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

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.

  • Auditing, Inspecting, Monitoring and Verifying Forest Operations, Plans and Practices
  • Compliance and Enforcement in Forest Management
  • Forest Certification

  • Forest Conservation and Protected Forest Areas

  • Forest Ecosystem Assessment, Planning and Stewardship
  • Forest Education and Training

  • Forest Harvest — Planning

  • Forest Harvest — Operations Management and Oversight

  • Forest Health Damage and Invasive Species
  • Forest Inventory and Analysis

  • Forest Legislation and Forest Policy Development

  • Forest Resources Contract Management and Administration
  • Forest/Watershed Level Planning and Management
  • Forest Measurements (timber cruising, surveys)
  • Forest Recreation Planning and Management
  • Forest Research and Climate Change Adaptation
  • Forest Roads and Transportation

  • Forest Tenure, Licence, and Permit Development and Review

  • Forest Geographic Information Systems and Mapping

  • Growth and Yield Analysis and Application

  • Indigenous Forest Management

  • International and Interprovincial Forestry Management

  • Landscape Level — Forest Planning and Management (FLP, HLP)

  • Prescribed Fire

  • Stand Level — Forest Planning and Management (Site Plans)
  • Silviculture
  • Small Scale Forest Management
  • Supervising, Directing and Advising Forest Plans, Practices and Professionals
  • Timber Pricing and Appraisals

  • Timber, Carbon, Ecosystem and Forest Land Valuation

  • Tree Improvement/Forest Genetics

  • Tree Seed and Seedling Planning and Production
  • Urban Forest Management
  • Visual Resource Management of Forests

  • Wildland Fire Resiliency & Risk Reduction

  • Wildfire Interaction with Forest Values

(List last updated June 2024)

A professional forestry practice area is a generally recognized field, specialty, subject, or set of actions found within the practice of professional forestry and which includes reserved work, activities, and tasks which can only be undertaken by registered forest professionals. A practice area is typified by a common set of competencies and operational experiences that, when combined, ensure effective professional practice, in the public interest.

PROFESSIONAL FORESTRY PRACTICE AREAS

Click the image to download an infographic of practice areas.