Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation

Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation | Courses | Natural Resources Conservation Faculty

225 Holdsworth Natural Resources Center

Degree: Bachelor of Science

Contact: Linda S. Fortin

Office: 225 Holdsworth

Phone: 545-2665

Web site: www.umass.edu/ug_catalog/natrescon/wfcon.html

The Field

Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation is a major branch of applied ecology that encompasses the science and art of studying, managing, conserving, and protecting wild animal populations and the ecosystems on which living things depend. Such tasks demand people broadly trained in science, natural history, ecology, and the social and policy sciences. For this reason, the degree requirements in the program begin with traditional natural history, zoology, botany, mathematics, and chemistry courses.

Building on these traditional foundations, study continues with applied courses on the principles of resource management and sensitive issues of public policy and social values.

Wildlife and fisheries conservation is both science and art. In addition to academic training, it requires talent, personal commitment, enthusiasm, and special skills.

Career Opportunities

Employment opportunities depend upon the program option chosen, field or research experience, and the cooperative education or internship opportunities pursued.

The Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation curricula provide students with the strong basic training to go to graduate school to work toward a Master of Science degree. A master's degree is needed to enter the wildlife or fisheries professions as a scientist or natural resource manager with state or federal natural resource agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, or the Bureau of Land Management. A master's degree also provides the expertise necessary for advancement within an agency to jobs that include more supervisory and decision-making responsibility.

Many students seek a job upon receiving their bachelor's degree to get some work experience before going to graduate school, while others decide that graduate school may not fit their personal goals or needs. Some bachelor's degree students start their careers with overseas assignments in the Peace Corps. Others find jobs as technicians or field assistants with environmental consulting firms, or with state or federal agencies. The advantage of such jobs lies in the opportunity to spend large amounts of time "in the field." For example, a technician may work as field assistant to district fish or game biologists. Responsibilities may include helping to analyze the condition of fish or wildlife populations, or assisting in interviewing anglers or hunters to determine levels of harvest that occur during hunting or fishing seasons. Graduates may also take jobs as fishery observers on foreign commercial fishing vessels. The National Marine Fisheries Service assigns these technicians to an ocean fishing boat for about a month at a time to collect data on the levels of catch of important commercial species, or on the numbers of protected animals such as dolphins that become trapped in fishing nets.

The Major

Students choose between a track in wildlife conservation or in fisheries conservation.

An essential part of a Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation education involves practical field experience. The department provides help in finding students suitable field research projects, summer jobs, internships, or cooperative education positions with state and federal agencies, and private conservation organizations to gain additional valuable experience.

There are many opportunities for students to work as field assistants on departmental research projects, such as studies on bears, trout, acid rain, coastal shorebirds, endangered species, white-tailed deer, and estuarine fish. Through these activities, students have use of such field laboratories as the nearby Connecticut River, the vast water and land complex of the Quabbin Reservoir, the forested lands of western Massachusetts, the estuaries and beaches of the Atlantic coast, and over 2,000 acres of University forests and waters.

There are numerous summer job and field research opportunities with agencies and conservation organizations. The University's Cooperative Education and Internship programs, and contacts made by individual faculty, provide a wide array of opportunities, including: participating in programs studying the fish and wildlife resources of Alaska's north slope, restoring bald eagle and osprey populations, monitoring salmonid populations in acidified streams of the northeast, or working as assistants on federal wildlife refuges, at federal or state fish hatcheries, or on research projects at national parks or other public lands throughout the U.S. Students can also choose to complete some major requirements earning credit at other universities in the U.S. or abroad in places such as Africa and Australia.

Major Requirements

Freshman

BIOL 102 and BIOL 103 Introductory Animal and Plant Biology

MATH 104 or equivalent

NRC 100 Environment and Society

NRC 150 Applied Ecology

NRC 191 Introduction to Natural Resources Professions

RES EC 211 Introductory Statistics for the Life Sciences

Sophomore

BIOL 283 General Genetics

CHEM 111 and 112 General Chemistry

Math electiveóMATH 127, STAT 501 or BIOEPI 540

NRC 290A Animal Sampling Identification

NRC 290E Applied Ecology II

NRC 290P Plant Sampling and Identification

NRC 290S Introduction to Spatial Information Technologies

W&FCON 260 Fisheries Conservation and Management

W&FCON 261 Wildlife Conservation and Management

Junior

Public Speaking electiveóFOREST 492A or COMM 260

NRC 390A Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management

NRC 397A Professional Writing

NRC 409 Natural Resources Policy and Administration

RES EC 263 Natural Resource Economics

Senior

Physical Science electiveóPHYSIC 139 or CHEM 250

NRC 549 Ecosystem Management

Track Requirements

Fisheries Track

Aquatic Science electiveóGEO 103

BIOL 542 Ichthyology

Earth Science electiveóGEO 101 and 131 or GEO 105

Invertebrate electiveóBIOL 530

W&FCON 470 Fish Ecology

W&FCON 571 Fisheries Science and Management

Wildlife Track

Two 500-level Biology courses which must include either BIOL 544 or BIOL 548; if only one of the preceding is chosen, the other can be selected from among BIOL 521, 522, 528, 540, 550 or 567.

Earth Science electiveóGEO 101 and 131, GEO 103 or GEO 105

FOREST 334 Forest Measurements

W&FCON 564 Wildlife Habitat Management

W&FCON 565 Dynamics and Management of Animal Populations

The Minor

The minor is designed to introduce students from a variety of other disciplines to the information essential for wise stewardship of fish and wildlife resources. This background may aid students in making career choices and in broadening their options with regard to graduate school and future employment. A total of 15 credits is required.

I. Take both of the following:

261 Wildlife Conservation

260 Fisheries Conservation

II. Choose three classes out of the following groups, but no more than two in any single group:

A. Wildlife Conservation

563 Wetland Wildlife Ecology and Management

564 Forest Wildlife Ecology and Management

B. Fisheries Conservation

470 Ecology of Fish

597 Anadromous Fishes

C. Population and Habitat Assessment

396 Independent Study

565 Dynamics and Management of Animal Populations

571 Fisheries Science and Management

577 Ecosystem Modeling and Simulation

587 Introduction to Digital Remote Sensing

592G GIS in Fish and Wildlife

D. Natural Resource Policy/Economics/Human Dimensions

NAREST 205 Introduction to Outdoor Recreation

NRC 390A Human Dimensions of Natural Resources

NRC 409 Natural Resources Policy and Administration

ECON 308 Political Economy of the Environment

ENT 342 Pesticides, the Environment, and Public Policy

ENVSCI 213 Principles of Environmental Policy

GEO 362 Land Use and Society

RES EC 262 Environmental Economics

RES EC 263 Natural Resource Economics

POLSCI 382 Environmental Policy

Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation | Courses | Natural Resources Conservation Faculty