Will fallers be replaced by AI?
Updated
Fallers score 12 of 100 for AI exposure. 87% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 13%.
- 13% AI helps
- 87% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 93% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 18 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can't do any of them end to end yet. It speeds up 2 and leaves 16 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Assess logs after cutting to ensure that the quality and length are correct. Scanning software can check length; visual quality checks stay manual. | 25% AI helps |
| Select trees to be cut down, assessing factors such as site, terrain, and weather conditions before beginning work. Weather and inventory data help, but onsite judgment leads. | 25% AI helps |
| Appraise trees for certain characteristics, such as twist, rot, and heavy limb growth, and gauge amount and direction of lean, to determine how to control the direction of a tree's fall with the least damage. Onsite visual tree inspection needs physical presence and judgment. | 12% Needs a person |
| Determine position, direction, and depth of cuts to be made, and placement of wedges or jacks. Cut placement depends on live site conditions and tree behavior. | 10% Needs a person |
| Mark logs for identification. Physical marking with paint or stamps; some tracking software helps. | 10% Needs a person |
| Measure felled trees and cut them into specified log lengths, using chain saws and axes. Physical bucking in the field; AI adds little there. | 8% Needs a person |
| Load logs or wood onto trucks, trailers, or railroad cars, by hand or using loaders or winches. Physical loading of logs with loaders or winches. | 6% Needs a person |
| Maintain and repair chainsaws and other equipment, cleaning, oiling, and greasing equipment, and sharpening equipment properly. Mechanical upkeep and sharpening of saws is hands on. | 5% Needs a person |
| Tag unsafe trees with high-visibility ribbons. Physical tagging of trees after onsite safety assessment. | 5% Needs a person |
| Stop saw engines, pull cutting bars from cuts, and run to safety as tree falls. Requires running and handling saws in live felling. | 3% Needs a person |
Show the other 8 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Saw back-cuts, leaving sufficient sound wood to control direction of fall. Hands on sawing of back cuts at the stump. | 3% Needs a person |
| Clear brush from work areas and escape routes, and cut saplings and other trees from direction of falls, using axes, chainsaws, or bulldozers. Clearing brush and saplings is physical work with heavy equipment. | 3% Needs a person |
| Trim off the tops and limbs of trees, using chainsaws, delimbers, or axes. Limbing and topping with saws is physical work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Secure steel cables or chains to logs for dragging by tractors or for pulling by cable yarding systems. Physical rigging of cables and chains to logs. | 3% Needs a person |
| Place supporting limbs or poles under felled trees to avoid splitting undersides, and to prevent logs from rolling. Physical placement of poles under felled trees on site. | 3% Needs a person |
| Control the direction of a tree's fall by scoring cutting lines with axes, sawing undercuts along scored lines with chainsaws, knocking slabs from cuts with single-bit axes, and driving wedges. Physical axe and saw work performed in the field. | 2% Needs a person |
| Insert jacks or drive wedges behind saws to prevent binding of saws and to start trees falling. Physical insertion of jacks and wedges during the cut. | 2% Needs a person |
| Work as a member of a team, rotating between chain saw operation and skidder operation. Teamwork and rotating physical roles in the field. | 2% Needs a person |
How fallers compare
All occupations (923)
Farming, fishing and forestry (12)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $52,100 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 3,130 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- -9.9% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Appraise lean, twist and rot on standing trees
- Run felling cuts with chainsaw and single-bit axe
- Log stem and log-length data in BCS The Logger Tracker
- Pull stand data from Assisi Inventory before felling
- Plan escape routes and felling sequence in GIS systems
Safer roles nearby
4 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about fallers and AI
Will AI replace fallers?
Partly. About 1 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly checking log length after cutting and selecting trees to fell based on site and weather data. Felling itself stays with people, since reading lean, rot and twist in a standing tree and cutting on live ground needs a person on site with a saw.
What parts of fallers' work will AI take over?
Log length checks and tree selection carry the highest exposure scores, at 25 each. Scanning software can measure log length, and weather and inventory data can rank candidate trees before a crew arrives. The visual quality check on each log stays manual.
Which parts of fallers' work stay with people?
Directional felling with axes and chainsaws scores 2, the lowest exposure in the job, because the scored lines and back-cuts are made manually on a live tree. Tree appraisal scores 12 because visual inspection of lean and rot needs physical presence on site.
How can fallers stay valuable?
Build skill in the hands-on tasks, such as appraising lean and rot before each cut and sawing back-cuts that hold the direction of fall. Learn to read data from Assisi Inventory and BCS The Logger Tracker so you can check stems against the plan. Use GIS mapping to plan escape routes and felling sequence for each site.
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