The UK Forestry Jobs Newsletter shares the best curated forestry jobs in the UK, from tree planting to director level.
Every time a forestry job is advertised at a percieved low rate of pay, the reaction is usually the same. The comments fill up quickly, people share their own experiences and someone asks the obvious question: who is meant to take the job?
It is not a simple issue. Forestry businesses and contractors are dealing with higher machinery, fuel, insurance, training, transport and compliance costs. Many are working to tight contract rates themselves, and nobody running a small business is finding things easy just now.
But forestry is skilled, physical and often safety-critical work. It can involve travel, difficult weather, long days and a level of responsibility that is hard to explain to anyone who has not worked in the sector. When a role is advertised close to the minimum wage, it is fair to ask whether that matches what is being asked of the person doing it.
The National Living Wage is now £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. That is the legal minimum, not necessarily the rate that will persuade good people to enter forestry, stay in it or build a career in it.
Pay is part of the bigger picture
Forestry needs more people, not fewer. The sector has ambitious plans for planting, managing existing woodland, supplying timber and responding to pests, disease, drought and fire. None of that happens without capable people on the ground.
Pay is not the only answer. Good training, proper progression, decent management and work that people can take pride in all matter too. But if we want forestry to compete for skilled people, we cannot pretend that wages do not matter.
It is a difficult conversation, but probably one worth having properly across the sector.
A Quick Note from Me
It is coming up to ten months since I started warming UK Forestry Jobs back up after a few quiet years, and it has been brilliant to see it gathering momentum again.
Since February, the newsletter has grown from a small carried-over list of around 100 people to more than 1,750 subscribers. The Facebook page is also only a few followers away from 6,000 (we’ll probably hit 6k by the time I hit ‘send’), and the website has had around 3,000 visitors already this month.
Thanks to everyone who has followed, subscribed, shared a post, sent in a role or passed the newsletter on. It genuinely makes a difference.
Happy job hunting.
Jack
P.S. If you enjoyed this, why not send it to someone else who might like it. Oh and check out the job posts on our Facebook page - remember to like and share them!
🔦 Jobs Spotlight 🔦
In this section, we highlight standout opportunities each week, including selected sponsored listings.
What?: JCB Fastrac Operator
Who?: Taiga Upland
Where?: Pitlochry, Highland Perthshire
How Much?: £Competitive + Benefits
What?: Harvesting – Operations Supervisor
Who?: Tilhill Forestry
Where?: Beattock, South Scotland
How Much?: £Competitive + benefits + B-Corp
Forestry Fact Corner…
🌲 The UK has around 3.29 million hectares of woodland, but that is only about 13.5% of the country’s land area. By comparison, forest covers roughly 40% of land across Europe as a whole, which gives some useful perspective when people say Britain is “covered in trees.”
Interested in featuring a sponsored job listing in this newsletter? Email us at [email protected].