Logger

I. JOB SUMMARY

Main Topic: Physical Geography
Secondary Topic: Environment and Society

Overview:  Logging workers harvest thousands of acres of forests each year. Loggers include fallers, buckers, tree climbers, choke setters, rigging slingers and chasers, log sorters, markers, movers, and chippers, logging equipment operators and log graders and sorters. The timber they harvest provides the raw material for countless consumer and industrial products. Logging workers typically cut down trees, fasten cables around logs to be dragged by tractors, operate machinery that drag logs to the landing or deck area, separate logs by species and type of wood and load them onto trucks, drive and maneuver feller–buncher tree harvesters to shear trees and cut logs into desired lengths, grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness and inspect equipment for safety, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks, before using the equipment. The following are examples of Logger job titles:

Foresters: A Forester is a professional with a college-level education and experience in a broad range of forest-related topics, including forest and wildlife ecology, economics, legal issues, and the growing and harvesting of forest products. Private and Public Foresters supervise activities around forest conservation, prepares sties for new trees, manage forest regeneration, participate in fire suppression, inventory the types, amount, and locations of timber on a property and determine how to remove timber with minimal damage. Timber harvesting requires expertise—such as knowledge of current price information and familiarity with markets, jargon, contracts, and environmental regulations that apply to the operation—that most landowners do not have. Private foresters help the land owners in understanding and abiding by these regulations.

Logging services not only harvest timber but they also need to consider finding and marking property boundaries; using GPS and GIS technology to map boundaries and other special features (forest types, trails, streams, habitat locations); protecting the wildlife habitat; monitoring conservation easement; and controlling invasive species. Hence, they need geographic skills as the issues they handle are directly related to the geographic location and its environment.

Geographers at work: Physical geographers, Environmental geographers, GIS and remote sensing specialists Health geographers, human geographers, social geographers, environmental geographers

Recommended College Courses: Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, Advanced GIS, Remote Sensing, Introduction to Physical Geography, Environmental Management, Introduction in Environmental Geography, Natural Resource Use and Management, Regional Field Studies, Landscape Biogeography, Parks and Protected Places, Remote Sensing and Earth Observation, Economic Geography

Skills:  Mapping and modeling, geographic information systems, computer and database systems, spatial analysis, map reading and interpretation, GIS, Remote sensing, Geospatial technology, Resource management, Quantitative and field methods, Environmental Mapping and modeling, Field methods, Location and landscape analysis

Occupation Group: Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

Learn more about Logger from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/farming-fishing-and-forestry/logging-workers.htm#tab-1