Forestry Worker
What the work is
Assists with cultivating, maintaining and protecting plantation and private native forests.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Maintains forest roads, buildings, facilities, signs and equipment
- Kills weeds, fells and de-barks non-productive trees, and thins young plantations
- Collects seeds and cones, and cultivates and plants seedlings for reforestation purposes
- Applies fertilisers and pesticides to individual trees and general forest areas
- May engage in fire prevention, control and suppression activities
- May assist with measuring and recording data for maintaining and enhancing the health and productivity of forested areas, such as seedling survival surveys
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a bush regeneration crew working on a creek corridor beside a new housing estate, with a plantation crew on the hill above. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- Native seedlings go in along a creek that was choked with weeds and now looks alive
- A wallaby or a bird returns to a patch you restored months ago
- Rain arrives after planting day and the whole crew grins
Hard days
- Steep, rough ground with scratchy weeds, heat and flies
- A neighbour who is upset about the work and wants to argue about it
- A fire-danger day when the work you planned has to stop
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 842932, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.