Request for Comment on Draft APEGBC/ABCFP Guidelines for Terrain Stability Assessments in the Forest Sector

As mandated by the respective councils for APEGBC and ABCFP (the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals ) the APEGBC/ABCFP Joint Practice Board (JPB) provides guidance to members of both associations in areas of overlapping practice in forest resource development.  Over the last year the JPB has focused on  providing guidance to help establish standards of care for managing terrain stability in the forest sector for members of both associations.

As a result the board has prepared a draft APEGBC/ABCFP Guidelines for Terrain Stability Assessments in the Forest Sector and is seeking feedback on the document. The Guidelines are intended for use by members of both ABCFP and APEGBC who carry out terrain stability assessments (TSAs), as well as others who work on Forest Development teams and/or work with the results of TSAs.

Previously, the JPB issued the Guidelines for Management of Terrain Stability in the Forest Sector (ABCFP/APEGBC 2008) for use by forest professionals, and which provided guidance for developing a Terrain Stability Management Model that considers a TSA. In 2003, APEGBC’s Division of Engineers and Geoscientists in the Forest Sector (DEGIFS) developed the APEGBC Guidelines for Terrain Stability Assessments in the Forest Sector. This document provided guidance to members of APEGBC for carrying out a TSA. The current draft guidelines ,which are being issued for comment, expand and update the 2003 guidelines.  The concept of identifying the various skill sets associated with carrying out TSAs of varying levels of complexity, as provided in Section 6 and Table 1 of the draft guideline, was presented in a technical seminar offered as part of the DEGIRS technical sessions  held at the APEGBC Annual Conference in October 2008.

Comments on the draft guidelines are requested by November 2, 2009 and should be e-mailed to pp@apeg.bc.ca.  Once feedback has been received, the comments will be submitted to the JPB for their review and consideration before the document is finalized for endorsement by the APEGBC and ABCFP councils.  In addition these draft guidelines have been issued to the Executive of the APEGBC Division of Engineers and Geoscientists in the Resource Sector ( DEGIRS) and their membership for review and comment.