MS Forestry Sciences

MS FORESTRY SCIENCES -- 2000-01 Catalog
Natural Resources Management Department
Agricultural Sciences Bldg. (11), Room 217
(805) 756-2702

General Characteristics

The Master of Science degree program in Forestry Sciences has the following objectives:

To provide the forestry profession in California and the west with graduates educated in the forest science disciplines of

· Ecosystem management in the oak woodland, chaparral and Sierran forest types

· Economics and valuation in the urban interface forest

· Watershed hydrology in Mediterranean ecosystems

· Fire Ecology, and

Urban and community forestry

To develop characteristics and qualities that transcend job-specific skills and knowledge including:

Critical thinking/problem solving competencies
Communications and related social competencies
Forest management competencies using an integrated ecosystem approach
Quantitative systems/information management competencies
Awareness of current issues and technical forestry competencies
Independent thought and research methods

Graduate preparation for further study in forest service, leading to the Ph.D. degree.

Prerequisites

For admission as a classified graduate student, an applicant will have completed a bachelor's degree in forestry at an accredited forestry four-year college determined by appropriate campus authorities with a minimum grade point average of 2.75 in the last 90 quarter units. An applicant who meets these standards but lacks prerequisite coursework may be admitted as a conditionally classified student and must make up any deficiencies before advancement to classified graduate standing.

Program of Study

Graduate students must file a formal study plan with their major professor, graduate committee, department, college and university graduate studies office by no later than the end of the quarter in which the 12th unit of approved courses is completed.

The formal program of study must include a minimum of 45 units (at least 27 of which must be at the 500 level). The broad curriculum for the MS in Forestry Sciences is:

a) a minimum of 29 units in the required core, at the 500 level;

b) a minimum of 16 units of restricted electives approved by the student's major professor and department head;

c) completion of a thesis and an oral and written examination. At the discretion of the graduate committee, the written examination may consist of submitting an article for publication to a referred journal.

	Units
Required Courses	29
SS 501 Research Planning (3)
STAT 512 Statistical Methods (4)
FNR 530 Social Systems/Forest Resources Mgt (3)
FNR 532 Forestry Appl Biometrics/Econometrics (4)
FNR 534 Forest Ecosystem Mgt & Modeling (3)
FNR 581 Graduate Seminar in Forest Resources (3)
FNR 599 Thesis (9)
Restricted electives	16
Determined by the student's graduate committee from forestry subdisciplines (400-500 level)
	45

For more information, contact Norman Pillsbury, Department Head.