Imagine a world where there is no fall leaves that crunch under your boots, no shady spot to lay in on a hot day, or piles of leaves for your dogs to jump in. These are just a few of the ways we find pleasure with trees, but what if there wasn’t any form of forest management? What would happen to our forests?

In all honesty, our forests technically wouldn’t need our management if it weren’t for our own reliance on forests as a resource. Forests have covered this Earth for hundreds of millions of years, long before humans even existed. Back then, forests were able to manage themselves. The trees grew and provided resources like oxygen, shelter, food, and more to the animals that lived in their forests. When the trees died, they continued to provide for the animals of the forest, just in a new way. Animals could live in their hollowed trunks, use their branches to build homes, and benefit from the nutrients as the tree decomposed. In life and death, the tree provides.

Today, trees still are a great resource for wildlife and humans alike. They provide us with the lumber we use to build our homes, the paper we need to do our jobs, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. The only difference is that now we need to properly manage our harvesting so future generations can also utilize this resource.

Forest management was created to save the trees from depletion so we could learn how to properly manage and harvest trees. There are a variety of careers that focus on maintaining our forests such as…..

• Foresters
• Silviculturist
• Electrical Engineers
• Chemical Engineers
• Forest Ranger
• Forest Technician
• Forest Health Specialist

While these are just a few of the many careers in forestry. Whether you’re a federal employee, state employee or a landowner, your role in forest management is vital to protecting our forests. Although these are very different roles, they each play a large part in keeping these lands safe and healthy. At the end of the day, we’re all working towards the same goal, and that’s sustainable management of our forests.

For more on careers in forestry, join the Into the Outdoors Adventure Team members Charlie and Lucas as they head on a “special mission” to explore the diverse career opportunities and pathways for young people interested in natural resources.