Fire Sciences and Management Minor

Minor - Fire Sciences & Management (Minor)

College of Forestry & Conserv

Catalog Year: 2015-2016

Degree Specific Credits: 23

Required Cumulative GPA: 2.0

Major Required Course

Rule: must take the following course

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Show Description FORS 230 - Forest Fire Management
Offered spring. Fire as an ecological factor in Western forests is presented.  Fire weather, the measurement of fire weather, and the factors of fuel, weather and topography that influence fire behavior, and fire management decisions are included.  NFDRS, state and national fire policy evolutions are discussed.  Basic fire suppression tactics are also presented.
 2 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 2 Total Credits Required

Required Course

Rule: must take the following course

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Show Description FORS 333 - Basic&Applied Fire Ecology
Offered spring. Prereq., FORS 230. A detailed, analysis of fire ecology in terrestrial ecosystems with a focus on the Rocky Mountains, including fire history, fire effects, landscape pattern, land use legacies, and management implications.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Ecology Courses

Rule: Must take one of the following courses

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Show Description BIOE 370 - General Ecology
Offered autumn. Prereq., BIOB 272. Analysis of the distribution and abundance of plants and animals. Includes individual, population and community-level processes (e.g., population growth and regulation, competition, predation, succession, nutrient cycling, energy flow and community organization).
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 330 - Forest Ecology
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., FORS 210 or ENSC 245N or NRSM 210N; and BIOO 105N or BIOB 170N or BIOE 172 or BIOB 160N or FORS 240; and FORS 201 or STAT 216 or SOCI 202 or WILD 240 or PSYX 222. Examination of physical and biological factors affecting forest structure, composition, and function, including biodiversity, disturbance, and nutrient cycling. Field labs throughout Northern Rockies including developing skills in field observation, data interpretation and problem solving.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 462 - Rangeland Ecology
Offered spring. NRSM 210N; and BIOO 105N or BIOB 170N or BIOE 172N or BIOB 160N or FORS 240; and FORS 201 or STAT 216 or SOCI 202 or WILD 240 or PSYX 222. We will discuss the ecological principles and processes that drive the structure and function of rangeland ecosystems. We will focus on the intersections of plant, animal, ecosystem, and landscape ecology. We will weave in discussions of management to understand how rangeland dynamics contribute and respond to differing management paradigms.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Practicum or Planning Course

Rule: Must take one of the following courses

Note: FORS 498 Internship must be approved by fire minor advisor prior to registration and taken for 3 credits

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Show Description FORS 440 - Forest Stand Management
Offered autumn. Prereq., FORS 202 or 302; FORS 341; FORS 347 or 349. The management and manipulation of forest stands to reach multiple objectives, with a focus on the planning of forest operations for a community partner.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 495 - Wildland RxFire Practicum
Offered wintersession. Co-convened with FORS 544. Prereq. Fire experience and Consent of Instructor. An intensive field course providing students with technical training, practical applications, and theoretical foundations in ecological burning for restoration purposes. Class is typically held in southeastern United States.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 498 - Internship
Offered every term. Prereq., consent of instr. Extended classroom experience which provides practical application of classroom learning during placements off-campus. Prior approval must be obtained from faculty advisor and Internship Services office. A maximum of 6 credits of Internship (198, 298, 398, 498) may count toward graduation.
 1 To 6 Credits
Show Description NRSM 495 - Ecological Restor Practicum
(R-6) Offered every semester. Prereq., senior standing in the Ecological Resotration major and successful completion of NRSM 344, a faculty-approved practicum proposal; and consent of instructor. The goal of this service-learning practicum is for students to gain real-world experience in research, monitoring, or project implementation. Students will implement a project under the supervision of faculty and mentors from local management agencies, organizations or other sponsors.
 3 To 6 Credits
Show Description PTRM 485 - Recreation Planning
Offered spring. Prereq., PTRM 217S and PTRM 300. Offered autumn. Needs of recreation opportunities and response to those needs through planning, demand assessment and resource analysis.
 4 Credits
Show Description WILD 480 - The Upshot--Appld Wildlife Mgt
Offered spring. Prereq/Coreq.,WILD 370 or WILD 470. Designed for students to apply their knowledge in the development of wildlife management planning.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Meteorology or Climate Course

Rule: Must take one of the following courses

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Show Description ERTH 303N - Weather and Climate
Offered spring. Same as CCS 303N. Origin, composition, structure, and dynamics of the atmosphere, gas and radiation laws, energy budget and balance, weather elements, North American weather systems, and climate change. To succeed in this course students should have comfort with basic algebra.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 418 - Ecosystem Climatology
Interactions between the biosphere and atmosphere to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. This course will explore the interactions between Earth’s biosphere and atmosphere and how they affect climate over a range of scales. We will focus on the exchange of energy, mass, and important elements between the biosphere and atmosphere and how this exchange can lead to fascinating feedbacks in Earth’s climate system. Basic physics and math is not required but it is recommended.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Measurements & Analysis Electives

Rule: Must take one of the following courses

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Show Description FORS 202 - Forest Mensuration
Offered spring. Prereq., FORS 201 or STAT 216 or SOCI 202 or WILD 240; and M 121 and M 122 or M 151 or M 162 or M 171 or M 172. The theory and practice of timber inventory and growth projection, including field measurements, sampling procedures, statistical methods, inventory compilation, and stand growth simulation under specified management prescriptions. Stand growth under specified management prescriptions.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 350 - Forestry Apps of GIS
Offered spring. Prereq., FORS 250 or FORS 284 or GPHY 284. Introduction to the basic concepts and techniques of computerized spatial data management and analysis systems and application to natural resource management.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 351 - Env Remote Sensing
Offered spring. The theory and application of photo- and electro-optical remote sensing for mapping resources and developing information systems.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3 Total Credits Required

