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Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

Forest/Conservation Worker

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication

As a forestry technician, you are responsible for looking after the health of forests. This includes attacks by insects. The mountain pine beetle population has increased and has become an epidemic in your area. This beetle kills pine trees when it lays eggs under the bark. Those eggs hatch and cut off the tree's supply of nutrients.

Many levels of government have become involved in conservation efforts. You and your team have been trying to manage the infestation. One technique you've tried is doing controlled burns. You must present your project's findings at a community meeting. You have to explain how the controlled burns have helped control the pine beetle. The community doesn't like the controlled burns very much, so you have to tell them about the benefits.

"Communication is very important -- from having radios or a means to communicate between people working in isolation, to having to communicate what the next step is for a certain area to the different people who need it," says Jason Hinks. He is a forestry technician.

You will be speaking to people who are not necessarily from the forest industry, so you must be very clear and use terminology that anyone can understand. Also, make sure to follow a logical order.

Here's what you covered in your report:

  1. Your objective was to determine the post-burn attack by beetles in burned and unburned trees
  2. The burn area had a high concentration of beetle-infested, mature pine trees
  3. The burn was September 25 to 28
  4. You burned a 500 foot x 50 foot grid
  5. The result: a 48 percent reduction in beetle production per tree in the burn area