How To Become A Natural Resource Educator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a natural resource educator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Chris Halter

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a natural resource educator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.13 an hour? That's $39,792 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 1,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a natural resource educator?

Chris Halter

Senior Teaching Professor, University of California - San Diego

Like any field, education is changing and adapting to the needs of today. Anyone in education must have strong digital literacy and be able to fluidly integrate the use of technology into their work. Along with that we need data literacy. The ability to understand data and to make decisions based on the data will help guide our decisions. Cultural literacy and competency is also crucial in any social, community-based field. To truly serve others, we must understand the strengths that come from each community.

ScoreNatural Resource EducatorUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,792

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.09%

Asian 1.39%

Black or African American 0.54%

Hispanic or Latino 2.19%

Unknown 2.90%

White 91.88%

Gender

female 63.89%

male 36.11%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.2

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a natural resource educator

Explore natural resource educator education requirements

Most common natural resource educator degrees

Bachelor's

73.3 %

Master's

12.8 %

Associate

5.8 %

Start to develop specific natural resource educator skills

Skills	Percentages
Education Programs	37.02%
Public Speaking	24.84%
Water Quality	17.55%
Public Schools	9.01%
DNR	6.92%

Complete relevant natural resource educator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New natural resource educators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a natural resource educator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real natural resource educator resumes.

Research natural resource educator duties and responsibilities

Manage revolving caseload of students with IEP team including initials, transfer placements, manifestation determinations.
Design PowerPoint presentations enhancing educational environment.
Care for center animals including snakes, turtles, mammals, and fish.
Handle endangered and protect wildlife, and potentially harmful wildlife such as venomous snakes and alligators.

Prepare your natural resource educator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your natural resource educator resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable natural resource educator resume templates

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