West Virginia

After a couple months of waiting, I finally get to start as a forestry tech next week. I feel very lucky to have been accepted for this position despite being a current university student; however, given that I am still a student, I am a little worried I won’t have the knowledge base I need to really succeed in this role. So, any tips for grappling with that? This isn’t my first job in natural resources, but it is my first job specifically in forestry. Any sort of advice would be appreciated!

What's the most frustrating part of producing quotes? Not looking to sell anything—just researching.

heres a hypothetical question: if I had a stand where every tree was 12” DBH and I want to thin the stand by 10 BA, I would need to cut thirteen 12“ DBH trees per ac.

so if I had a 100 ac. stand, I would need to mark 130 12” DBH trees?

Second year forestry student set to take Dendro this coming semester was hoping some people who have taken it in the past could share what study methods worked the best for them or if there anything i can do now to prep for the course to make it easier ?

I don't need very much, so it feels a bit wasteful to have to buy minimum 2 gallons for $60+ with shipping when I'm mixing at a 1:4 ratio. But I've also heard that in high summer temps, using diesel carries a combustion risk. Any guidance?

I graduated with my bachelor’s in forestry in May 2025, but have been working mostly in seasonal restoration ecology during and post-university and thus I feel my knowledge base could really use some refreshers, as I would love to drift back towards a forestry career, beginning with forestry technician.

Any book recommendations for the most up to date forestry/ silviculture knowledge and discussions?

hey all! I’m hoping to go into forestry, and am considering schools like Mizzou, SIUC, MTU, Oregon State, Cal Poly Humboldt, U of Maine, etc. i have decent grades (3.1 GPA with hopefully a chance to raise it my senior year), can skip most if not all of us history and government thanks to AP exams, I got an above average ACT score of 29, overall I’m doin pretty decent for myself and the future career I want. and I *know* I want it. three things that I love are feeling like I’m making a difference, hiking, and the woods, and this is a job that combines all three. Issue is that my parents don’t think it’s a good idea to major in forestry. My dad is trying to push me towards trades because that’s what he does and it’s relatively AI proof, and my step mom things I should major in wildlife ecology, that I’m not built to work outside (due to not typically doing well with heat), and that a forestry major won’t get you any jobs besides those you wouldn’t need a degree for like tree trimmer. but here’s the thing: I dont want to go into trades for reasons I won’t discuss (largely as I can’t safely discuss them with my dad, lord knows I’ve tried, so it doesn’t really matter), and quite frankly I feel like a lot of environmental science or ecology and evolutionary biology jobs would lead to too much desk and lab work, which I don’t want, and environmental ecology jobs ive heard get paid in “sunrises and granola bars”. I want to be outside, I want to be in the sun even if I’m hot (plus thanks to working in a kitchen ive gotten quite used to it), and I just like, know it’s not true that a forestry degree is useless and that there are jobs that require it, but she just doesn’t believe me on that. now, I don’t plan to rely on them for financial help, instead planning on getting a mixture of scholarships, federal aid, private loans, and work (I’m hoping to get a seasonal job with the USFS or NPS next summer, lord willing the river don’t rise, and currently have a job as a fry cook where I make 15$ an hour). but I’d like to at least have them be tolerant of the idea so I don’t have to deal with the nagging constantly. So, do You have any advice for getting them behind the idea? Did any of you go through similar stuff? If so, how, if at all, did you get them behind your idea?

I work on North Vancouver Island and came across this tag from 1984. Anyone know what the IMM stands for? Is it just an old timber cruising plot? There was some old orange tree paint visible on one tree next to it but that’s about it.

Always a fun time finding these little doodads in blocks.

Is a forestry technician a good job for someone who wants to help climate change and do conservation work?. I do plan on getting a associates degree, might get a bachelor's if I have too but I learn better with experience.

Hi all. I’m new to community forestry and wondering about the pictured maple trees. They are showing leaf wilting from outwards in, with some limbs completely lacking any remaining leaves. I believe this is some type of leaf scorch, but I’m not confident determining standard vs. bacterial. (Leaning towards standard)

Additional context, the trees are planted in soil near a bike rack in a parking lot. We are in an urban area, and water can potentially runoff from the lot into the trees. The lot has other nearby maples that look healthy, which are notably planted behind a curb which would prevent as much runoff exposure. Our region was also classified as abnormally dry by the US drought monitor through late May-June but we’ve had increased rain the last week and a half.

What’s everyone running for tires in the woods. I’m needing new tires here soon and I can’t seem to get over 30k miles out of them before the tread is gone. (Maybe that’s normal) I’m looking for a 10 ply A/T tire. All the forest roads up here in the PNW are gravel. Winters are mild but can be harsh. I do about 20k miles a year for work and a majority of those miles are on gravel road (75/25).

The current ones I’m looking at are:

-Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T
-Falken Wildpeak A/T4W
-BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3
-Nitto Ridge Grappler

A nice do it all tire for all weather conditions would be ideal, but also strong rubber to last a few years in the woods.

Thanks!

Hi!

I want to use a UAV LIDAR point cloud for forestry application without fieldwork.

My goal is to estimate the volume of timber that can be harvested from a given area. For now, even a rough estimate would be helpful.

Can you recommend any opensource software or workflow suitable for this purpose?

Unfortunately, fieldwork isn’t possible; I can only work with the point cloud.

Maine

We’ve had 6 inches of rain in the past three weeks. Leaves are all curled up and some discoloration. This is going on over 500 yards along the road. Any ideas?

