Series 0462

Forestry Technician

Forestry technicians who do hands-on work in forests, such as fighting wildfires, marking timber, maintaining trails, and collecting field data. Most jobs are with the Forest Service, and many are wildland firefighter positions.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

0400 Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences Group · General Schedule

See open 0462 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 213
Open now: 16
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Rising (+74%)
Demand score: 73/100
Remote opportunity score: 13/100
Veteran opportunity score: 91/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GW-4 to GW-9

Most common promotion potential: GW-9

GW pay plan, used by 51% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$57,670 to $81,343 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 88%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 12%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 5%
Telework eligible (open now): 13%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of Agriculture (155)
Department of the Interior (44)
Department of the Navy (6)
Department of the Army (4)
Department of the Air Force (2)

Top states

Oregon (68)
Idaho (54)
California (52)
Washington (49)
Montana (39)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings usually peak in October, August, and March and are lowest in December and September.

Typical postings for series 0462 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	7% above average
February	16% below average
March	18% above average
April	20% below average
May	12% below average
June	19% below average
July	About average
August	59% above average
September	24% below average
October	60% above average
November	19% below average
December	35% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 0462 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	2,088
FY 2019	1,645
FY 2020	1,572
FY 2021	1,688
FY 2022	2,264
FY 2023	1,511
FY 2024	925
FY 2025	391
FY 2026	197

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 0462 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	34
Jan 2026	9
Feb 2026	18
Mar 2026	27
Apr 2026	6
May 2026	15
Jun 2026	1
Jul 2026	22
Aug 2026	22
Sep 2026	6
Oct 2026	38
Nov 2026 (month to date)	15

0401 General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences 1,076 postings in 12 months
0456 Wildland Fire Management 784 postings in 12 months
0404 Biological Science Technician 456 postings in 12 months
0457 Soil Conservation 103 postings in 12 months
0486 Wildlife Biology 102 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.