The Department of Natural Resources has responded to this need for well trained, conscientious individuals by creating and developing an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program in environmental conservation. This program focuses on the critical relationships between people and their environment and offers challenging educational opportunities in both the technological and humanitarian aspects of environmental problems. This is accomplished by gaining understanding of our economic and political system as it relates to environmental quality, and by combining these to fit social needs within the constraints of the Earth's ecological systems. This major gives a broad background for understanding environmental and resource problems and their solutions. It provides a basis from which one may progress toward sustainable living.
Emphasis is on the human dimensions of community-building, ecological design, and a sense of place.
The EC faculty consists of 3 full-time professors, seven professors who contribute part of their time to the program, and two adjunct professors in the field of sustainability. These professors represent specialties in forestry, soil science, economics, natural resources and environmental policy, environmental ethics, remote sensing, conservation biology, and sustainable living. All professors are actively involved in their own environmentally oriented research programs.