Foresters
In short: today's best AI models could do about 7% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 50% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 45% of the time, stays with people.
Manage public and private forested lands for economic, recreational, and conservation purposes. May inventory the type, amount, and location of standing timber, appraise the timber's worth, negotiate the purchase, and draw up contracts for procurement. May determine how to conserve wildlife habitats, creek beds, water quality, and soil stability, and how best to comply with environmental regulations. May devise plans for planting and growing new trees, monitor trees for healthy growth, and determine optimal harvesting schedules.
10,430 people do this job in the US. $76,400 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet19 h
- Stays with people18 h
Foresters, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 19 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 18 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Develop techniques for measuring and identifying trees (under an hour); Determine methods of cutting and removing timber with minimum waste and environmental damage (under an hour); Provide advice and recommendations, as a consultant on forestry issues, to private woodlot owners, firefighters, government agencies or to companies (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 55%
- 13%
- 32%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days 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, 1%. Today's estimate: 7%.
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.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 25 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 43% of this job's working time as physical work. For 18% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 18% in any setting. 0.55 of 3, the 296th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 57%
- No robot shown 25%
- In any setting 18%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 25 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Develop techniques for measuring and identifying trees.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 15% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 2.1 work weeks | 10%Half by Oct 2027 | |
| Study different tree species' classification, life history, light and soil requirements, adaptation to new environmental conditions and resistance to disease and insects.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 15% | 1.3 work weeks1.7 work days to 4.2 work weeks | 3%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Plan and direct forest surveys and related studies and prepare reports and recommendations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 8% | 1 work week1.7 work days to 2.5 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Establish short- and long-term plans for management of forest lands and forest resources.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 8% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | 5%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Plan and supervise forestry projects, such as determining the type, number and placement of trees to be planted, managing tree nurseries, thinning forest and monitoring growth of new seedlings.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Plan and implement projects for conservation of wildlife habitats and soil and water quality.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Plan cutting programs and manage timber sales from harvested areas, assisting companies to achieve production goals.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 15%Half by Oct 2027 | |
| Supervise activities of other forestry workers.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Map forest area soils and vegetation to estimate the amount of standing timber and future value and growth.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in any setting, Deep Forestry autonomous under-canopy drone (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Analyze effect of forest conditions on tree growth rates and tree species prevalence and the yield, duration, seed production, growth viability, and germination of different species.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 4.2 work days1.3 work days to 2.5 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 | |
| Determine methods of cutting and removing timber with minimum waste and environmental damage.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | 44%Half by Dec 2026 | |
| Plan and direct construction and maintenance of recreation facilities, fire towers, trails, roads and bridges, ensuring that they comply with guidelines and regulations set for forested public lands.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | 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.
- Forest and Conservation Technicians7% now, 7% by 2028
- Range Managers7% now, 34% by 2028
- Conservation Scientists57% now, 70% by 2028
- Forest and Conservation Workers2% now, 2% by 2028
- Environmental Restoration Planners19% now, 71% by 2028
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health21% now, 68% by 2028
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).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Foresters is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 7% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 50% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (29% to 55% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Foresters come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Develop techniques for measuring and identifying trees (10% of the task's time now, 95% by the end of 2028); Determine methods of cutting and removing timber with minimum waste and environmental damage (44% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Provide advice and recommendations, as a consultant on forestry issues, to private woodlot owners, firefighters, government agencies or to companies (99% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Foresters stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Plan and direct forest surveys and related studies and prepare reports and recommendations; Plan and supervise forestry projects, such as determining the type, number and placement of trees to be planted, managing tree nurseries, thinning forest and monitoring growth of new seedlings; and Plan and implement projects for conservation of wildlife habitats and soil and water quality. Together such tasks are about 45% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Foresters?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Foresters?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 43% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 18% of the working time, 18% in any setting. Its index is 0.55 of 3. One example: Deep Forestry autonomous under-canopy drone for "map forest area soils and vegetation to estimate the amount of standing timber and future value and growth". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 25 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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