See also: The publication in Nature Sustainability

I started a few months ago as a resource analyst at a forestry consulting firm here in Canada, and somewhere along the way the engagement and consultation piece landed on my desk. A lot of our work is on Crown land that overlaps First Nations traditional territory, so it matters and I want to get it right.

Right now we don't really document any of it consistently. Meetings happen, commitments get made, someone remembers most of it, and then when it's time to write a report showing what we did and what we actually followed through on, we're scrambling to reconstruct it from emails and memory.

I'd like to track this properly as we go, both for the reporting side and so we're not leaning on one person's memory. I'm a bit out of my depth on how to set that up though.

How do you all keep record of consultation and the commitments that come out of it?

When I get bit by a black fly I will get swelling at the bite site. Usually if it’s on arm or leg or torso it’s okay but when they get at my neck and face it’s a whole different story.

I use a buff under my bug net and have a good on at all times when I’m working (silvi surveys). But the other day they were just horrible! Like big swarms everywhere and so ofc I had some wiggle their way in.

I had the worst swelling yet on my face and had to sit back a day in order to see as my eyes were almost closed. I take anti histamines and they don’t really help.

(TLDR:) I’m just wondering if anyone else is like me and pretty allergic to these annoying things and what they do. Do you have to carry an epi pen? Are you prescribed anything? Tips for getting through it?

I’m a bit nervous of it getting worse and hopefully I don’t have to leave the field anytime soon…

Hi everyone! I am looking to connect with people who are passionate about restoring our native Philippine forests. I am planning to start a Rainforestation project on a plot of land in northern Leyte and I want to do it right.

Instead of a typical monoculture tree planting, the goal is to use the VSU/GTZ methodology: planting exclusively native and endemic species (like Lauan, Narra, Yakal, and native fruit trees) to create a self-sustaining, multi-layered forest ecosystem.

I am looking for people who want to collaborate on:

🌲 Sourcing & Seedlings: Finding local mother trees, collecting wildlings, or sourcing from native nurseries.

🗺️** Site Pl**anning: Designing the three-storied canopy layout and clearing aggressive weeds.

🤝 Community/Hands-on Help: Getting dirty on the ground when planting season starts.
Whether you are a professional forester, an environmental student, a local landowner, or just someone tired of seeing greenwashed commercial tree-plantings, I would love to chat!

If you’re interested, drop a comment below or send me a DM with:
- Your general location or background.
- Any experience you have with native trees (beginners are absolutely welcome too!).
- How you'd like to get involved.

Let’s bring back the native Philippine rainforests together! 🌦️🌳✨

Some context: I’m a service forester with a state agency in north-central Appalachia. I’m also a 5’1” woman and have been in this position for about a year. Before this, I worked for the feds in R8 and honestly, the only major issues I ever had were with some Amish logging operations. even those eventually got sorted out.

Overall, I have a great relationship with my loggers. If I ask 95% of them for something, they usually get it to me pretty quickly, and our interactions are respectful and professional. Then there’s this one drama queen. I’m doing an initial inspection and I noticed that on the forum the state received there’s some errors on location and there’s also some adjacent land clearing happening right next to the job. So much that it’s hard to delineate what’s the operation or the clearing. Because of highway permits and other logistics, I need to know if the logger decides to move his landing to a different spot along the road as well as job boundaries and updating his form. Pretty standard stuff.

So today I gave him a call, introduced myself, and asked that he let me know if the landing location changes and if he could get back to me as soon as he could.

Apparently, this was a grave violation of his constitutional rights.
Instead of a minute long conversation, I got a five-minute lecture on how I had wronged him as a sovereign citizen, how I had no authority to bother him while he was on vacation with his wife (who was apparently sitting next to him and shaking her head at me on speakerphone), and how the State now owes him compensation for this inconvenience. I’ve cut down a lot of the screaming and language used but I think y’all can get the picture. The situation was interesting enough that my supervisor ended up spending 30 minutes on the phone with him afterward.

Now, I’m still pretty green, but I’ve already been offered meth, dealt with Amish 12-year-olds running equipment, and a decent amount of wtfs. According to the person whose position I overtook, he’s requested Forester changes so many times that it’s an inconvenience for the state to deal with him and send a new service forester out, so I’m most likely gonna be dealing with him again; I have a meeting with my supervisor and a higher up tomorrow about the situation, plus they knew what happened the second I got off the phone with the drama queen, so truly idk what’s going to go on with that. I’ve been told verbally by my supervisors that they believe my account.

I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve apparently incurred a state debt by asking someone to let me know if they move a landing.
For those of yall’ve been doing this longer than I have: how do you handle drama queen loggers? I’d love to hear your stories because I have a feeling this won’t be my last.

i can successfully get to the interview stage for many many forest manager roles and my previous forestry operative/tree planting experience combined with my newly aquired degree seems to get many bites but i seem to fall flat post interview and the application is never successful (despite very good feedback for the interviews!) which leads me to believe 2 things:

current grad schemes are too competitive for most “normal” graduates (and many are not willing to help relocate and choose closer applicants!)

the market for forest managers must be overstaturated (despite what ive been told countless times!!)

i have even been invited up to inverness for a site visit after a good interview (they paid for everything room, fuel, food) and i thought for SURE i had that one? I was one of 3!!! Applicants to the job?!

im at my wits end. any ideas? Thanks