Designations

Master of Forestry and Registered Professional Forester Designation:

ENCS Pathway

About this Pathway
Students who complete the BSc in Environmental and Conservation (ENCS) with a major in either conservation biology or land reclamation, may be eligible to pursue a Master of Forestry and can use the program as an opportunity to partially fulfill competency requirements to apply to become a Registered Professional Forester. Through courses taken in their BSc ENCS undergraduate degree, plus courses taken in the course-based Master of Forestry degree, they will have achieved equivalent academic requirements to students graduating from our accredited (Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board) BSc Forestry degree.

Please note that academic counselling and/or contact with the Association of Alberta Forest Management Professionals is recommended before making course selections to ensure students select courses that fulfill the requirements to apply to become a Registered Professional Forester.

Process
During their BSc program, students should choose their free electives and approved program electives carefully to maximize the number of required BSc Forestry courses they complete. While fulfilling the course requirements for the subsequent Master of Forestry program, students would take graduate-level courses to meet equivalent competencies to undergraduate courses in order to fulfill the remaining courses to bring themselves to the equivalent of students graduating from an accredited BSc Forestry program.

Procedure upon Complete of the Master of Forestry Program
Upon completion of the MF program, the student will draft a letter to the Professional Foresters Association they wish to join detailing how they have fulfilled the requirements. They will provide this letter to the chair of the Department of Renewable Resources (or their designate in charge of the Master of Forestry program), along with a copy of their transcript. The chair will then confirm that the student has completed coursework that fulfills academic requirements equivalent to those of a student graduating from an accredited BSc Forestry program, signs the letter, and returns it to the student. The student then applies to the Association for membership, including the letter from the chair. The Association would process their application in the same way as for an applicant who has graduated from an accredited BSc Forestry program.