Forestry and related workers plan, organize and perform operations to cultivate, conserve and exploit natural and plantation forests.
Tasks performed usually include; assessing sites for reforestation, selecting seedlings and planting trees using manual planting tools and establishing and caring for forest stands; locating trees to be felled and estimating volume of timber; operating chainsaw and other power saws to thin young forest stands, trim, top and fell trees and saw them into logs; shaping rough wooden products from logs at felling site; stacking logs and loading them in chutes or floating them down rivers; keeping watch to detect forest fires, participating in fire fighting operations, completing fire fighting reports and maintaining fire fighting equipment; controlling weeds and undergrowth in regenerating forest stands using manual tools and chemicals; operating and maintaining a skidder, bulldozer or other prime mover to pull a variety of scarification or site preparation equipment over areas to be regenerated; collecting seed cones, pruning trees, assisting in planting surveys and marking trees for subsequent operations; training and supervising other workers in forestry procedures, including forestry labourers and plant operators.