NATRS 471 - Restoration Techniques

Credits: 5
Examines forest restoration at multiple spatial scales from stand to watershed to landscape levels. Students demonstrate outdoor skills and conduct restoration assessments. Compares goals for biological conservation, invasive species management, carbon sequestration, and economic viability through field trips and applied experience with restoration techniques and case studies.

Prerequisite: ENGL 128 and instructor’s permission.

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge and skill in assessing a stand for restoration potential.
Demonstrate an understanding of various restoration techniques used for a variety of degraded environments.
Demonstrate an understanding of the ecological, economic and social aspects of preparing and conducting restoration projects at various spatial and temporal scales.
Prepare a management plan for a restoration project.

Program Outcomes

Attain a job in the Natural Resources field.
Manage Forestland and Resources to attain positive outcomes.
Demonstrate effective written and verbal communications between industry partners and cooperator.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.
Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.
Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning - Quantitative Reasoning encompasses abilities necessary for a student to become literate in today’s technological world. Quantitative reasoning begins with basic skills and extends to problem solving.
Written Communication - Written Communication encompasses all the abilities necessary for effective expression of thoughts, feelings, and ideas in written form.