Please visit the Forest Service's national Employment web pages for broader information about emloyment, benefits,and student opportunities with the USDA, Forest Service.
Job Opportunities
The official location for all announcements for Forest Service positions in the competitive service is the Office of Personnel
Management's USAJobs site at http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/a9ag.htm
Our local "Job Opportunities" page is used to high-light particular vacancies and share informal information on student opportunites or internships.
- We not currently high-lighting any positions.
Student Employment
Internships and opportunities for college/university students
The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF) offers summer internships to undergraduates
interested in forests and related natural resource issues. Visit our IPIF Internship webpage
for more information.
University of Hawaii at Hilo students are encouraged to apply for jobs with forestry research projects under the direction of Dr. Randy Senock (senock@hawaii.edu).
Many other forestry and natural resources internships may be found nationally and worldwide; a helpful website is provided by the Agricultural Development in the American Pacific program (ADAP webpage).
Forestry degree programs
Numerous schools in the U.S. offer forestry degree programs accredited by the Society of
American Foresters (SAF); see the SAF webpage for descriptions and web links. Pacific
island students considering studies on the U.S. mainland, in Australia, New Zealand, or
elsewhere should consider coursework offered in tropical forestry, agroforestry,
horticulture, botany, and ecology, and educational emphasis on flexible and creative
studies rather than technical instruction specific to local forestry.
In considering schools outside the Pacific, look for cross-cultural and academic support
programs for minority or international students, local communities of Pacific islanders,
and faculty advisors with experience in the Pacific.
The USDA supports two four-year programs at Land Grant universities in the U.S.-affiliated
Pacific. Advanced coursework in tropical agronomy, horticulture, botany, ecology, and soil
science at the University of Hawaii or
University of Guam would complement coursework in
forestry at universities outside the Pacific; for example, a student might arrange to have
credits from one institution transferred to the other, or might plan to pursue a bachelor's
degree at one institution and a master's degree at the other.
Scholarships and Financial Aid
Many scholarships and scholarship programs are delivered through colleges and universities,
so a very valuable source of information about available scholarships is the financial aid
office of the college or university to which a student is applying or at which a student has
been accepted.
For example, the United States Department of Agriculture awards Multicultural Scholars Grants
to several universities, providing funds for undergraduate scholarships. US citizens,
US nationals and citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republics of Palau
and the Marshall Islands are eligible. The USDA Higher Education Programs website provides
a description of this program and a list of colleges and universities that received grants
in 2000-2001 for "Conservation and Renewable Natural Resources" and "General Food and
Agricultural Sciences." Universities with programs in both agriculture and natural resources
(forestry) will usually allow a student to retain his or her scholarship even if the student
changes departments.
The Agricultural Development in the American Pacific (ADAP) program provides partial
scholarships in agriculture, including forestry, to applicants recommended by Deans of
Land Grant institutions in the US-affiliated Pacific outside Hawai'i. Scholars may attend
any of a variety of colleges or universities, but Pacific or Land Grant institutions are
preferred. See the
ADAP webpage for more information.
Students enrolled in the Student Career Experience Program of the
USDA Forest Service Multicultural Workforce Strategic Recruitment Initiative are eligible
for academic scholarships (see below).
Many other scholarships and loans are available. Helpful web pages include the
USDA Forest Service Guide to Grants, Fellowships, and Scholarships in International Forestry
and Natural Resources and the
ADAP webpage, which includes links to scholarship search services
on the Internet.
USDA Forest Service Multicultural Workforce Strategic Recruitment Initiative
This Initiative provides undergraduate and graduate students with career opportunities and
practical work experience in natural resource management. There are nine initiative programs
nationwide; the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry collaborates most closely with the
"UC/Davis Initiative," which serves Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. The program also
provides job listings and other information useful to students of any ethnicity.
Pacific Island students are encouraged to begin their careers with internships on their home
islands; for more information, see the Internship section of our
Institute of Pacific Island Forestry program Job Opportunities page.
Often as a second step, students are referred to the Initiative's Student Temporary Employment Program,
which places students in summer jobs with USDA Forest Service units in the continental US.
For more information, see the UC/Davis website; please note that students from the US-affiliated
Pacific Islands are eligible for this program even if they are not US citizens.
Students who have completed the Student Temporary Employment Program may apply to the
Student Career Experience Program, which includes additional "on-the-job" training and
academic scholarships. Under this program, a mutual commitment is made between the student
and a Forest Service unit for a temporary or permanent position after graduation.
Arrangements may also be made for a temporary Forest Service position leading to placement
in an island forestry agency. For more information, see the
UC/Davis website. U.S. nationals
and US citizens are eligible for this program.
Students from any accredited institutions are welcome to apply to the UC/Davis Initiative;
the Initiative's recruiting is most active at the schools listed below.
Name of institution | Forestry and related programs of interest |
Students Majoring in Natural Resources |
California Polytechnic State University | Natural Resources Management |
Humboldt State University (California) | Department of Forestry & watershed Management |
Oregon State University | College of Forestry
| Michigan State University | Department of Forestry |
University of California at Berkeley | College of Natural Resources |
University of California at Davis | College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
(horticulture, urban forestry)
| University of Washington, Seattle | College of Forest Resources
| Hawaiian, Samoan and Micronesian Students |
Eastern Oregon University | Agriculture Program |
University of Hawaii at Manoa | College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
(tropical agriculture, horticulture, natural resources management)
Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Program |
University of Hawaii at Hilo | College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management
(forestry certificate, similar to a minor) |
University of Oregon | College of Arts and Sciences |
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