What is Forestry?

It is a practice in the sense that medicine and law are practices. The education of forestry practitioners is accredited by a professional association (Society of American Foresters) and their professional conduct is guided and governed by a Code of Ethics. There is much more to being a forester than taking a few courses.

Sound forestry decisions consider the current and future health of the forest and strive to ensure that benefits will be available for future generations.

Although trees are the predominant plant component of forests, foresters manage all of the resources found in forests. You will, therefore, find foresters concerned with trees, animals (both game and non-game), soils, water, insects, diseases (both tree and animal) and human beings.

This includes the obvious things we take from forests – like wood and game species, but also includes less obvious things like water quality and quantity and benefits that have real value but are hard to measure – like wilderness, non-game and endangered species, recreation opportunities, clean air and biodiversity. The field of forestry can cover it all.