Description
Under supervision, perform manual labor necessary to develop, maintain, or protect areas such as forests, forested areas, woodlands, wetlands, and rangelands through such activities as raising and transporting seedlings; combating insects, pests, and diseases harmful to plant life; and building structures to control water, erosion, and leaching of soil. Includes forester aides, seedling pullers, tree planters, and gatherers of nontimber forestry products such as pine straw.
- • Check equipment to ensure that it is operating properly.
- • Confer with other workers to discuss issues, such as safety, cutting heights, or work needs.
- • Fight forest fires or perform prescribed burning tasks under the direction of fire suppression officers or forestry technicians.
- • Perform fire protection or suppression duties, such as constructing fire breaks or disposing of brush.
- • Select or cut trees according to markings or sizes, types, or grades.
- • Identify diseased or undesirable trees and remove them, using power saws or hand saws.
- • Spray or inject vegetation with insecticides to kill insects or to protect against disease or with herbicides to reduce competing vegetation.
- • Thin or space trees, using power thinning saws.
- • Maintain tallies of trees examined and counted during tree marking or measuring efforts.
- • Erect signs or fences, using posthole diggers, shovels, or other hand tools.
- • Prune or shear tree tops or limbs to control growth, increase density, or improve shape.
- • Select tree seedlings, prepare the ground, or plant the trees in reforestation areas, using manual planting tools.
- • Provide assistance to forest survey crews by clearing site-lines, holding measuring tools, or setting stakes.
- • Explain or enforce regulations regarding camping, vehicle use, fires, use of buildings, or sanitation.
- • Operate skidders, bulldozers, or other prime movers to pull a variety of scarification or site preparation equipment over areas to be regenerated.
- • Maintain campsites or recreational areas, replenishing firewood or other supplies and cleaning kitchens or restrooms.
- • Sort tree seedlings, discarding substandard seedlings, according to standard charts or verbal instructions.
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
