How to Become SFI Certified

To be considered “SFI Certified” an individual must complete the following:

16 hours (2 days) of SFI Core Curriculum AND 4 hours of Continuing Education 

*SFI Core Curriculum: 16 hours (Two days, 8hrs each) covering the following:

 Best Management Practices (BMP) for Water Quality

Morning - Intro to BMPs, Spill Control, Permits

Afternoon – Field Application

Best Management Practices (BMP) for Invasive Species

Morning– Intro to Invasives, Identification, Controlling the Spread

Afternoon– Field Application

 *The core curriculum does not need to be taken in a particular order, it just needs to be completed within the same year.

For a business or organization to be considered “SFI trained”, at least one key person (owner, manager, or key field personnel) must complete the SFI Core training program and 8 hours of Continuing Education course work. For a logging crew to be considered SFI trained, at least one “in woods” person actively responsible for each site must be SFI trained.

To maintain their “SFI trained” status, a business, organization, or logging crew person must complete at least 4 hours of Continuing Education coursework per year.

CONTINUING EDUCATION – 4 hours (annually) includes a variety of continuing education workshops

Annual program content will be determined by SFI Training Committee.

APPROVED ELECTIVE - To receive credit for programs outside of the workshops offered by FISTA, they must be pre-approved by FISTA. You must contact FISTA and submit an agenda, speaker list, and number of contact hours prior to the program. If approved, you will be required to submit proof of attendance, either by group or individual verification. The cost of these programs will be $35/person per program for administrative costs. FISTA will not bill for nor give out certificates for these programs.

When an individual has satisfied his/her SFI core training, an SFI training record will be established in his/her behalf. Credits (hours) for successfully completing SFI training will be awarded as follows:

Core training = 2 credits (16 hours); Continuing Ed. = 1 credit (4 hours)

At the end of each year, 1 continuing education credit (4 hours) will be depleted from the SFI training account for the individual. The individual will be considered SFI certified as long as they maintain 3 credits in their SFI training account.

To insure program continuity, those individuals who are current with their SFI training as of

December 31, 2011 will be grandfathered into the current SFI standard.

Certified individuals who fail to attend an SFI training workshop for one year must attend two workshops the following year to be current with their certification. Those who fail to attend for two consecutive years must attend three workshops the next year. Those who do not attend SFI training workshops for three or more consecutive years will be required to complete the core training again.