What does a forest technician do?
Forest technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real forest technician resumes:
- Survey back-country old-growth timber, fight forest fires, manage brush, and replant forests after harvest.
- Mark timber sale unit boundaries, sensitive areas for protection using GPS, aerial and GIS maps.
- Fall trees, cut and clear brush, and dig trenches to create firelines, using axes, chainsaws or shovels.
- Used drip torches for back lighting when need.
- Used GIS to plot and map power lines for the power company.
- Utilize the most current and innovative forestry software to prepare cruise inventory reports and GIS mapping.
- Perform mop up duties on multiple fires, putting in water bars to help forest rehabilitation.
- Collect soil erosion estimates, water analysis, vegetation data, GPS data and macro-invertebrate estimations.
- Conduct treatments ensuring state and federal pesticide application laws are follow and implementing standard operating procedures to BLM protocol.
- Act as EMT in mock medical drills providing medical assistances to injure firefighters as well as full extraction off hill side.
Forest technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Forest Technicians are proficient in GPS, Data Collection, and Harvest.
We break down the percentage of Forest Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- GPS, 27%
Worked as Team Lead with another seasonal employee to inventory timber stand information with the use of GIS and GPS tools.
- Data Collection, 15%
Assisted in data collection for recreation management systems.
- Harvest, 11%
Surveyed harvest unit boundaries and determine area of harvest units using GPS/GIS data.
- Forests, 11%
Locate and/or re-locates and re-establishes permanent forest plots using specialized forestry tools and equipment.
- GIS, 10%
Used knowledge of dendrology to identify trees to document the value of standing timber in designated GIS areas.
- Wildlife Habitat, 8%
Volunteered to work on wildlife habitat improvement projects including native plant reintroduction and fisheries improvement.
Most forest technicians use their skills in "gps," "data collection," and "harvest" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential forest technician responsibilities here:
The three companies that hire the most forest technicians are:
- Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania2 forest technicians jobs
- Indiana State Police2 forest technicians jobs
- The State of Oregon2 forest technicians jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable forest technician resume templates
Build a professional forest technician resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your forest technician resume.
Compare different forest technicians
Forest technician vs. Soil conservation aide
A fire management officer ensures regular safe housekeeping and inspections take place. They ensure fire safety audits take place and appropriate actions get implemented. Besides reporting hazards and the implemented remedial actions, fire management officers monitor the organization's daily fire safety functions, fire protection, and fire prevention. These professionals ensure that the staff members have access to the appropriate emergency response procedures and written fire safety procedures. Also, they ensure fire protection systems and fire safety equipment remain tested and maintained.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, forest technician responsibilities require skills like "harvest," "forests," "wildlife habitat," and "management practices." Meanwhile a typical soil conservation aide has skills in areas such as "sage," "mowing," "wetland," and "general upkeep." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, soil conservation aides reach similar levels of education than forest technicians. Soil conservation aides are 4.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Forest technician vs. Resource manager forester
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that forest technician responsibilities requires skills like "forests," "wildlife habitat," "management practices," and "atv." But a resource manager forester might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "management plans," "powershell," "sccm," and "mdt."
In general, resource managers forester achieve similar levels of education than forest technicians. They're 3.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Forest technician vs. Fire management officer
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, forest technicians are more likely to have skills like "gps," "data collection," "harvest," and "forests." But a fire management officer is more likely to have skills like "management plans," "logistics," "resource management," and "financial reports."
Fire management officers typically earn higher educational levels compared to forest technicians. Specifically, they're 16.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Forest technician vs. Forestry aide
Even though a few skill sets overlap between forest technicians and forestry aides, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a forest technician might have more use for skills like "data collection," "harvest," "forests," and "wildlife habitat." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of forestry aides require skills like "fire suppression," "hand tools," "rehabilitation," and "power saws. "
In general, forestry aides hold similar degree levels compared to forest technicians. Forestry aides are 0.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of forest technician
Updated January 8, 2025
