CF and CCF Requirements

Applicants must meet the following requirements to qualify and maintain the Certified Forester® and/or Candidate Certified Forester® certification. Education and experience requirements must be met for eligibility to sit for the certification exam.

Standards of Professional Practice

Every Certified Forester or Candidate Certified Forester and applicant agrees to the Standards of Professional Practice.

Education

Option #1

An earned degree at the baccalaureate or master's level from a SAF-accredited degree program.

Option #2

An earned degree at the baccalaureate, masters or doctorate level in forestry or related natural resources. Examples of "related natural resources" include, but are not limited to, environmental studies, wildlife management, range management, or ecology. The earned degree(s) must have a total of 56 semester credit hours with 51 semester credits as specified in the forestry-related coursework areas a-d and an additional 5 credit hours in any of the forestry-related coursework areas.

Experience

Certified Forester

Applicants must have five or more years of qualifying professional forestry experience within the past 10 years in two of the four experience areas.

Candidate Certified Forester

Applicants must have less than five years of qualifying professional forestry experience within the past 10 years in two of the four experience areas.

Continuing Education

Certified Forester

Each CF must complete 45 CFE credit hours within a three-year period.

  • Cat 1-CF - 30 CFE credit hours, minimum
  • Category 2 - Not to exceed 15 CFE credit hours
  • Category 3 - Not to exceed 15 CFE credit hours

Candidate Certified Forester

Each CCF must annually submit a total of 12 CFE credit hours.

  • Cat 1-CF - 8 credit hours, minimum
  • Category 2 - Not to exceed 4 CFE credit hours
  • Category 3 - Not to exceed 4 CFE credit hours

Fees

Certified Forester

Application Fee 

  • SAF members - $265
  • Non-SAF members - $385

Recertification Fee (every three-years)

  • SAF members - $135
  • Non-SAF members - $225

Candidate Certified Forester

Application Fee 

  • SAF members - $265
  • Non-SAF members - $385

Recertification Fee (annually)

  • SAF members - $45
  • Non-SAF members - $75

Additional Certification Information

For more information about the Certification Program check out the SAF Certification Handbook. 

For the outline of the Certified Forester exam, please see the CF Exam Domain and Knowledge Areas.