Where Foresters Work
Forestry is primarily an out-of-door occupation. Some indoor work in the formulation of plans, writing of reports, handling of correspondence, and other office routine, is of course necessary, particularly in the case of those charged with the administration of large areas. But the average forester must spend the bulk of his time in the open, in the forests for which he is caring. Sometimes his headquarters may be in a small town or sometimes in a more or less isolated situation in the woods themselves. In either case his daily work will ordinarily take him into the open in sunshine and in rain. Occasionally he may be absent from home for several weeks at a time carrying his bed and provisions on his back, or, if he is fortunate, on a pack animal.
So far as geographical location is concerned, opportunities for foresters have heretofore been mainly in the mountain regions of the West where the National Forests are located. As forestry comes to be practiced more and more on State Forests and on private lands, however, similar opportunities will develop in the East. There is no reason why large numbers of foresters should not eventually be employed wherever forests occur, and this means practically throughout the country except in the Great Plains and in the farming regions of the Central States and Middle West.