Black High School Students' Images of Forestry as a Profession

Abstract

Relatively few black professionals are employed in the field of forestry. It has been estimated that of the 40,000 to 50,000 professional foresters nationwide, less than 1 percent are black.' Why do blacks generally not pursue forestry careers? Unfortunately, research has not provided much information and much that is available is inconclusive.2 Nonetheless, some hypotheses have been suggested. For many blacks, past exposure to the labor-intensive side of forestry plus a lack of educational opportunities may have created a negative perception of forestry.3 Such a perception, passed from one generation to another, may dissuade blacks from pursuing professional forestry jobs. While acknowledging that blacks were always employed in the end of forestry, Berry4 notes that wanting to escape the lower end of this profession should not be confused with wanting nothing to do with forestry. Berry suggests that blacks