The profession of forestry is the science, the art, and the practice of managing and using for human benefit the natural resources that occur on and in association with forest lands. Benefits are derived from the multiple resources of the forest – wood, water, wildlife, recreation, forage, and environmental amenities. Foresters are managers of these resources. Thus, our principal instructional objective is to provide the broad education needed to deal effectively with the complex of forest resources.
The forest resources management concentration provides an opportunity to obtain an education related to the management of the broad spectrum of wildland resources. In addition to the core of required courses, there are about 6 elective credit hours for broad studies or specialized training in one or more areas of forestry. These areas and examples of related fields of study are forest biology including plant physiology and morphology, ecology, genetics, tree nutrition, forest soils; forest business management including economics, accounting, finance, marketing, management science; forest economics including economics, business administration, social science; forest inventory including mathematics, statistics, computer science; wildland recreation including natural and social sciences; and wildlife management including ecology and botany.
The university has over 21,000 acres of forest land available for teaching, research, and demonstration. The Tennessee Valley Authority, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Cherokee National Forest provide additional land and facilities available to the teaching program. Contained within these areas is a wide variety of tree species and forest types ranging from elements of the boreal forest to southern pines and hardwoods.
Lumber, pulp and paper, and other wood-using industries cooperate in conducting tours and demonstrating industrial processes.
To remain in the Forest Resources Management concentration, students must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA and earn no less than a C grade in FWF 212 . If a student does not meet the aforementioned criteria, the student will be removed from the Forest Resources Management concentration, and the student must meet with their advisor to identify an alternative major.