Here is a send-off word for launching that career. Instead of always managing nature, manage as much to keep life natural. When, half a century ago, I sat where you sat, commencing, the mark of an educated person could be summed up as civitas , citizenship. People ought to be productive in their communities, leaders in business, the professions, the sciences, government, church, education. Natural resource management, by that account, would be in the service of this good citizenship.
Earth is our dwelling place.
From here onward, there is no such thing as civic competence without ecological competence. Until one is environmentally literate, no one is well educated for the next century. But I wish to set your encounter with nature beyond both resource use and management. But neither do want a de-natured life. Treating the dirt as natural resource to be farmed, mined, timbered, or owned is necessary but not sufficient for an understanding of natural value.