Natural/Management Science Electives

Rule: Take at least one course from the following, but if one of these courses is required for the major a second elective must be taken

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Show Description BIOE 449 - Plant Biogeography
Prereq., consent of instr. Offered alternate years. Description of the distribution of plants and animals at global, continental and regional scales. Analysis of ecological and historical factors influencing distribution and association.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 331 - Wildland Fuel Management
Offered autumn. Prereq., FORS 230 or consent of instr. The fire ecology of some western vegetation types is discussed.  Elements of the principles of wildland fuel management are presented.  Prescribed fire use and mechanical manipulation are matched to historic ecosystem processes.  Smoke management considerations and health issues are also presented.  
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 347 - Multiple Resource Silviculture
Offered spring. Prereq., FORS 330 or BIOE 370. Credit not allowed for both FORS 347 and 349. An introduction to the concepts and application of silvicultural techniques to forest ecosystems to meet multiple resource objectives.
 3 Credits
Show Description FORS 349 - Practice of Silviculture
Offered autumn. Prereq., FORS 202 or FORS 302 and FORS 241N and either prereq or coreq FORS 330. Practice of Silviculture is designed primarily for Forestry majors (open to others with appropriate prerequisites), and will consider the conceptual foundations behind various silvicultural practices and techniques, as well as and their application in forest ecosystems to meet multiple resource objectives. The course will cover natural stand dynamics, stand assessment and site classification schemes, even- and uneven-aged silvicultural systems, thinning/stand density concepts, regeneration practices, stand diagnosis and prescription development, vegetative management strategies for diverse objectives, along with quantitative assessment and modeling of alternative prescriptions.
 3 Credits
Show Description GPHY 317 - Geomorphology
Offered intermittently. Prereq., GPHY 111N or GEO 101N. Important landforms and landscapes, their biophysical processes, and their formative elements.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 335 - Environmental Entomology
Offered autumn odd years. An introduction to the importance of insects in ecosystem function and process, and their use in ecological monitoring as indicators of ecological change, degradation, and the efficacy of ecological restoration efforts. This course also covers the effects of climate change and biological invasions in the context of both pest and beneficial insect species.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 385 - Watershed Hydrology
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., M 115 or M 121 or M 122 or M 151 or M 162 or M 171 or M 172. An introduction to physical and biological controls over water movement and storage in the environment, and how those controls are affected by land management practices.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 465 - Restoration Ecology
Offered spring. Prereq., graduate or junior or senior standing and NRSM 265 and one 300-400 level ecology courses: BIOE 370, BIOE 428, BIOE 447, BIOE 448, FORS 330, or NRSM 462; or consent of instructor. This course covers the primary ecological theories that inform the practice of ecological restoration. Topics include the dynamic nature of ecological systems, community assembly, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, food web dynamics, ecological engineering, macroecology, and statistical issues and study design.
3 Credits
Show Description WILD 370 - Wildlife Habitat Cons & Mgmt
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., junior/senior standing in wildlife biology, BIOE 370, or consent of instr. Application of principles of wildlife biology to conservation and management of wild bird and mammal habitats including field applications.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3-6 Total Credits Required

Social Science Electives

Rule: Take at least one course from the following, but if one of these courses is required for the major a second elective must be taken

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Show Description FORS 320 - Forest Environmental Economics
Offered autumn. Prereq., ECNS 201S; and M 121 and M 122 or M 151 or M 162 or M 171 or M 172.  Economic techniques to support decision making about the allocation of scarce resources, and management of forests for timber and other ecosystem services.
 3 Credits
Show Description NASX 303E - Ecol Persp in Nat Amer Trad
Offered Autumn and Spring.  An examination of Native American environmental ethics and tribal and historical and contemporary use of physical environmental resources.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 379 - Collab in Nat Res Decisions
Offered autumn. Political and social processes affecting natural resource decisions. Examination of cases of multi-party collaboration in forestry, range, and watershed management issues.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 422 - Nat Res Policy/Administration
Offered autumn and spring. Policy formation in the United States and a survey of the major resource policies interpreted in their historical and political contexts.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 489E - Ethics Forestry & Conservation
Offered autumn. Prereq., junior or senior standing. Theoretical and practical ethical issues affecting the management of natural resources in national forests and on other public lands.
 3 Credits
Show Description PTRM 482 - Wilderness & Protctd Area Mgt
Offered spring. Prereq., PTRM 217S, or consent of instructor. Examination of the origin, evolution, and application of the park concept on state, federal, and international levels. Evaluation of legislation, philosophy, and policy leading to consideration of goals, objectives, and strategies for wilderness and protected area management.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C- 3-6 Total Credits Required

Ethical & Human Values Elective within Minor

Rule: Can take the elective courses

Note: can take either course for minor and will work for General Education Requirement

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Show Description NASX 303E - Ecol Persp in Nat Amer Trad
Offered Autumn and Spring.  An examination of Native American environmental ethics and tribal and historical and contemporary use of physical environmental resources.
 3 Credits
Show Description NRSM 489E - Ethics Forestry & Conservation
Offered autumn. Prereq., junior or senior standing. Theoretical and practical ethical issues affecting the management of natural resources in national forests and on other public lands.
 3 Credits
Minimum Required Grade: C-