Natural Resources Conservation

The Natural Resources Conservation major provides students rigorous academic training in the natural, conservation, and social sciences with hands-on field skills and field experiences from summer jobs, internships, and cooperative education positions with conservation organizations and the green industry.

Students learn about the ecology of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and how these systems can be managed to conserve biodiversity and protect ecosystem functions while providing sustainable benefits to society.

Students in the Natural Resources Conservation major focus in one of the following six concentrations:

• Environmental Conservation
• Fisheries Ecology & Conservation
• Forest Ecology & Conservation
• Urban Forestry & Arboriculture
• Water Resources
• Wildlife Ecology & Conservation

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In the Natural Resources Conservation program (NRC) we are committed to fostering a diverse, positive, and welcoming community. We are working to provide a safe, equitable, and inclusive environment through intentional and ongoing action, to celebrate and connect across differences, to respect individual needs, styles, and career goals, and to support, advise, and mentor students accordingly. Addressing historical imbalances and the harms of colonialism and white supremacy, specifically in the environmental conservation field, but also more broadly, is a moral responsibility that we all share. For more information on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the department please visit https://www.umass.edu/environmental-conservation/about/jedia.