Forest Professional Regulators of Canada
Organisme de réglementation des professionnels de la forêt du Canada

An introduction to the Canadian standards for professional forester certification.

Foundational Studies: Knowledge of arts, science and the humanities is foundational to the practice of professional forestry.

Communications, Critical Reasoning and Leadership: Clear and concise oral and written communication skills are essential for Canada's professional foresters to be able to articulate goals, objectives, information and decisions to a wide range of audiences. Leadership requires the ability to effectively use communication and reasoning skills.

Professionalism and Ethics: Professional foresters practice with integrity, are competent, independent and accountable for their actions and decisions. They maintain professional standards and conduct based on ethical principles.

Trees and Stands: Knowledge of tree biology and stand structure and dynamics forms the basis for understanding how forested ecosystems function, and for predicting the effects of natural disturbances and human intervention.

Forested Landscapes: Knowledge of composition, structure and function of forests and urban forests at scales ranging from aggregates of stands to landscapes is essential.

Information Acquisition and Analysis: The management of Canada's natural resources requires the acquisition and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.

Planning and Administration: Managing forest resources requires knowledge of the principles of resource allocation and the economic, policy and administrative forces that influence forest practices.

Forest Management (FORM): Forest management balances ecological, social and economic demands with the capacity of forest resources to provide for present and future values.

Natural Resources and Ecosystem Management (NREM): Managing natural resources requires that the provision of ecosystem services, and social and economic demands are balanced with ecosystem sustainability, including ecosystem function, and species and landscape biodiversity across a broad land base.

Urban Forestry (URBF): Urban forestry is the cultivation and management of trees and forests for their contribution to the psychological, sociological and economic well-being of society and the broader environment.

Forest Operations (FOPR): Forest operations management develops the skills to balance ecological, social and economic demands with the need to develop operational plans including access, harvest and post-disturbance mitigation plans that are both operationally efficient and cost effective.

Ecological Restoration and Management (ERAM): Ecological restoration and management plans the recovery of functional forest ecosystems after severe disturbances to restore ecological values and social and economic uses of these forests.

Additional information to assist in understanding and implementing the credential standards.