CALS forestry student, Steve Link, at his summer internship for the Nicolet Hardwoods Corporation.
We can all remember the Earth Day festivities in elementary school when wildlife experts would bring animals to the classroom and tell us interesting facts about their behaviors and habitat. For some students, conserving these species and their environment turned into a career aspiration – something they wanted to do for the rest of their lives.
Environmental careers are gaining traction, and more students are finding jobs every year working with the environment. According to a study done by Universities in the Midwest, there has been a forty percent increase in the number of recent graduates accepting jobs in Environmental Sciences, Fisheries and Wildlife Biology since 2009. Average salaries have also increased by over ten percent during that time, from $29,962 in 2009 to $33,033 in 2012.
One place of large growth is in organizations that are beginning to make the environment a higher priority. Environmental Consultants are people that work with organizations to improve the organization’s impact on the environment and help them comply with regulations. The average salary in 2012 for an environmental consultant was $38,000, nearly $5,000 above the average salary stated above. The number of graduates with this job title has also increased 600 percent since 2011.
Maria McGinnis sitting at Gaylord Nelson’s desk. He was the founder of Earth Day.
Other positions including Environmental Technicians, Fisheries Biologists/Technicians, Urban Forresters and Wildlife Biologists/Technicians have also seen increases in salaries in the last four years.
As the environment continues to hold a larger importance to the general public, environmental jobs will continue to increase in demand. Earth Day has definitely helped increase support for conservation efforts around the world, and has probably helped the recent gains in environmental jobs as well.
