber sales. Still others may serve as fire dispatchers, snow rangers, work in law enforcement, administer permits for special uses, or provide fire prevention/community education programs.
Some of the most populous technical occupations we hire include:
Forestry Technician [PDF 85KB*]
Engineering Technician [PDF 89KB*]
Electronics Technician
Biological Science Technician [PDF 106KB*]
Law Enforcement Officer [PDF 80KB*]
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Administrative
Administrative occupations support a wide range of Forest Service business operations. Some of them are:
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Criminal Investigator [PDF 84KB*] Supervisory Law Enforcement Officer Teacher [PDF 91KB*] Education and Training Specialist Education and Vocational Specialist Guidance Counselor [PDF 101KB*] |
Social Services Assistant [PDF 111KB*] Accountant [PDF 105KB*] Accounting Technician Public Affairs Specialist [PDF 91KB*] Realty Specialist [PDF 80KB*] Contract Specialist [PDF 95KB*] Human Resources Specialist [PDF 92KB*] And more ... |
Employee Profiles
Learn about Forest Service Jobs from the People Who Do Them
The Forest Service is a community of people who share a common love of the outdoors - and a collective goal of meeting our agency's mission - Caring for the Land and Serving People.
Meet some of our employees who offer their employment experience for others.
Stephanie Love, District Silviculturist
Eini Lowell, Research Forest Products Technologist
Nick Spang, Natural Resource Specialist
Alejandro A. Royo, Research Ecologist
Stephanie Steele, Wildlife Biologist
Paulette Ford, Research Ecologist
Marcus Warwell, Geneticist
Ernest J. Wiltsie Jr., Supervisory Forestry Technician (research)
Yewah Lau, Forest National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Coordinator
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