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 conservation and restoration concentration is an interdisciplinary program emphasizing forestry, ecology, soil and waters, and wildlife. In addition to the general education courses, the conservation and restoration curriculum includes core courses in the traditional forestry discipline. The curriculum is designed to prepare graduates who can evaluate terrestrial ecosystems and plan for the conservation of healthy ecosystems, the improvement of degraded ones, and the reclamation or restoration of severely disturbed land. Students may choose from a broad range of technical courses, or may choose to focus their program on a particular aspect of restoring or conserving ecosystems such as wildlife habitat, watersheds, ecosystem construction, or ecology and biodiversity.
Students prepare for professional positions in the planning, development, and implementation of projects to maintain, improve, or restore ecosystem function and health on private and public lands. Foresters work closely with the public and private sector, so the development of excellent personnel management and communication skill is encouraged. In addition to the completion of courses, students are required to complete a six to ten week professional internship experience to address specific learning objectives established by the instructor and field supervisor.
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.