Forest and Conservation Workers
Under supervision, perform manual labor necessary to develop, maintain, or protect areas such as forests, forested areas, woodlands, wetlands, and rangelands through such activities as raising and transporting seedlings; combating insects, pests, and diseases harmful to plant life; and building structures to control water, erosion, and leaching of soil. Includes forester aides, seedling pullers, tree planters, and gatherers of nontimber forestry products such as pine straw.
6,050 people do this job in the US. $43,680 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 2%
- 1%
- 97%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 17 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fight forest fires or perform prescribed burning tasks under the direction of fire suppression officers or forestry technicians.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 36% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Perform fire protection or suppression duties, such as constructing fire breaks or disposing of brush.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 12% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Select or cut trees according to markings or sizes, types, or grades.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide assistance to forest survey crews by clearing site-lines, holding measuring tools, or setting stakes.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 8% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Thin or space trees, using power thinning saws.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h50 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Identify diseased or undesirable trees and remove them, using power saws or hand saws.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate skidders, bulldozers, or other prime movers to pull a variety of scarification or site preparation equipment over areas to be regenerated.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Spray or inject vegetation with insecticides to kill insects or to protect against disease or with herbicides to reduce competing vegetation.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Check equipment to ensure that it is operating properly.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Maintain campsites or recreational areas, replenishing firewood or other supplies and cleaning kitchens or restrooms.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 2% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain tallies of trees examined and counted during tree marking or measuring efforts.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 2% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Erect signs or fences, using posthole diggers, shovels, or other hand tools.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 2% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).