Information About Foresters

By Carey Bourdier


If you have a love of nature and its preservation, one job that you might consider is that of a forester. This is a field of highly trained and educated individuals who love to work outdoors and ensure the proper management of our forests and the logging industry. This is also an ancient profession that dates back to medieval times.

In ancient times, the forester was a type of law enforcement agent. This person monitored the forest lands of kings and lords, ensuring that poachers were not illegally killing the forest animals, managing game and also sometimes hunting down criminals that might be hiding in the woods. In addition, the forester also dealt with the sale and usage of timber grown on the property. Before he gained famed as the author of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer worked as a forester in Somerset, England.

The job of modern foresters generally no longer involves capturing pheasant poachers, but instead focuses on tasks such as forestry management and finding ways to preserve and sustain forests. Training for this job includes earning a degree in some type of forestry, and there are two-year certificate programs, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and even doctorate in different types of forestry. Universities around the world offer many types of forestry degrees.

Some foresters become timber foresters and work primarily for logging operations. This type of forester is concerned with sustainable management of our forests. While our need for timber-based products is high, deforestation can have catastrophic effects to the environment, so important tasks of management, replanting and proper harvesting of timber are supported by foresters.

A forester who works primarily for the U.S. Forest Service or perhaps is hired to help a private forest owner with conservation is known as a conservation forester, and they accomplish many important tasks. There are many tools used by foresters to help them accomplish tasks such as determining tree age, tree height and diameter. The tools that measure height include a clinometer or inclinometer which calculates the angles of slope. You also can gauge height using a hypsometer, and this tool can be used to measure diameter as well. To determine age, a forester uses an increment borer.

Foresters are concerned with more than just trees, and they also focus on land management, watershed preservation and trying to keep an overall ecological balance in the area in which they are working or consulting. They survey trees but also collect data about other types of plants, data about animals and also data about various water sources within an area.




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