Apply for Registration by following one of the four pathways described below.

1. Request Reciprocity. The North Carolina Board of Registration for Foresters (NCBRF) has registration reciprocity agreements with Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. People with a current forestry license or registration in good standing from one of these states should send the Board: (a) a typed application (find form below); the references portion of the application may be omitted, but the application must be signed and notarized; and (b) a $50 application fee. Ask the State Board that governs your current registration or license to complete the registration verification form (find form below), and send it to NCBRF.

Forms you will need:

NCBRF Application (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Reciprocity Verification (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)

2. Earn a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Forestry from an SAF-Accredited Curriculum. People with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in forest management from a curriculum accredited by the Society of American Foresters (SAF) should send the Board: (a) a typed application (find form below), which must be signed and notarized; (b) an official transcript from the SAF-accredited forestry curriculum; (c) a $50 application fee (which covers the cost of one exam); and (d) an employment verification form (find form below)

Applicants should also ask five people to send references (find form below) to the Board. Three references must be completed by Registered Foresters in NC, and not more than one reference may be from your employing agency or firm. The reference form should be mailed by the applicant to the person providing the reference. The person providing the reference should mail the completed form directly to the Board.

Forms you will need:

NCBRF Application (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Employment Verification (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Reference (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)

Applicants will become registered after submitting the above forms properly, passing the Level 2 Registration Examination and completing at least two years of full-time forestry employment acceptable to the Board (see section below on Acceptable Work Experience).

3. Earn a Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctor’s Degree in a Related Natural Resources Curriculum and Satisfy the Course Requirements to Take the SAF Certified Forester’s Examination. Follow Option #2 of the SAF Certified Forester Education Requirement. See https://www.eforester.org/Main/Certification_Education/Certified_Forester/Requirements/Main/Certification/Requirements.aspx. Among other things, this requirement includes earning a minimum of 56 college semester credits in four subject areas: ecology and forest biology; measurement of forest resources; management of forest resources; and forest resource policy, economics, and administration. Request SAF to review your transcript to determine if you would be eligible to sit for the SAF Certified Forester’s Examination. Contact the Society of American Foresters (safnet.org) for more detailed information.

In addition to requesting a letter from SAF, people following this pathway should send the Board: (a) a typed application (find form below), which must be signed and notarized; (b) an official college transcript from the related natural resources curriculum; (c) a $50 application fee (which covers the cost of one exam); and (d) an employment verification form (find form below).

Applicants should also ask five people to send references (find form below) to the Board. Three references must be completed by Registered Foresters in NC, and not more than one reference may be from your employing agency or firm. The reference form should be mailed by the applicant to the person providing the reference. The person providing the reference should mail the completed form directly to the Board.

Letter and Forms required:

Letter from SAF indicating that the applicant is eligible to take the SAF Certified Forester’s Examination.

NCBRF Application (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Employment Verification (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Reference (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)

Applicants will become registered after submitting the above letter and forms properly, passing the Level 2 Registration Examination and completing at least two years of full-time forestry employment acceptable to the Board (see section below on Acceptable Work Experience).

4. All Other Applicants. People not following one of the above pathways must first complete six years of full-time forestry work experience immediately before applying for registration. The work experience must be of a nature acceptable to the Board (see section on Acceptable Work Experience). Contact the Board for guidance, if you are uncertain whether your work experience will be acceptable. After the work experience requirement has been satisfied, the applicant should send the Board: (a) a typed application (find form below), which must be signed and notarized; (b) a $50 application fee (which covers the cost of one exam); and (c) an employment verification form (find form below).

Applicants should also ask five people to send references (find form below) to the Board. Three references must be completed by Registered Foresters in North Carolina, and not more than one reference may be from your employing agency or firm. The reference form should be mailed by the applicant to the person providing the reference. The person providing the reference should mail the completed form directly to the Board.

Forms you will need:

NCBRF Application (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Employment Verification (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)
NCBRF Reference (MS Word Format) (Adobe PDF Format)

Applicants will become registered after submitting the above letter and forms properly, passing the Level 1 Registration Examination and completing at least six years of full-time forestry employment acceptable to the Board (see section below on Acceptable Work Experience).

Acceptable Work Experience

The Board is responsible for determining acceptable work experience for each applicant. NC General Statute 89B-2 (2a) defines Forestry to mean "the professional practice embracing the science, business, and the art of creating, conserving, and managing forests and forestlands for the sustained use and enjoyment of their resources, material, or other forest produce", and 89B-2 (3) defines the Practice of Forestry to mean, "rendering professional forestry services, including but not limited to, consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, or other forestry activities requiring knowledge, training, and experience in forestry principles and techniques".

Furthermore, 89B-9(a) (1) states that applicants for registration must obtain "2 or more years of experience in forestry." Also, Administrative Rule 21 NCAC 20.0103(b) (3) requires "professional work experience in forestry," which is limited to post-graduation work experience. When determining acceptable work experience, the North Carolina Board of Registration for Foresters, using the definitions in the law, concluded that the experience should be related to working in or with the forest and the trees, and it should encompass three main characteristics: professional, comprehensive, and integrative. Professionals are highly educated and very knowledgeable in their profession. This level of knowledge is obtained through higher learning and/or extensive experience. A forester must, therefore, apply this professional knowledge in a comprehensive and integrative manner.

The Board recognizes the high diversity of work accomplished by foresters and understands that it includes a combination of professional and technical skills. Therefore, work experience acceptable to the Board for registration purposes reflects this diversity, and many different types of employment are suitable. However, the majority of the work should be at the professional level, and exhibit the broad, comprehensive science of forestry and the integrative nature of this profession. It should be at a level or type sufficiently rigorous to require a 4-year college education in forest management. All duties of employment need not reach this level, but they should comprise the majority.

Acceptable work experience includes but is not limited to: writing forest management plans, developing prescribed burn plans, preparing timber harvesting & road building plans, conducting surveys for endangered and protected species, developing control strategies for forest insects or disease infestations, conducting forestry research and publishing results, and other similar tasks that require a higher level of knowledge and experience. Teaching a course or workshop at the community college level or higher is also acceptable experience. Supervising employees who accomplish these same tasks is also satisfactory work experience.

Although many other examples are possible, when any of the following tasks dominate the work experience of the candidate, the employment is unacceptable as professional forestry work experience: operating a skidder or other heavy equipment, marking timber, felling or bucking trees, seeding roads and hillsides, application of pesticides, logging site inspections, prescribed burning, removing lumber from a green chain, planting trees, wetland delineation, right-of-way maintenance, and driving a log truck.

Applicants seeking registration should ask their employers to provide verification of employment.

Exams

Applicants seeking registration that cannot qualify through reciprocity will need to take qualifying examinations. In order to take the exam all applications, official transcript, and payment must be in the NCBRF office two weeks before the set exam date.

For Exam Information Click here