Search: Course, Forests

Introduction to the economics of natural resources. Land and the concept of economic rent. Models of optimal depletion of nonrenewable resources and optimal use of renewable resources. Application to energy, forests, fisheries, water, and climate change. Resources, growth, and sustainability.

This seminar in workshop format features current research of faculty and doctoral students investigating the application of economics, systems analysis, and environmental modeling techniques to the management of forest and wildland ecosystems. Organization of research presentations, the scientific publication process, and research funding issues will also be addressed.

The global pattern of climate, landforms, vegetation, and soils. The relative importance of natural and human-induced change, global warming, forest clearance, accelerated soil erosion, glacial/postglacial climate change and its consequences.

The American forest will be examined in terms of its ecology, history, and representations in paintings, photographs, and literary essays. This examination seeks to understand the American forest in its scientific and economic parameters, as well as the historic, social, and ideological dimensions which have contributed to the evolution of our present attitudes toward the forest

A capstone workshop with faculty and outside professionals for students planning to enter the field of professional forestry. The workshop develops and examines current issues in forestry to advance critical capacities about real-world dynamics and how professional performance fits with them. Student projects and oral presentations are integral to the course.

Concepts and applications of silviculture for the establishment, growth, composition, and quality of forest trees and stands. Silviculture is presented as a tool to meet multiple resource and ecosystem management objectives related to wildlife habitat, watershed resources, forest health, or timber production. Three Saturday field trips will be scheduled in lieu of several laboratories.

Agroforestry principles and systems in use worldwide are examined, with emphasis on contemporary temperate agroforestry system design and management. Economic, biologic, social, and political conditions for successful agroforestry systems are analyzed. Some laboratory sessions will be field trips that will extend beyond the scheduled lab time.

Planning and management of forestlands to meet multiple objectives of land owners and the society. Processing and organization of land data and forest ecosystem dynamics for quantitative analysis with GIS. Fundamentals of land-use planning, valuation, multiple goal decision analysis, and forest management scheduling. Quantitative, analytical, and communication skills are emphasized. Oral presentation required.

Course details the fulfillment of human needs through forest operations, coupled with the management required to make operations culturally and environmentally appropriate. The framework for understanding human interaction within forested environments includes the operational mesh of technical, financial, organizational, legal, and ecological factors. The worldwide range of stewardship activities studies includes access, product harvest, tree tending, regeneration, and protection

Examine the biology and ecology of forest insects and pathogens; their impacts on forest ecosystems, and their interactions with other disturbances. Explore forest health concepts in terms of the frequencies and severities of these disturbances from utilitarian and ecosystem perspectives