Also called: Boundary Maintenance Technician, Border Vista Crew Member
Keeps the 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border visible by clearing a 20-foot strip of forest and repairing thousands of boundary monuments.
Technicians work in remote country from Maine to Alaska, chainsawing a 20-foot 'vista' through forests, resetting knocked-over granite and metal monuments, and surveying their exact positions with GPS. Crews may camp for weeks, travel by helicopter or boat, and work with a Canadian partner crew. It is the only job in the US government devoted to marking a border on the ground.
Federal pay; seasonal field crews plus a few permanent staff. Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. High school plus surveying or forestry training; an associate degree in surveying helps.
Ways in: 2-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Surveying Technology, Forestry, Geomatics.
Growing slowly. A tiny agency with a small, steady crew (approx.).
Low risk for 10 years. GPS and drones help map the line; clearing forest and fixing monuments in the wild stays human.
Classes: Geometry, Earth science, Outdoor or forestry club.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-3031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.