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F-5132 
Engineers provide technical expertise and profes- 
sional engineering services necessary in the efficient 
resource management of our National Forests. Pres- 
ently there are approximately 1,200 engineers in the 
Forest Service of which about 1,000 are in civil engi- 
neering; the remainder are in agricultural, electrical, 
industrial, and mechanical engineering. 
Forest Service engineers are engaged in many 
diversified activities which contribute significantly to 
the development and utilization of the National Forests. 
Civil engineers work extensively in the areas of sys- 
tems planning, design, and construction for facilities 
such as roads, bridges, buildings, water supply, and 
waste treatment systems. There are also opportunities 
for engineers to specialize in systems engineering, 
computer technology, and geometronics. In addition, 
many civil engineers, land surveyors, and cartographers 
are becoming engaged in a diversified surveying pro- 
gram which includes engineering surveying, cartog- 
raphy, land surveying, and photogrammetric surveying, 
as well as the sub-specialties of topographic mapping 
and control surveying. 
Mechanical and agricultural engineers work in the 
fields of equipment development and management. 
They may specialize in areas of testing, selection, and 
use of mechanical equipment for fire prevention and 
control, chemical distribution, brush cutting, tree plant- 
ing, timber harvesting, and construction and mainte- 
nance of equipment used in Forest Service resource 
management operations. Equipment required to per- 
form certain jobs is evaluated and new equipment 
developed when commercial equipment is not available 
or cannot be modified for use. 
The large and rapidly changing field of communi- 
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Engineers surveying for a new road in Grand Mesa National Forest, 
Colorado. The layout of this road was done from aerial photographs 
using the latest photogrammetric techniques. 
cations is one where Forest Service electronic and 
electrical engineers find challenging careers. Elec- 
trical engineers are engaged in designing of remote 
telephone systems, microwave systems, electrical 
transmission and distribution, and in analyzing pri- 
vate, State, and industry use requests involving power 
line and water power requirements on National Forests. 
Increasingly the problems faced by Forest Service 
engineers have more immediate impact upon people 
than in previous years. Public opinion must be con- 
sidered and many other diverse parameters analyzed. 
This calls for imagination and ingenuity and requires 
a new dimension in engineering — a greater use of team 
skills, interpersonal behavior skills, and the concept 
of multidiscipline teams. The engineer in the Forest 
Service is part of a team made up of many disciplines — 
landscape architects, biologists, geologists, foresters, 
business management specialists, and ecologists. All 
of these disciplines work toward the solution of re- 
source-oriented management problems. 
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS 
The preferred qualification standard for entrance- 
level professional engineer positions is the successful 
completion of a full 4-year professional engineering 
curriculum leading to a bachelor’s (or higher) degree 
in engineering in an accredited college or university. 
Candidates may also qualify if they have 4 years of 
college-level education, training, and/or technical ex- 
perience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of 
the physical and mathematical sciences underlying 
professional engineering, and (2) a good under- 
standing, both theoretical and practical, of the engi- 
neering sciences and techniques and their applica- 
tions to one of the branches of engineering. (The 
knowledge and understanding gained must be equiva- 
lent to that provided by a full 4-year professional 
engineering curriculum as described in the basic 
requirement.) 
Graduate study, advanced degrees, or professional 
experience will qualify engineering candidates for 
employment at higher levels. 
