Skilled Trades
Logging Equipment Operators
Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories, such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable winches, hoisting rack, or crane boom, to fell tree; to skid, load, unload, or stack logs; or to pull stumps or clear brush. Includes operating stand-alone logging machines, such as log chippers.
Median salary
$49,210
Typical range
$35k – $72k
Job outlook
See national outlook
AI exposure
Plan a path to Logging Equipment Operators
Education
Typical entry: No degree required
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Logging Equipment Operators
Entry / Junior
$35,050
~2 yrs to advance
Logging Equipment Operators
Established
$49,210
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Logging Equipment Operators
Senior
$60,745
Key skills
A typical day
- •Inspect equipment for safety prior to use, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks.
- •Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees.
- •Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness, and according to established industry or company standards.
- •Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush.
- •Drive crawler or wheeled tractors to drag or transport logs from felling sites to log landing areas for processing and loading.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Skilled Trades
Explore all- Purdue University50% admit · $78,000 grad pay
- Ohio State University53% admit · $68,000 grad pay
- Pennsylvania State University55% admit · $70,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.