Alabama Administrative Code › Title 380 - ALABAMA BOARD OF REGISTRATION FOR FORESTERS › Chapter 380-X-6 - POLICY STATEMENTS › Section 380-X-6-.04 - Continuing Education

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) A registered
			 forester will be required to have annually completed 10 hours of acceptable
			 continuing education which can be taken during the two-year period immediately
			 preceding the renewal date as a condition for license renewal. Classes taken
			 more than two years prior to the renewal date may not be used. Credit for a
			 class may only be used once.
(2)
			 Acceptable continuing education credit hours can be carried over one year
			 provided the hours have not been used to satisfy the previous year
			 requirements.
(3) Registered
			 foresters licensed for less than one year at the date of license expiration
			 will not be required to complete any hours of continuing education prior to
			 that first license expiration, but will be required to have the 10 required
			 hours of continuing education as of the second license expiration as a
			 condition for license renewal.
(4)
			 Registered foresters will report the continuing education credits to be applied
			 to this requirement as a part of the license renewal form. Documentation shall
			 be retained by each licensee and shall include evidence of completion of each
			 course or program, a description of the contents of each course or program, and
			 verification of the number of hours of each course or program; or, for other
			 activities which meet the requirements, such documentation as to ascertain
			 their completion. All registered foresters are subject to an annual Board of
			 Registration audit of continuing education documentation.
(5) Failure to comply with the provisions of
			 this section will result in nonrenewal of the registered forester license.
			 Registered foresters whose licenses have expired for nonrenewal are prohibited
			 from identifying themselves as registered foresters and practicing professional
			 forestry.
(6) Responsibility for
			 documenting the fulfillment of the continuing education requirements provided
			 for in this section rests with the licensee, and the licensee must retain for a
			 period of two years, from the date of license renewal, copies of the evidence
			 to support fulfillment of the requirements.
(7) Credit accrues at a rate of one hour for
			 each hour of actual contact. This shall be known as a contact hour or clock
			 hour. Travel time on tours or field sessions will not be included in
			 calculating contact hours. For providers who measure continuing education
			 activities in "Continuing Education Units (CEUs)," one CEU is defined as 10
			 contact hours of continuing education. Credit will not be allowed for any
			 program which in its entirety, including question and answer periods, lasts
			 less than sixty minutes. However, credit may be rounded down to the nearest
			 whole or half hour, so long as it is at least one hour. Credit will not be
			 given for time spent in introductory remarks, coffee and luncheon breaks,
			 meals, or business meetings where no organized course work is
			 presented.
(8) There are six
			 categories of continuing forestry education which cover the various activities
			 for which credit may be granted.
(a) Category
			 1. Organized course work or activities in forestry or forestry-related subject
			 matter such as silviculture, mensuration, biometrics, economics, forest pest
			 management, habitat management, watershed management, best management
			 practices, genetics, urban forestry, forest policy, spatial technology, wood
			 products, forest real estate, or professional ethics. Included are seminars,
			 short courses, and workshops conducted or sponsored by public or private
			 organizations, forest management related seminars and courses held by forest
			 industry and public employers for their employees, as well as technical
			 sessions of professional forestry society meetings or conferences. A Category 1
			 activity must satisfy all of the following conditions:
1. It constitutes an organized program of
			 learning (including a meeting, workshop or symposium) which contributes
			 directly to the professional competency of the registered forester.
2. It deals primarily with matter directly
			 related to the practice of forestry or to the professional responsibility or
			 ethical obligations of foresters.
3. It is conducted by foresters or
			 individuals who have special education, training and experience by reason of
			 which they can be considered experts in the subject matter of the
			 program.
4. It is conducted in a
			 setting physically suitable to the educational objectives.
5. The subject matter is applicable to
			 foresters in general. (Activities may be approved where attendance is limited
			 to the members of a particular company, firm or governmental agency but only if
			 the subject matter is broad enough to be of interest to foresters in
			 general).