Education:
64%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)
12%
Some College Courses
Log Graders and Scalers
This is a sub-career of
Logging Worker
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Select a specialized sub-career for more details.
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Job Outlook:
Decline
Education:
High school diploma or equivalent
Salary
High:
$61,100.00
Average:
$44,570.00
Hourly
Average:
$21.43
What they do:
Grade logs or estimate the marketable content or value of logs or pulpwood in sorting yards, millpond, log deck, or similar locations. Inspect logs for defects or measure logs to determine volume.
On the job, you would:
- Evaluate log characteristics and determine grades, using established criteria.
- Record data about individual trees or load volumes into tally books or hand-held collection terminals.
- Measure felled logs or loads of pulpwood to calculate volume, weight, dimensions, and marketable value, using measuring devices and conversion tables.
Important Qualities
Communication skills. Logging workers must communicate with other crew members so that they can cut and delimb trees efficiently and safely.
Decision-making skills. Logging workers must make quick, intelligent decisions when hazards arise.
Detail oriented. Logging workers must watch gauges, dials, and other indicators to determine whether their equipment and tools are working properly.
Physical stamina. Logging workers need to be able to perform laborious tasks repeatedly.
Physical strength. Logging workers must be able to handle heavy equipment.
Personality
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
|---|---|---|---|
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88% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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85% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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84% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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82% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. | |
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76% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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71% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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71% | Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. | |
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69% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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69% | Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. | |
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67% | Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. | |
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65% | Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. | |
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65% | Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
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83% | Realistic - Work involves designing, building, or repairing of equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors. Realistic occupations are often associated with engineering, mechanics and electronics, construction, woodworking, transportation, machine operation, agriculture, animal services, physical or manual labor, athletics, or protective services. | |
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61% | Conventional - Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Values of the Work Environment |
|---|---|---|---|
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61% | Independence - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. |
Aptitude
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
|---|---|---|---|
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72% | Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). | |
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66% | Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem. |
Job Details
Responsibilities
Direct material handling or moving activities.
Evaluate log quality.
Record agricultural or forestry inventory data.
Mark agricultural or forestry products for identification.
Measure physical characteristics of forestry or agricultural products.
Mark agricultural or forestry products for identification.
Measure physical characteristics of forestry or agricultural products.
Evaluate log quality.
Evaluate log quality.
Drive passenger vehicles.
Communicate with other workers to coordinate activities.
Record agricultural or forestry inventory data.
Cut trees or logs.
Operate forestry equipment.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
|---|---|---|---|
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99% | Outdoors, Exposed to Weather - How often does this job require working outdoors, exposed to all weather conditions? | |
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96% | Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets - How much does this job require wearing common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hard hats or life jackets? | |
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91% | Frequency of Decision Making - How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? | |
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89% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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84% | Freedom to Make Decisions - How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer? | |
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82% | Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls - How much does this job require using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls? | |
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80% | Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer? | |
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78% | Importance of Being Exact or Accurate - How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? | |
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75% | Exposed to Hazardous Equipment - How often does this job require exposure to hazardous equipment? | |
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73% | Very Hot or Cold Temperatures - How often does this job require working in very hot (above 90 F degrees) or very cold (below 32 F degrees) temperatures? | |
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70% | Time Pressure - How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? | |
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70% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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69% | Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? | |
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67% | Sounds, Noise Levels Are Distracting or Uncomfortable - How often does this job require working exposed to sounds and noise levels that are distracting or uncomfortable? | |
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67% | Importance of Repeating Same Tasks - How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job? | |
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67% | Exposed to Contaminants - How often does this job require working exposed to contaminants (such as pollutants, gases, dust or odors)? | |
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84% | Duration of Typical Work Week - Number of hours typically worked in one week. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
|---|---|---|---|
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76% | Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People - Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. | |
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75% | Documenting/Recording Information - Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. | |
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74% | Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information - Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity. | |
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72% | Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials - Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. | |
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72% | Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards - Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards. | |
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71% | Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. | |
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70% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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69% | Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events - Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. | |
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68% | Processing Information - Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. | |
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68% | Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings - Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems. | |
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67% | Making Decisions and Solving Problems - Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. |
What Logging Workers Do
Loggers cut trees with hand-held power chain saws or mobile felling machines.
Logging workers harvest thousands of acres of forests each year. The timber they harvest provides the raw material for countless consumer and industrial products.
Duties
Logging workers typically do the following:
- Cut down trees
- Fasten cables around logs to be dragged by tractors
- Operate machinery that drag logs to the landing or deck area
- Separate logs by species and type of wood and load them onto trucks
- Drive and maneuver feller–buncher tree harvesters to shear trees and cut logs into desired lengths
- Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness
- Inspect equipment for safety, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks, before using the equipment
The cutting and logging of timber is done by a logging crew. The following are examples of types of logging workers:
Fallers cut down trees with hand-held power chain saws.
Buckers work alongside fallers, trimming the tops and branches of felled trees and bucking (cutting) the logs into specific lengths.
