New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Chapter VII - STATE AID
Subchapter B - STATE AID FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS
Part 637 - QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION PERSONNEL
Section 637.2 - Definitions

(a) Agency means county or city agency which regulates environmental conservation activities, other than a local health department. The population under an agency's jurisdiction shall be determined to reside within its political boundaries by reference to the latest Federal census.

(b) Accredited school, college, university or other place of learning means a degree-granting institution of learning which offers courses or programs that have been accredited by an organization acceptable to, or registered by, the New York State Education Department.

(c) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation or his designee.

(d) Environmental conservation activity means the protection of human populations from adverse environmental factors, the protection of the environment from degradation and the improvement of the environment for human benefit.

(e) Environmental conservation activity experience means activities performed while gainfully employed which are intended to protect human populations from adverse environmental factors, to protect the environment from degradation, and/or to improve the environment for human benefit. Such activities may be regulatory or operational in nature.

(f) Environmental engineering means the application of the knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience and practice for the protection of human populations from the effects of adverse environmental factors, for the protection of the environment from the potentially deleterious effects of human activities and natural deterioration, and for the improvement of environmental quality for human health and well-being. It includes public health engineering, sanitary engineering and environmental health engineering, and may be practiced by graduates of sanitary, environmental, civil, chemical or other engineering curricula, provided such graduates meet the requirements of this section.

(g) Environmental science means the investigation, observation and classification of data concerning natural objects, organic or inorganic, the substances composing these natural objects and the characteristics they exhibit which are required for the preservation and protection of the environment.

(h) Natural science means the branches of knowledge collectively which deal directly with natural objects, organic or inorganic, the substances composing these natural objects and the phenomena they exhibit. It includes biology in all its branches, geology, chemistry, physics, radiation, geography and other sciences, but not abstract mathematics, philosophy or metaphysics.

(i) Related courses shall refer to basic required subjects and programs pertaining to environmental conservation. The number of instruction hours shall be specified by the commissioner.