r/OregonStateUniv • u/Wade_Doesnt_Burnnn • 3d ago
What are the possibilities with a Natural Resources degree?
Outside of jobs with USFS, what are the possibilities? How difficult is it to find stable, good-paying jobs?
Curious to see what people in this major are doing… I talked to an advisor and was told the NR degree essentially overlaps with Sustainability, so you can get two degrees at the same time (or double-major, whatever it is considered as)
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u/kmarie987 Forestry 3d ago
I think it really depends on what you choose as your NR specialization and what you want to be doing. It’s a very broad field. You could go into parks, policy, enforcement, etc.
I’ve found that I didn’t need the BS in NR to get into many positions and most of my higher ranking coworkers don’t even have a degree at all. Of my NR classmates from OSU, we all have wildly different careers within the field because we had different focuses.
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u/Wade_Doesnt_Burnnn 3d ago
Okay, thank you so much for that info! Good to know. I have the GI Bill, so I want a degree as a personal goal and I can’t pick which subject because everything sounds cool to learn about haha
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u/kmarie987 Forestry 3d ago
That’s awesome! Feel free to PM me for more details! I can share a little bit more about the different focuses, what I chose, and what some friends chose and what we are all doing now. It definitely is a very cool degree
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u/ForestWhisker 3d ago
Oh didn’t realize you’re a Vet, look up the Mt, Adam’s Institute for more internships, those are vets only. Erica, the lady who you’ll be in contact with if you apply is great.
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u/AceScout 2d ago
Graduated in 2020 and will likely be starting my 5th season with the FS this spring. Currently a "forestry technician" working in fire as a patrol. So, lots of driving (I average about 150 miles a day, all on district, but that can get up to 200+ depending on what's going on), a fair amount of interacting with the public, filling in for the lookouts semi-regularly, and occasionally doing actual fire suppression stuff. Oh, and barely seeing friends and family during the summer.
It's good and I enjoy it, but I'm kinda capped at a GS4 unless I change positions. I'm trying to get out and get into NEPA/environmental protection/planning, but that's proving difficult if you don't want to live in the middle of fuckin nowhere. BUT on the plus side, if you do well enough in your undergrad, you can qualify for a lot of federal GS7 positions through "superior academic performance."
Quick note about USFS, currently they aren't hiring non-fire seasonals this season which sucks and will hopefully change at some point, but I don't have a ton of confidence overall that it's being run well seeing as they can't budget for their core workforce.
I don't know anything about the Sustainability major, but that sounds like a great idea. I had a decent time at OSU in NR and feel it was ultimately valuable, but my wants and needs have shifted in the nearly ten years since I started my degree and I think if I were to go back I'd do some things different, possibly choosing a different major. NR is great and it's broad which was good for me because I didn't know specifically what I wanted to do, but if you have an idea of the field you want to get into, it wouldn't hurt to see if there's some major that more specifically applicable.
And just for good measure and to be explicit (since it's what I'm struggling with now), federal land management at least on the west coast is largely confined to rural areas. It's something I didn't really think of as a factor for me when I started school and is probably obvious to many people, but I've realized I'm much more fond of cities and urban environments than I am rural towns. Obviously that's not true for everyone, but it's something I wish I had known about myself before I got inside that cannon on that trajectory.
Good luck and lmk if you have any questions, I'm happy to share about my college and post-college experience.
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u/Wade_Doesnt_Burnnn 2d ago
Thank you so much for all of that info! That helps so much. And yeah, that’s the thing with working in these sectors is theres not a ton of high paying, stable jobs. I also would prefer a bigger city with better food options and amenities.
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u/AceScout 2d ago
Yeah I'm right there with you on the city amenities. High paying has never been too important for me, but stability is. It's cool to get paid for the equivalent of 8-10 months in a 6-month span (only possible in fire btw, no other seasonals get overtime, at least in the FS), but it's less cool having to neglect relationships, interests, etc during that time. Might be different if I wasn't pushing 35, but that's the way it goes...
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u/Wade_Doesnt_Burnnn 1d ago
Yeah, I get that. I hope it works out for you moving forward and you can get to a better spot!
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u/AceScout 1d ago
Thanks man. Hope that didn't come across as trauma dumping or whatever haha, I think the insight is good to take into account though depending on what direction you're leaning toward. Take care!
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u/Wade_Doesnt_Burnnn 1d ago
No, not at all! I was looking for the reality of pursuing it and that really helped.
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u/Successful_Will9805 3d ago
Planetary Ecologist
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u/Wade_Doesnt_Burnnn 3d ago
Can you elaborate a bit more? what does that entail and that sounds like something I might even need a masters for
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u/ForestWhisker 3d ago
State DNR’s, Game Warden, Park Ranger, Range Technician, Forestry Technician are just some. But for some of these if you want to move up and get better pay you’re eventually going to need to get a masters that’s specialized in what you want to do. But what I’d really really recommend you do is apply for internships and summer jobs every single year. Go work a summer as a forestry technician or internship as a park ranger. Americorps, SCA, and a few others are great and usually provide an education award as well.