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Major · Natural Resources & Conservation

Field-and-forest training for agency, industry, and consulting foresters

Forestry, General prepares students to manage forests for timber, ecology, fire, recreation, and watershed values, with coursework spanning silviculture, mensuration, GIS and remote sensing, forest economics, and dendrology. About 765 degrees are awarded each year across 47 colleges, and bachelor’s completers report a five-year earnings median of $60,722 — solid for a natural-resources field, reflecting the bachelor’s-direct path into federal-agency, state, industrial-timber, and consulting-forester roles.

Schools offering
47
Annual completions
765
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$59k

About this major

Forestry, General prepares students to manage forest areas for economic, recreational, and ecological purposes — a CIP definition that, in practice, means training people to apply silviculture, mensuration, fire science, forest economics, wildlife and watershed considerations, and increasingly remote-sensing and GIS analysis to real working landscapes. Coursework typically pairs biological-science foundations (dendrology, forest ecology, soils, plant physiology) with applied management courses (silviculture, harvesting and operations, forest economics, fire) and quantitative methods (statistics, GIS, LiDAR-based inventory). Most Society of American Foresters (SAF)-accredited programs require a multi-week summer field camp where students cruise timber, run plots, and lay out harvest units; the field-camp experience is the cultural and practical core of the major.

The major fits students who want science-grounded outdoor work with a clear professional credential. Comfort with field conditions, biological-science rigor, and quantitative methods all matter, and so does tolerance for rural duty stations — most permanent positions sit in the Pacific Northwest, Southeast timber belt, and Rocky Mountain West rather than near major metros. Students drawn to the science-and-policy interface or to species-specific work usually do better in the broader siblings (Natural Resources/Conservation, General at 1,555 completions, or Wildlife, Fish and Wildlands Science and Management at 1,947); Forestry, General is the generalist working-forester track that prepares graduates to write management plans, mark cuts, plan prescribed burns, and supervise crews.

Program scale is moderate and credential-shaped. About 765 degrees are awarded each year across 47 colleges, and the top-ten list is dominated by traditional land-grants and forestry-focused programs: Virginia Tech (88), University of Florida (66), Wisconsin-Stevens Point (60), Stephen F. Austin (58), Cal Poly Humboldt (51), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (39), Southern Illinois Carbondale (35), Louisiana Tech (33), Colorado State Fort Collins (28), and Tennessee-Knoxville (26). The career packet anchors the destination set: foresters at $70,660 with 1.2% projected growth and conservation scientists at $67,950 with 3.4% growth as the bachelor’s-entry roles, forest and conservation technicians at $54,310 with -3.2% growth as the entry-tech tier, and the postsecondary teacher role at $100,830 requiring a doctorate. The bachelor’s-direct $60,722 five-year earnings median sits comfortably above the $46,634 associate’s median, consistent with the SAF-accredited bachelor’s being the working professional credential rather than a step toward a required graduate degree.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
First-line supervisors of farming, fishing, and forestry workers $59k +2.5% High school diploma or equivalent
Forest and conservation technicians $54k -3.2% Associate's degree
Conservation scientists $68k +3.4% Bachelor's degree
Foresters $71k +1.2% Bachelor's degree
Forest and conservation workers $44k -4.7% High school diploma or equivalent
Forestry and conservation science teachers, postsecondary $101k +4.0% Doctoral or professional degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$59k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$47k

Bachelor's

$61k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you want science-grounded outdoor work with a defined professional credential rather than a desk-bound science career; you are comfortable with rural duty stations in the Pacific Northwest, Southeast timber belt, or Rocky Mountain West where most permanent forester positions actually sit; you can tolerate the seasonal-to-permanent agency hiring ladder where federal entry typically runs through GS-5/7 Pathways before converting to permanent forester roles; you want to work toward the Society of American Foresters Certified Forester credential and, in California, Oregon, North Carolina, Maine, Alabama, or Mississippi, the state Registered or Licensed Forester license; and you are willing to add strong GIS, LiDAR, and Python or R fluency on top of traditional forestry coursework so that you supervise the automation of inventory work rather than being displaced by it.

Think twice if you want a high-earning urban science career — the $70,660 forester median wage and 1.2% projected growth are solid for natural resources but well below private-sector biotech, software, or engineering wages; if your interest is wildlife biology specifically, where Wildlife, Fish and Wildlands Science and Management (1,947 completions) is the more direct track; if your draw is policy and systems-level resource management without the operational and silvicultural focus, where Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy (742 completions) fits better; if you want a research-and-graduate-school path, where Forest Sciences and Biology (188 completions) or Ecology (794 completions in Biological Sciences) build a stronger theoretical foundation; if you cannot relocate to where the jobs are, since federal-agency Pathways postings and industrial-timber positions rarely sit in the metros where most students grew up; or if the urban-forestry angle is what attracts you, since Urban Forestry (CIP 03.0508) is a separate, more municipally oriented program.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Forestry, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 0 88 88
University of Florida Gainesville, FL 0 66 66
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI 0 60 60
Stephen F Austin State University Nacogdoches, TX 0 58 58
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt Arcata, CA 0 51 51
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA 0 39 39
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL 0 35 35
Louisiana Tech University Ruston, LA 0 33 33
Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO 0 28 28
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN 0 26 26
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Wildlife, Fish and Wildlands Science and Management

