The forestry profession encompasses the science and practice of establishing, managing, using and conserving forests, trees and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs and values (USDA.gov). Forestry is a common term used to describe the entire forest industry from natural resource management to forest products manufacturing.

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Working forests are vital across the globe because they provide millions of jobs, environmental benefits and economic benefits to us all (Forest2Market). The forest industry employs over a million people in the United States and is one of the top ten manufacturing industries in the nation. The industry is also the main driver of sustainability practices and natural resource conservation due to habitat improvement for wildlife and active forest management practices such as…

- harvesting to reduce carbon leakage from dying and rotting trees
- prescribed burning prevent wildfires by removing debris and plants that could act as fuel for wildfires
- planting to restore implement young forests that can absorb three times as much carbon as mature trees

While forestry jobs do harvest mature trees they also see to the replanting of new trees and the overall health of the forest. Thanks to sustainable practices the U.S. has more trees than it did 100 years ago. (8billiontrees.com)

No. The forestry industry offers a variety of work environments from offices, manufacturing facilities, heavy equipment, trucks and the great outdoors. Many jobs offer the opportunity to work both indoors and outdoors.

While large scale destruction of trees or deforestation is considered bad for ecosystems, climate and human life, this type of tree cutting is not performed in the U.S. Some benefits of harvesting trees include: sustainable timber for forest products, to protect everyone's safety when a tree becomes damaged or diseased, to keep pest and disease from spreading to healthy trees, to thin out the forest and allow trees to grow better and to create habitat for wildlife.

No. While some careers in the forest industry do require an associate, bachelor's or master's degree, many only require technical or on-the-job training. In the forest industry more education does not necessarily equate to higher salary.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing carbon to prevent it from entering the entering the earth’s atmosphere. The forest industry is able to sequester massive amounts of carbon through planting forests, allowing trees to capture and store carbon during growth and then harvesting those trees and turning them into products that continue to store the carbon. The wood in your house, rulers, furniture, and Amazon boxes is actively storing carbon.