Forestry and related workers
Forestry workers perform a variety of tasks related to the planting, cultivation and protection of trees.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 0.6/10 Minimal 0.6/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 0.6/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.6/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 32% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Check equipment to ensure that it is operating properly.
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Fight forest fires or perform prescribed burning tasks under the direction of fire suppression officers or forestry technicians.
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Perform fire protection or suppression duties, such as constructing fire breaks or disposing of brush.
For this role the labels do not surface obvious candidates, so the work would start with the highest-stakes tasks below and find the AI angle in conversation.
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Check equipment to ensure that it is operating properly.
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Fight forest fires or perform prescribed burning tasks under the direction of fire suppression officers or forestry technicians.
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Perform fire protection or suppression duties, such as constructing fire breaks or disposing of brush.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Forest and Conservation Workers" (45-4011.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 17 tasks, unaided
Maintain tallies of trees examined and counted during tree marking or measuring efforts.
What still needs a person
16 of 17 tasks
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.
Explain or enforce regulations regarding camping, vehicle use, fires, use of buildings, or sanitation.
Operate skidders, bulldozers, or other prime movers to pull a variety of scarification or site preparation equipment over areas to be regenerated.
Spray or inject vegetation with insecticides to kill insects or to protect against disease or with herbicides to reduce competing vegetation.
Thin or space trees, using power thinning saws.
Identify diseased or undesirable trees and remove them, using power saws or hand saws.
Select or cut trees according to markings or sizes, types, or grades.
Prune or shear tree tops or limbs to control growth, increase density, or improve shape.
Maintain campsites or recreational areas, replenishing firewood or other supplies and cleaning kitchens or restrooms.
Erect signs or fences, using posthole diggers, shovels, or other hand tools.
Select tree seedlings, prepare the ground, or plant the trees in reforestation areas, using manual planting tools.
Provide assistance to forest survey crews by clearing site-lines, holding measuring tools, or setting stakes.
Sort tree seedlings, discarding substandard seedlings, according to standard charts or verbal instructions.
Tasks via O*NET "Forest and Conservation Workers" (45-4011.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 17 tasks, with tools
Maintain tallies of trees examined and counted during tree marking or measuring efforts.
What still needs a person
16 of 17 tasks
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.
Explain or enforce regulations regarding camping, vehicle use, fires, use of buildings, or sanitation.
Operate skidders, bulldozers, or other prime movers to pull a variety of scarification or site preparation equipment over areas to be regenerated.
Spray or inject vegetation with insecticides to kill insects or to protect against disease or with herbicides to reduce competing vegetation.
Thin or space trees, using power thinning saws.
Identify diseased or undesirable trees and remove them, using power saws or hand saws.
Select or cut trees according to markings or sizes, types, or grades.
Prune or shear tree tops or limbs to control growth, increase density, or improve shape.
Maintain campsites or recreational areas, replenishing firewood or other supplies and cleaning kitchens or restrooms.
Erect signs or fences, using posthole diggers, shovels, or other hand tools.
Select tree seedlings, prepare the ground, or plant the trees in reforestation areas, using manual planting tools.
Provide assistance to forest survey crews by clearing site-lines, holding measuring tools, or setting stakes.
Sort tree seedlings, discarding substandard seedlings, according to standard charts or verbal instructions.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Elementary occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons