Natural Resources

Join one of the top natural resources programs in the nation.

At University of Idaho College of Natural Resources (CNR) you’ll receive a top-tier education in natural resources. For more than 100 years, Vandals have received extensive hands-on field experience in diverse Idaho landscapes, access to innovative research-focused faculty and the opportunity to work in premier outdoor locations like the Taylor Wilderness Research Station — all while gaining valuable skills for a career in conservation, forestry, wildlife management or related fields. Whether it’s conserving culturally important species of fish, improving forest health at one of our many outdoor classrooms or collaring moose on Moscow Mountain, you’ll be ready for your career with a degree respected by industry leaders.

Hands-on and outdoors

Gain exceptional field experiences.

CNR students benefit from access to diverse learning environments, including experimental forests, rangelands like Rinker Rock Creek Ranch and the remote Taylor Wilderness Research Station. These unique locations offer hands-on opportunities to study various ecosystems.

Endowed recreational use areas such as the vibrant McCall Field Campus further enhance field-based learning, providing students with unparalleled opportunities to explore and research Idaho's rich natural landscapes.

Experience personalized learning

At CNR, our faculty-to-student ratio is 19:1. That means you know your professors and they know you. Work directly with award-winning faculty, starting with NR101, a first-year course with field experience like no other.

Learn directly from active, involved faculty in some of the world’s best outdoor facilities. These include the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Aquaculture Research Institute on the Moscow campus. Not far from campus, the University of Idaho’s Experimental Forest contains more than 12,000 acres, and the vast Rinker Rock Creek Ranch in south central Idaho is the home of rangeland research. In addition, the unique McCall Field Campus is located on Payette Lake in central Idaho and deep in the heart of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness students can take advantage of field studies at the historic Taylor Wilderness Research Station.

CNR researchers produce groundbreaking results

From opening new areas of research, like the study of microbes in wildfire smoke, to applying technology to remotely manage grazing livestock, researchers in the College of Natural Resources are on the leading edge, answering questions about our climate, resource conservation and how society and nature share the planet.