This has strengthened the quantitative aspects of the program and provided some new focus for research. The program has, and will continue, to evolve toward a broader landscape ecology perspective, thus providing additional link to other ecosystem management issues being dealt with in the School. Both the faculties of forestry and biological sciences review recommendations of the faculty before they are forwarded to the University for approval and implementation. Assessment occurs in several ways. Wildlife Biology students have an experiential education requirement that can be filled in one of several ways and each of these has an assessment component.
Students also take a required senior seminar where discussions about their programs occur.
The capstone project is reported both orally and in written form. The strengths of the Wildlife Biology Program are numerous and center around the natural laboratory that is Montana and the faculty expertise and commitment in the program. Montana is known worldwide for its wildlife populations and thus is an outstanding place to study wildlife and to deal with it in a social and policy context. Given this situation the School and the Division of Biological Sciences have been able to attract very strong faculty to the Program. A major challenge is maintaining and enhancing a high quality program in the face of severe financial limitations.