Practice Areas
Professional Forestry Defined
The practice of professional forestry is broadly defined by Forest Professionals Regulation under the PGA as:
- providing any advice or services in relation to trees, forests, forest lands, forest resources, forest ecosystems or forest transportation systems; and
- any ancillary advice or services.
Two Types of Practice
Regulated practice defines a broad area of practice where FPBC regulates its registrants.
A subset of Regulated Practice is Reserved Practice: an area where the advice and services provided can only be done by a registered forest professional.
This applies when the advice or services of the regulated practice could impact the protection of the environment or affect the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
In these circumstances, the experience or technical knowledge of a professional forester (RPF) or registered forest technologist (RFT) is needed and legally required.
Principle-Based Test for Identifying Reserved Practice
Click the image to download the infographic Principle-Based Test for Identifying Reserved Practice.
Professional Forestry Practice Areas
Professional forestry practice areas are subsets within the general practice of professional forestry and include work, activities, and tasks which can only be undertaken by registered forest professionals.
Within each these professional forestry practice areas, some or all of the specific decisions, advice, tasks, or services are reserved. This means that, by law, only a registered forest professional can be hired to do the work. This ensures forests stay healthy over time by allowing only those with the proper education, experience, and who follow a set of professional standards, undertake the work.
Click the image to download an infographic of practice areas.