One of the most common questions a field forester hears is, "What exactly do you do?" Particularly in California, the answer is complicated. In our state, a forester acts as an intermediary between landowners, loggers, and the agencies charged with implementing environmental laws and regulations.
The first part of the forester's job is to find out what the landowner's objectives for the property are, and then work within the legal guidelines to meet those objectives. Many foresters also have a personal code of ethics and will only work with clients who are in agreement with those ethics.
The second part of the forester's job is to come up with a realistic plan for harvesting and other management activities, such as planting and road improvements. The plan must follow all the state's rules and has to make sense in the field.
In the course of writing the plan, a forester will measure trees, determine appropriate silvicultural systems and harvesting methods, classify watercourses, assess habitat for threatened or endangered species, call for spotted owls, assess roads, survey for archaeological sites, and more. In the office, the forester will come up with a written version of the plan according to state requirements. This means sending out public notices, writing detailed narrative descriptions, as well as making many maps that show everything from the location of springs to exact locations where roads need to be fixed.
The next part of the forester's job is to interface with the state agencies that must approve the plan. This means meetings with representatives from CDF as well as agencies such as Water Quality, Fish & Game, and others. Often the forester and agency reps will work out different interpretations of the same law, or negotiate when agency representatives want work done over and above what is required.
And finally, the forester will work with the logger to make sure the job is done according to the plan.
Through all this, the forester works to find the balance between meeting the requirements and requests of the agencies and what the landowner and logger can realistically do. That can be a very difficult and delicate balance, prompting one fellow forester colleague to comment, "When everyone's a little mad at you, you know you're doing your job right."
Clare Nunamaker is a Registered Professional Forester and member of NorCal SAF and the Forest Guild.
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