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What Do Logging Equipment Operator Do?
Career Description Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable winches, hoisting rack, or crane boom, to fell tree; to skid, load, unload, or stack logs; or to pull stumps or clear brush.
What Do Logging Equipment Operators Do On a Daily Basis?
- Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness, and according to established industry or company standards.
- Drive and maneuver tractors and tree harvesters to shear the tops off of trees, cut and limb the trees, and cut the logs into desired lengths.
- Calculate total board feet, cordage, or other wood measurement units, using conversion tables.
- Drive crawler or wheeled tractors to drag or transport logs from felling sites to log landing areas for processing and loading.
- Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees.
- Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms, to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush.
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Things a Logging Equipment Operator Should Know How to Do
These are the skills Logging Equipment Operators say are the most useful in their careers:
Operation and Control: Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Operation Monitoring: Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Equipment Maintenance: Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Quality Control Analysis: Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
Troubleshooting: Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
Other Logging Equipment Operator Job Titles
- Forder Operator
- Processor Operator
- Log Hauler
- Grapple Skidder Operator
- Lumber Stacker Driver
Job Demand for Logging Equipment Operators
In the United States, there were 39,100 jobs for Logging Equipment Operator in 2016. There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Logging Equipment Operator. Due to new job openings and attrition, there will be an average of 4,200 job openings in this field each year.
The states with the most job growth for Logging Equipment Operator are Oregon, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Watch out if you plan on working in Alaska, Georgia, or Vermont. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Salary for a Logging Equipment Operator
The average yearly salary of a Logging Equipment Operator ranges between $25,750 and $60,320.
Logging Equipment Operators who work in Idaho, Washington, or California, make the highest salaries.
Below is a list of the median annual salaries for Logging Equipment Operators in different U.S. states.
State | Annual Mean Salary |
---|---|
Alabama | $38,520 |
Arizona | $47,230 |
Arkansas | $41,870 |
California | $51,520 |
Colorado | $39,480 |
Florida | $38,560 |
Georgia | $38,020 |
Idaho | $55,520 |
Indiana | $34,650 |
Kentucky | $31,090 |
Louisiana | $43,010 |
Maine | $36,840 |
Maryland | $42,500 |
Michigan | $35,880 |
Minnesota | $42,740 |
Mississippi | $38,430 |
Missouri | $34,080 |
Montana | $43,260 |
New Hampshire | $40,910 |
New York | $40,470 |
North Carolina | $45,090 |
Ohio | $33,460 |
Oklahoma | $46,560 |
Oregon | $46,910 |
Pennsylvania | $38,730 |
South Carolina | $40,600 |
South Dakota | $40,530 |
Tennessee | $35,200 |
Texas | $42,190 |
Vermont | $41,250 |
Virginia | $43,150 |
Washington | $51,060 |
West Virginia | $33,720 |
Wisconsin | $37,880 |
Wyoming | $43,730 |
Tools & Technologies Used by Logging Equipment Operators
Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Logging Equipment Operators may use on a daily basis:
How to Become a Logging Equipment Operator
What kind of Logging Equipment Operator requirements are there?
How Long Does it Take to Become a Logging Equipment Operator?
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References:
Image Credit: Hic85 via Public Domain
More about our data sources and methodologies.