forest worker
Forest workers carry out a variety of jobs to care for and manage trees, woodland areas and forests. Their activities include planting, trimming, thinning and felling trees and protecting them from pests, diseases and damage.
forest worker forest workers carry out a variety of jobs to care for and manage trees, woodland areas and forests. Their activities include planting, trimming, thinning and felling trees and protecting them from pests, diseases and damage. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include sustainable forest management, pollution prevention, reforestation, control tree diseases, perform pest control.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £26,737 a year for Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations n.e.c. (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 9119). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Elementary occupations” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only forest worker, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 9. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Public Safety and Security
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Geography
- Biology
- Communications and Media
- Transportation
What you'd actually do
- Check equipment to ensure that it is operating properly.
- Fight forest fires or perform prescribed burning tasks under the direction of fire suppression officers or forestry technicians.
- Perform fire protection or suppression duties, such as constructing fire breaks or disposing of brush.
- Confer with other workers to discuss issues, such as safety, cutting heights, or work needs.
- Maintain tallies of trees examined and counted during tree marking or measuring efforts.
- Explain or enforce regulations regarding camping, vehicle use, fires, use of buildings, or sanitation.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does forest worker do?
Forest workers carry out a variety of jobs to care for and manage trees, woodland areas and forests. Their activities include planting, trimming, thinning and felling trees and protecting them from pests, diseases and damage.
What skills does forest worker need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include sustainable forest management, pollution prevention, reforestation, control tree diseases, perform pest control, work independently in forestry services. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace forest worker?
Our AI-durability model gives forest worker a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.