Fire Ecology & Management, B.S.

Degree Overview
A B.S. in Fire Ecology and Management is your first step toward a fulfilling career in fire science, ecology or natural resource management.

As a graduate of our program you will be prepared to work in a variety of fields, limited only by your ambition and area of interest. Our curriculum and field work is focused on fire ecology issues in forests, woodlands, shrublands and grasslands, and how to proactively and strategically manage these challenges. Specifically we focus on wildland ecosystems, including ponderosa pine, subalpine, and mixed conifer forests, juniper woodlands, and sagebrush grasslands. We then study these ecosystems at various scales of time, including year, decades and centuries. We also analyze these systems and their reactions at various watershed levels and in different locations.

What You Learn

• Fire history and how policies can influence behaviors, outcomes and the management of resources
• How to write effective prescribed burn plans using both the pre-burn field sampling data and fire behavior models
• How plans influence shrublands and forests, with multiple goals: habitat management, silvicultural and watershed management
• Methodologies for assessing fuels and see how management decisions are applied in the field
• Ecological support methods for fire suppression and forest and rangeland restoration activities
• Strategies for effective community outreach, including working with policy makers to communicate the effects of fire on natural resources
• Best practices for conducting prescribed burning in shrublands and forests Inform policy makers and the public about the ecological role of wildfire