1,947 completions/yr

Natural Resources/Conservation, General

1,555 completions/yr

Ecology

794 completions/yr

Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy, General

742 completions/yr

Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture

418 completions/yr

Forest Sciences and Biology

188 completions/yr

Forest Technology/Technician

184 completions/yr

Forest Management/Forest Resources Management

170 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What does a Forestry, General curriculum actually cover day-to-day?
Coursework combines biological sciences (dendrology, forest ecology, soils, plant physiology) with applied management courses (silviculture, forest mensuration, harvesting and operations, forest economics, fire ecology) and quantitative methods (statistics, GIS, remote sensing, LiDAR-based forest inventory). Most accredited programs require a multi-week summer field camp where students cruise timber, run plots, lay out roads and harvest units, and practice fire and chainsaw skills. Hands-on field work is the defining feature — students spend significant time outdoors at university research forests, on cooperator industrial lands, and on national forests. Senior-year capstones often involve preparing a stand-level or property-level management plan that integrates ecology, economics, and regulatory constraints.
Is the bachelor’s enough, or do I need a master’s?
The bachelor’s is the working credential for the field. The career packet shows foresters at $70,660 median wage with 1.2% growth and conservation scientists at $67,950 with 3.4% growth — both listed as bachelor’s-entry. The Society of American Foresters (SAF) accredits bachelor’s programs and offers the Certified Forester credential, which is increasingly required for senior consulting roles and for many state-licensed forester positions in California, Oregon, North Carolina, Maine, Alabama, and Mississippi. A master’s becomes the gatekeeping credential only for research silviculture, fire ecology, forest economics, or specialized agency-research tracks; the postsecondary teacher role at $100,830 in the packet requires a doctorate.
Where do graduates actually end up working?
Three lanes dominate. Federal agencies — the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Tribal forestry programs, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service — hire through the Pathways program at GS-5/7 entry, typically advancing to GS-9/11 mid-career, with locality pay materially affecting take-home in West Coast and Mountain West duty stations. State forestry agencies (California Department of Forestry, Oregon Department of Forestry, North Carolina Forest Service, etc.) run parallel ladders, often with state Registered or Licensed Forester credentialing requirements. The private side runs through industrial timber owners (Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier, Sierra Pacific, regional sawmills, large family timber holdings) and consulting forestry firms; private-sector industrial-forestry roles tend to carry a wage premium over agency work but cluster geographically in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast timber belt.
What does the realistic first job look like?
Most graduates enter through forestry-technician or forester-trainee roles paying $35,000–$50,000, often with a seasonal-to-permanent pattern. Federal entry typically runs through Pathways internships and seasonal GS-3/4/5 technician work in fire, timber, or recreation before converting to permanent forester positions; veteran preference is a significant factor in agency hiring competitiveness. Industrial-timber graduates more often start as procurement foresters, harvest planners, or silviculture coordinators, sometimes with a company truck and a four-county territory. The 19-4071 forest and conservation technicians line in the data ($54,310 median, -3.2% projected growth) reflects the entry-tech tier — durable but not expanding — while the foresters role at $70,660 represents the permanent-professional destination after credentialing and a few years of field experience.
How does Forestry, General compare with the related forestry CIPs?
The related-majors data shows the family. Forest Sciences and Biology (188 completions) is the research-track sibling, weighted toward ecology and physiology and aimed at students considering graduate school. Forest Management/Forest Resources Management (170 completions) is the more applied operations and economics track, often with stronger industrial-forestry placement. Forest Technology/Technician (184 completions, mostly associate’s) feeds the 19-4071 technician role rather than the 19-1032 forester role — a different career altitude. Outside the 03.05 family, Wildlife, Fish and Wildlands Science and Management (1,947 completions) and Natural Resources/Conservation, General (1,555) are broader siblings that pull more agency-and-policy-oriented students; Ecology (794, in Biological Sciences) is the academic-research track. Forestry, General sits as the generalist, SAF-accredited working-forester degree.
Is AI or remote sensing going to replace foresters?
Parts of traditional cruise work are being automated. LiDAR-based forest inventory, satellite and drone imagery, automated stand delineation, and machine-learning growth-and-yield models are reducing the labor needed for plot-by-plot timber cruising and inventory updates on industrial lands. The durable skills are the ones a screen cannot do — field judgment under variable conditions, fire behavior reading, ecology-informed silvicultural prescriptions, working with landowners and crews, and operations on the ground. Students who pair forestry training with strong GIS, remote-sensing, and Python or R fluency will be the ones interpreting and supervising those automated workflows rather than being displaced by them; those who treat technology as someone else’s job will see their entry-tech ceiling lower over time.