Faller

When you think “ Lumberjack, ” you probably imagine a big, burly guy in a checkered shirt, with a beard and an ax, going out into the wilderness to make his living chopping down trees. Well, logging has changed a lot over the years, but if you want to be the person chopping down those trees (“falling” or “felling” them), then the title you want is “Faller.”

As a Faller, you’re the Surgeon of the logging team. It’s your job to inspect each tree, evaluate how best to bring it down, and do it safely and efficiently, with minimum damage to the tree. In some jobs, you commute to work, while in others, you live out on the frontier at the job site.

Either way, you wake up every day and work with all the tools of the trade: chainsaws, axes, and chopping machines. You set them up properly, then get out of the way quickly when the tree goes down. You also communicate with your team to make sure they know what’s going on and can keep themselves out of harm’s way.

This is an active job that involves hard, physical labor. If you love the outdoors and are always on the go, and if you want a job that will challenge you mentally and physically every day, then being a Faller could be a good choice for you. However, you have to be prepared for long jobs that will keep you away from your family. And most of all, you have to love hands-on work, have an eye for detail, and take safety—both yours and others’—seriously.