Tree climbers use special equipment to scale tall trees and remove their limbs. They carry heavy tools and safety gear as they climb the trees, and are kept safe by a harness attached to a rope.
Choke setters fasten steel cables or chains, known as chokers, around logs to be skidded (dragged) by tractors or forwarded by the cable-yarding system to the landing or deck area, where the logs are separated by species and type of product.
Rigging slingers and chasers set up and dismantle the cables and guy wires of the yarding system.
Log sorters, markers, movers, and chippers sort, mark, and move logs on the basis of their species, size, and ownership. They also tend machines that chip up logs.
Logging equipment operators use tree harvesters to fell trees, shear off tree limbs, and cut trees into desired lengths. They drive tractors and operate self-propelled machines called skidders or forwarders, which drag or otherwise transport logs to a loading area.
Log graders and scalers inspect logs for defects and measure the logs to determine their volume. They estimate the value of logs or pulpwood. These workers often use hand-held data collection devices into which they enter data about trees.
A logging crew might consist of the following members:
- one or two tree fallers or one or two logging equipment operators with a tree harvester to cut down trees
- one bucker to cut logs
- two choke setters with tractors to drag felled trees to the loading deck
- one logging equipment operator to delimb, cut logs to length, and load the logs onto trucks
Work Environment
Logging workers held about 52,300 jobs in 2022. Employment in the detailed occupations that make up logging workers was distributed as follows:
| Logging equipment operators | 35,300 |
| Fallers | 6,500 |
| Log graders and scalers | 5,600 |
| Logging workers, all other | 4,900 |
The largest employers of logging workers were as follows:
| Logging | 46% |
| Self-employed workers | 28 |
| Sawmills and wood preservation | 11 |
| Landscaping services | 6 |
| Forestry | 3 |
Logging is physically demanding and can be dangerous. Workers spend all their time outdoors, sometimes in poor weather and often in isolated areas. The increased use of enclosed machines has decreased some of the discomforts caused by bad weather and has generally made logging much safer.
Most logging work involves lifting, climbing, and other strenuous activities, although machinery has eliminated some heavy labor. Falling branches, vines, and rough terrain are constant hazards, as are dangers associated with felling trees and handling logs.
Chain saws and other power equipment can be dangerous; therefore, workers must be careful and must use proper safety measures and equipment, such as hardhats, safety clothing, hearing protection devices, and boots.
Injuries and Illnesses
Despite the industry’s strong emphasis on safety, logging workers sometimes get injured on the job. And although fatalities are uncommon, fallers experience one of the highest rates of occupational fatalities of all occupations. Most fatalities occur through contact with a machine or an object, such as a log.
Work Schedules
Workers sometimes commute long distances between their homes and logging sites. In more densely populated states, commuting distances are shorter. Logging work is often seasonal, and workers can find more employment opportunities during the warmer months because snow and cold weather adversely affect working conditions.
Getting Started
How to Become a Logging Worker
Most logging workers have a high school diploma.
Most logging workers have a high school diploma. They get on-the-job training to become familiar with forest environments and to learn how to operate logging machinery.
Education
A high school diploma is enough for most logging worker jobs. Some vocational or technical schools and community colleges offer associate’s degrees or certificates in forest technology. This additional education may help workers get a job. Programs may include field trips to observe or participate in logging activities.
A few community colleges offer education programs for logging equipment operators.
Training
Many states have training programs for loggers. Although specific coursework may vary by state, programs usually include technical instruction or field training in a number of areas, including best management practices, environmental compliance, and reforestation.
Safety training is a vital part of logging workers’ instruction. Many state forestry or logging associations provide training sessions for logging equipment operators, whose jobs require more technical skill than other logging positions. Sessions take place in the field, where trainees have the opportunity to practice various logging techniques and use particular equipment.
Logging companies and trade associations offer training programs for workers who operate large, expensive machinery and equipment. These programs often culminate in a state-recognized safety certification from the logging company.
Job Outlook
Overall employment of logging workers is projected to decline 5 percent from 2022 to 2032.
Despite declining employment, about 7,100 openings for logging workers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. All of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment
The mechanization of logging operations and improvements in logging equipment have increased productivity, which is expected to reduce demand for logging workers. However, the need to prevent destructive wildfires by thinning susceptible forests is expected to support some employment.
Contacts for More Information
For information about timber-cutting and logging careers, visit
Similar Occupations
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of logging workers.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Conservation Scientists and Foresters |
Conservation scientists and foresters manage the land quality of forests, parks, rangelands, and other natural resources. |
Bachelor's degree | $64,420 |
|
Construction Equipment Operators |
Construction equipment operators drive, maneuver, or control the heavy machinery used to construct roads, buildings, and other structures. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $51,050 |
|
Forest and Conservation Workers |
Forest and conservation workers perform physical labor to improve the quality of natural areas such as forests, rangelands, and wetlands. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $32,270 |