Careers in Biological & Physical Resources

Career Information

We frequently receive questions regarding higher education and careers as biologists in the Forest Service. Hopefully the following information will answer your questions.

General Higher Education Thoughts

If you are a high school student, you have probably already contacted your high school career counselor. As a general guideline pursuing higher education (i.e., attaining a Bachelors, Masters or PhD degree) can provide you with a key to open many career doors. You could pursue a career in academia (e.g., conduct research at a university), private industry (e.g., a biologist for The Nature Conservancy), or the government (e.g., a Forest or Regional biologist or Line officer! Or a state biologist.). Your career can span all three areas.

• For general information on university life, search the internet for 'higher education' + 'guidance'.

• Seeking information on universities with natural resource programs in particular? Search the internet for 'higher education' + 'natural resources' + 'universities'.

• If you are interested in finding universities that offer specific degrees in natural resources try doing a search for 'natural+resources' + 'wildlife', 'fisheries', 'hydrology', 'geology', 'soils science', 'weather', 'meteorology', 'atmospheric sciences' or 'botany' depending on your interest.

You can also visit the web sites of universities that host workshops . Visit the Society web sites relating to your area of interest. They all have information on higher education and have relationships with universities.

Interested in pursuing a career with the Forest Service? Check out the following resources:

• Fisheries Biologist

  • Be inspired by this video

  • Apply for this internship: Hutton Scholar

• Aquatic Ecologist

  • You could do this for a career

• Wildlife Biologist

  • Advice from a Forest Service Wildlife Biologist

• Botanist

  • This could happen in your career as a Botanist

• Soils

  • What do Soils Scientists think about?

  • Thinking big about soil - Living on Solid Ground

  • Soil in the City: International Year of the Soils

• Hydrology

  • Advice from a Forest Service Hydrologist

• Air

  • Air Quality

• Weather/Climatology

• Tips for Applying

• Job listings - Forest Service USAJOBS

Forest Service "Jobs" - General Careers Information page. From there you can explore other staffs, learn more about the agency and maybe discover the career of your dreams! The Forest Service has researchers, entomologists, silviculturists, recreationists, policy analysts, fire specialists, law enforcement, tropical forestry, administration, computer specialists, GIS and remote sensing, plant pathologists - just to name a few!

Interested in pursuing a career with the US Government? Visit these sites:

Office of Personnel Management - US Government

Job listings at large

Forest Service Office of Personnel

Overview of working for the Forest Service