Become a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP)

CERP applicants must meet the knowledge requirements specified in the table below, either through a combination of academic credentials obtained at accredited institutions and/or accumulation of knowledge relevant to the profession of ecological restoration.

The CERP program evaluates credits using the US-based semester credit hour framework, where 15 contact hours of lecture, lab, and/or applied learning is equivalent to one credit. If you attended an academic institution with a different credit system, we recommend that you contact that institution for clarification on how your coursework equates to the semester credit hour framework.

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR): SER's PLAR provision allows CERP applicants to substitute acceptable means of knowledge acquisition for missing coursework. The PLAR provision is intended to address those practitioners who may have extensive restoration experience, but do not meet some of the knowledge requirements because those classes were not offered during the practitioners' academic training (for example, a person who has been practicing ecological restoration but has not had an "ecological restoration" course because none were offered).

You can see this model CERP application for an example of how PLAR has been used in an application (specifically, in the "Do you meet all of the requirements for the Quantitative Science Category?" question on p.3 and the "Describe the specific ways in which you have acquired the equivalent knowledge of missing courses needed to fulfill this category." question on p.4).

If you use PLAR in your application, you will need to describe how knowledge that would be equivalent to any missing credits was gained. For example, an applicant may indicate in their application that they are missing 3 credits in ecological restoration, but then describe how they obtained equivalent knowledge through the planning, implementing, and monitoring restoration projects in their past or current position. Specific estimations of knowledge:credit equivalency are recommended to allow the reviewers to effectively evaluate your application - SER currently uses the US academic credit system to evaluate applications, where ~15 contact hours of learning/lecture/training are equivalent to 1 credit.

CERP applicants must clearly demonstrate that they have accumulated 5 years of full-time restoration experience in a professional setting.

CERP applicants should have experience planning and implementing restoration projects from start to finish, including performing pre-project baseline and reference site inventories, participating in project planning and implementation, and monitoring. In the CERP application, applicants must document three separate restoration projects that they have been involved in.

To demonstrate that they are held in high esteem by other restoration practitioners and have exhibited proficiency in ecological restoration, CERP applicants must provide letters of recommendation from three references. References can be provided by peers, colleagues, and/or mentors who have direct experience with the applicant's restoration work.

Note: requests for letters of recommendation are automatically sent out by SER upon submission of your application. If you are applying close to the application deadline, we strongly recommend that you contact your references and remind them to submit letters of recommendation before this deadline. Applications without letters of recommendation are incomplete, and will not be reviewed until all letters of recommendation have been received.

CERP applicants must agree to adhere to the SER Code of Ethics and the SER Disciplinary Policy.

The CERP program has several important requirements that must be met by potential applicants. Please review these requirements before beginning the application process.

An initial application fee is due with submission of a full application. The initial application fee is non-refundable, regardless of the outcome of your application. Once certified, your credential is active for 5 years with the successful completion of all continuing education (CEC) requirements. Enrollment in Automatic Recurring Charges CERP is a 5-year commitment - by paying the application fee, you will automatically be enrolled in recurring payments that will be charged once a year for the next four years to cover the CERP annual maintenance fee. If your application is denied, no further charges will be incurred. If you need to change your payment method, or would like to pay via check or wire transfer, please email Megan, Membership and Marketing Associate, at megan.taylor@ser.org. Explanation of Fees The schedule of application and annual maintenance fees is below. In order to receive the correct rate and all applicable discounts, please log into your SER.org account before remitting payment. Equity and Open Door rates are available for individuals who could not otherwise afford to apply to the CERP program. SER Business, Lifetime, and Restorer members receive deeper discounts on the member rate. Only SER members with an active membership are eligible for the reduced rates listed. Please note that all fees are in USD.

Benefits of SER Membership for CERPs SER members receive discounts on CERP initial application and annual maintenance fees and unlimited access to the Webinar and Video Conference Libraries which offer the opportunity to earn continuing education credits (CECs) on your schedule. Members also receive discounts on conference registration, subscriptions to the journal of Restoration Ecology, SERNews, membership in a regional chapter or thematic section, and access to SER’sa global network of over 4,000 restoration professionals from 100 different countries. Click here to learn more about the benefits of membership, or to become a member of SER. If you have questions about membership, please email membership@ser.org.

PLEASE NOTE: YOUR CERP APPLICATION FEE IS SEPARATE FROM YOUR SER MEMBERSHIP DUES.

Please contact us at certification@ser.org if you have any questions about the application and/or annual maintenance fees.

The e-learning course is an online training module that summarizes key points from SER foundation documents. It must be completed prior to submission of your CERP application.

The course is not intended to teach the basics of ecological restoration, but rather to ensure that applicants have a common language of restoration and have a better understanding of SER's guiding principles and policies. The module will take approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours to complete.

Note: when you click the button below, you will be prompted to create an account with Intuto, which is the third-party software that SER uses to host e-learning course content. This account is completely separate from your SER membership account.

Please review the previous examples of successful CERP applications listed below. We recommend that you use these applications as references while completing your application.

• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3
• Example 4

Have you completed Steps 1-4? If so, you are ready to submit your application through SER’s official submission portal!

You will be asked to complete a detailed application form, to which you must upload transcripts, project descriptions, and other supporting documentation. You will also be asked to provide email addresses of three references, to whom we will send requests for letters of recommendation upon submission of your application. You can save your progress at any time.

Prepare your materials in advance with the application checklist.

Note: when you click the button below, you will be prompted to create an account with Submittable, which is the third-party software that SER uses to process CERP applications. This account is completely separate from your SER membership account.

To keep your CERP credential in good standing and continue to be listed on the CERP Directory, you must pay an annual maintenance fee. Please visit the CERP maintenance page for further details on this maintenance fee.

Equity rates are available for individuals who could not otherwise afford to apply to maintain their credentials. Discounts are also available for SER business, lifetime, and restorer members. Contact us if you have questions about discounts on maintenance fees.

PLEASE NOTE: CERP ANNUAL MAINTENANCE FEES ARE SEPARATE FROM YOUR SER MEMBERSHIP DUES.

In order to be recertified, you must earn a minimum of 50 continuing education credits (CECs) within the five-year period since you were last certified. Appropriate continuing education opportunities are those that keep practitioners abreast of rapidly evolving knowledge, approaches, strategies, techniques and requirements in the field of ecological restoration. Credits may be provided for approved short courses, webinars, symposia, workshops, technical publications, and other events that contribute to the field of ecological restoration.

After a period of 5 years from the date of your initial certification, you must recertify to renew your CERP credential for another 5-year period. Learn more about the requirements and process for recertification below.