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Agriculture, Horticulture, & the Outdoors | Conservation Scientist

Conservation Scientist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Conservation Scientist develops resource management plans to protect and manage various environments, such as forests and grasslands, to ensure that they're safe for the species and plants that live and grow there. This involves making sure habitats are free from diseases and harmful insects, as well as working to protect them from fire.

Job Outlook

There were 130 Conservation Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3837 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Conservation Scientist industry, which includes the Conservation Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Conservation Scientist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $65,976.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $63,425.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Conservation Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $56,786.

Education and Experience

Posted Conservation Scientist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree35.6%
Master's Degree13.06%
Doctoral Degree4.2%
Other18.97%

Posted Conservation Scientist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years58.37%
3 to 5 years29.65%
6 to 8 years6.63%
9+ years5.35%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Conservation Scientist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Communication (40.79%)
  • Management (36.93%)
  • Planning (24.99%)
  • Leadership (19.44%)
  • Coordinating (18.27%)
  • Writing (17.54%)
  • Research (15.53%)
  • Operations (14.91%)
  • Microsoft Office (11.55%)
  • Teaching (11.28%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Biology (24.61%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Water Conservation (10.94%)
  • Soil Science (15.6%)
  • Resource Management (8.11%)
  • Project Management (12.53%)
  • Land Management (14.64%)
  • Land Tenure (19.43%)
  • Forestry (15.6%)
  • Field Research (8.28%)
  • Environmental Education (20.02%)
  • Environmental Science (20.95%)
  • Ecology (20.99%)
  • Data Collection (9.18%)
  • Natural Resource Management (20.92%)
  • ArcGIS (GIS Software) (10.11%)
  • Agriculture (16.85%)
  • Geographic Information Systems (5.25%)
  • Ecological Restoration (9.7%)
  • Invasive Species Management (14.05%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Conservation Science (4.76%)
  • Conservation Planning (11.05%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Conservation Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Naturalist
  • Conservation Specialist
  • Natural Resources Specialist
  • Director of Conservation
  • Intervention Specialist
  • Conservation Officer
  • Environmental Educator
  • Conservation Agent
  • Conservation Intern

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Conservation Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • The Nature Conservancy (120)
  • American Climate Corps (65)
  • National Audubon Society (63)
  • Student Conservation Association (61)
  • State of Minnesota (48)
  • Environmental Jobs Network (47)
  • Conservation Legacy (37)
  • Ducks Unlimited (33)
  • State of Nevada (30)
  • State of Utah (30)

North Carolina

  • State of North Carolina (21)
  • Mecklenburg County (9)
  • Appalachian Trail Conservancy (8)
  • City of Raleigh (6)
  • Conservation Legacy (4)
  • Catawba Lands Conservancy (4)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (3)
  • United States Forest Service (3)
  • County Of Pamlico (3)
  • Amphibian And Reptile Conservancy (2)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.