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Vocational Forest Worker

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication

You have been hired to work at a logging camp, and will be trained as you work. You sit around the table listening to other loggers describing their work. It is difficult for you to understand because, like other jobs, there is a lot of jargon.

"There isn't a lot of reading that has to be done when you are planting trees," says Yolanda Wolters. She is a worker at a reforestation company. "You may have to read a few instructions."

Other types of forestry work may include reading maps, instructions, forestry codes and equipment manuals.

This is what the skidder driver tells you:

"This is what makes up one turn. I drive the skidder up the skid trail to where the feller-buncher and the fallers are working. I back the skidder up near the log. I let the mainline out. This is where your job comes in. You are going to be pulling chokers.

"You pull the chokers and hook them around the butt of the log. When you're ready, I'll skid the log down the skid trail to the landing."

You scratch your head. Using the vocabulary below, rewrite the skidder driver's explanation, so that you or anyone could understand his job.

  • Skidder: A machine that drags logs from the bush
  • Skid trail: The path where logs are dragged from the bush
  • Skid: Drag
  • Feller-buncher: A machine that cuts and falls trees
  • Faller: A person who uses a chainsaw to fall trees
  • Mainline: A main cable on the back of the skidder
  • Chokers: Smaller cables attached to the mainline
  • Pulling chokers: Attaching the chokers to the log
  • Landing: Cleared area where the logs are cut and put on the truck
  • Deck: A pile of logs

Contact

  • Email Support
  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900
  • North Dakota Career Resource Network
    ndcrn@nd.gov | (701) 328-9733

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