Using incredibly efficient high-tech equipment, loggers cut, measure and stack trees from the forest strategically to ensure the safety of the logging crew and the long-term health of the forest.  Logging involves many different types of specialized machinery and operators including feller bunchers, skidders and loaders. Loggers are up before the sun rises and home early.

Foresters, or forest managers oversee public or private forestlands. Their job is keep forests thriving by developing short- and long-term plans for planting and growing, harvesting, monitoring trees for healthy growth, and making sure forest practices comply with Idaho law and environmental regulations. If you care about wildlife, the environment and forests and you are most comfortable working outdoors and getting your hands dirty, forestry may be a career for you.

Mill work, whether at a paper or lumber products manufacturing facility, involves very high tech, often computer and laser assisted, equipment. In a lumber mill, logs are cut for lumber for building materials such as framing, flooring, windows, and doors. Machine operators in paper manufacturing make various paper products such as tissue, paper towels and paper board.  High-demand positions at mills include engineers, electricians, mechanics and machine operators.

Once the trees have been harvested, it’s the job of the log hauler to safely load and transport the logs on a semi or 18-wheel truck to a manufacturing facility for processing.  Log truck drivers work for lumber producers, mills, logging companies or as  an independent owner-operators who own their trucks and contract their services to different businesses.  Log hauling requires specialized knowledge and equipment.