iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

being a forester

Started by thedeeredude, May 26, 2005, 01:12:16 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

thedeeredude

I'm thinking of going to a school for Forestry (PSU Mont Alto).  Anyone ever gone to this school?  Also, any foresters out there, could you give me a description of your average day at work?  Thanks.

populus

[soapbox] I suspect that asking a group of foresters for their average day at work will get a diversity of answers as wide as the sky. One of the great things about a forestry education is that it can prepare you well for almost any kind of work, but especially outdoor work. This forum has "real" foresters like SwampDonkey, by which I mean folks who do field forestry consulting and management work (Sorry if I am mis-characterizing you, SD), and people like me. I work in arboriculture, urban forestry and forest biology. I have friends who are lawyer-foresters (practice law in a forestry or arboriculture context), forest scientists, wood products specialists, wildlife officers and a wide variety of other disciplines.

If you are planning to go to forestry school, don't limit your horizons this early. Decide what interests you as you progress through the degree.  You may find that what appeals to you is something you don't know exists. We employ several  arborists who have degrees in forestry and never even heard of urban forestry until they were near graduation.

Mostly, people go into forestry because they love being outdoors. There is almost no limit to what you can do with a forestry degree, indoors or out.  Go for it!  [/soapbox]

Ron Wenrich

I went to Mont Alto back in the '60s.  But, I didn't go for the 2 year course, I went for the 4 year degree.  2 years at Mont Alto, and 2 at Unirversity Park. 

I went back for the 100th anniversary of the Mont Alto campus last year.  The campus has grown some, but it is still a small campus in a small town.  It is a really nice place to go.

The 2 year degree prepares you to be a forest technician, not a degreed forester.  The difference is usually in upward mobility.  You would be able to buy timber for a sawmill, but you cannot set yourself up in business and call yourself a forester.  You could be a timber agent.

For the most part, the only jobs available are for timber buyers.  They usually drive around looking for favorable stands of timber for harvesting.  Then, you have to locate the landowner and sell your services.  When that happens, then you go out and mark the timber, with certain management constraints in mind.

After the timber is marked, you have to develop your stand table and figure out the value of the stand.  You will enter into contract negotiations, and oversee the logging operation to make sure your crew complies with your's and the landowner's wishes.

As a timber buyer, you will also have to develop bids on jobs marked by consultants.  Sometimes this is a straight up bid or it may be a negotiation.  It is a people type of job.  You can't go out and hide in the woods.

There are a lot of other jobs you can do with a 2 year or 4 year degree.  I have been a procurement forester, log buyer, log scaler, lumber grader, head sawyer, and mill manager.  You could also be a logger.

Don't overlook the Pennsylvania College of Technology.  They also have a 2 year forestry program and have some sawmilling courses that Mont Alto doesn't.  http://www.pct.edu/
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Tillaway

Average day... right now I do contract administration.  Our unit sold about 27mmbf of timber last year.  Currently I oversee just 5 active sales but after August it will increase to about 9 or 10.  I inspect some road construction but I mostly insure that logging is done in accordance with the contract specs regarding protection of the environment, infrastructure, log accountability and insure that our management plan goals are met. I work with our purchasers, big mills and sole proprietors alike and logging companies both big and small.

I used to do the same work as SD, but things got a bit tight.  The slightest economic downturn and people stop selling timber out here and wait it out.  You can starve before things turns around.

Our unit has one forester that does nothing but plan future harvests and does all the paperwork that addresses the environmental concerns.  We have three that layout the sales and write contracts.  I sell pulp and firewood as well.  We have one forester that oversees the whole operation.  We have about 70,000 acres in our unit.
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Thank You Sponsors!