Review of Forest Mensuration unit standards 1222, 6955, 6956, 17768, and 17770

FIELD AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

Review of Forest Mensuration unit standards 1222, 6955, 6956, 17768, and 17770

Subfield	Domain	Id
Forestry	Forest Mensuration	1222, 6955, 6956, 17768, 17770

The Forest Industries Training and Education Council (FITEC) has completed the review of the unit standards listed above.

Date new versions published July 2009

Planned review date December 2014

Summary of review and consultation process

Over the past 18 months, FITEC has carried out intensive industry consultation on the make up of our mensuration and inventory qualifications. Industry advisory groups were convened and reviewed the above unit standards to ensure that they are fit for the proposed new qualification structures. The advisory groups were made up of representatives from companies involved in mensuration and log scaling activities in the forest industry, including C3, Interpine, Quality Marshalling, Forest and Woodlot Inventory Services, and Forest Mensuration Services. The draft of the new unit standard was circulated to forest owners and managers for feedback as part of its development.

Five existing unit standards and one new unit standard were considered as part of the review.

Main changes resulting from the review

Main changes include:

· The special notes for each unit standard were standardised to be consistent with FITEC's Unit Standard Writing Guide.

· The credits for unit standard 6955 were increased because of the inclusion of additional performance criteria in element 3 covering additional (non-standard) measurements from pre-harvest inventory and data management including auditing, downloading, backing up, checking and transmitting of data to the client.

· Five reviewed unit standards were amended to address issues of currency and accuracy and to align them with the new qualifications designed for the mensuration and inventory areas of the forest industry.

· One new unit standard (25804) was developed to fill a skill gap in the current qualification. This will give people new to mensuration and inventory roles the skills necessary to navigate within the forest and locate measurement plots.

Impact on existing provider accreditations

None.

Impact on existing qualifications

Qualifications that contain the reviewed standards or classifications are tabled below.

Affected

The qualification lists a reviewed classification (domain or subfield) in an elective set

The qualification lists a standard that has changes to level or credits

The qualification lists a C or D category standard

Not materially affected

The qualification lists a standard that has a new title

The qualification lists a standard that has a new classification

The following FITEC qualification is affected by the outcome of this review and will be reviewed in 2009.

Qualification title	Standard in the qualification
National Certificate in Forestry (Mensuration) [Ref: 0833]	6955

Review Categories and changes to classification, title, level, and credits

All changes are in bold.

Key to review category
A	Dates changed, but no other changes are made - the new version of the standard carries the same Id and a new version number
B	Changes made, but the overall outcome remains the same - the new version of the standard carries the same Id and a new version number
C	Major changes that necessitate the registration of a replacement standard with a new Id
D	Standard will expire and not be replaced

Subfield Forestry

Domain Forest Mensuration

Id	Title	Level	Credit	Review Category
1222	Establish and measure sample plots for forest operations	4	6	B
6955	Carry out forest pre-harvest inventory sampling	4	6 10	B
6956	Carry out waste assessment in cutover forest	4	5	B
17768	Establish and measure permanent sample plots for forest management and research	4	5	B
17770	Demonstrate knowledge of log grades and log scaling methods	3	4	B

Domain Forest Operations

Id	Title	Level	Credit	Review Category
25084	Navigate in a plantation forest	3	5	New