Graduate Opportunities in Ecosystem Management

Ecosystem management focuses on ways to maintain and restore ecological integrity while guiding appropriate human uses of natural systems. Hence, it requires an understanding of natural systems, social systems, and the ways to manage the effects of one on the other through effective decision making processes and creative design and planning. The School of Natural Resources & Environment (SNRE) provides a variety of ways to study these elements of ecosystem management through pre-professional graduate studies.

Masters Program

As partial fulfillment of a masters degree, all students complete an "opus" - a thesis, practicum, or group research project. Because of the commitment to interdisciplinary studies and learning, many students choose to participate in the group research project option. These projects involve independent and original research as a group, rather than as individuals, and are usually undertaken for governmental or nongovernmental clients. Project students develop proposals in cooperation with faculty advisors and conduct joint research on topics such as endangered species policy and management of river corridors in urban areas. Several recent masters projects have focused on ecosystem management, and have been supported by the efforts and funding of EMI-affiliated faculty.

• Renewable Energy in California: Mechanisms for Evaluating Solar Development on Public Lands (April 2010)
• Corn Ethanol and Wildlife: How are Policy- and Market-Driven Increases in Corn Plantings Affecting Habitat and Wildlife? (April 2009)
• Ungulate Pathways of the West: Challenges and Opportunities for conserving Ungulate Migrations in the Western U.S. (April 2009)
• State Wildlife Action Plans (April 2008)
• Collaborative Planning on State Trust Land (April 2006)
• Investing in Wildlife, State Wildlife Funding Campaigns (April 2005)
• Full Report
• Summary of Findings
• Trends in Easement Language and the Status of Current Monitoring on Working Forest Conservation Easements (April 2005)
• Assessing the Landscape: Toward a Viable Gray Wolf Population in Michigan and Wisconsin (April 2003)
• Shiatown Dam Assessment: Guiding a Community Decision for Action (April 2003)
• Enhancing Collaboration for Conservation and Development in Southern Belize (April 2003)
• Watershed Management on Pohnpei: Lessons for Enhanced Collaboration (April 2003)
• The Role of Land Trusts in Landscape-Scale Collaborative Initiatives
  (April 2002)
• Upper Manistee River Watershed Conservation Plan (April 2002)
• A Resting Place for the Ducks: A Multidisciplinary Analysis of Floodplain Restoration of the Hennepin Levee District, Illinois (August 2001)
• Transboundary Collaboration in Ecosystem Management: Integrating Lessons from Experience (April 2001)
• Revisiting Riverside: A Frederick Law Olmsted Community (April 2001)
• Recent Trends in Ecosystem Management (April 2000)
• A Systematic Assessment of Collaborative Resource Management Partnerships (April 1999)
• Ecosystem Management in the United States (April 1995)

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program

Students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in the field of ecosystem management will find a variety of professors and research projects compatible with their interests. The commitment to interdisciplinary teaching has brought together the social and the natural sciences within SNRE for many doctoral students. For those students with an even broader focus, the choice of pursuing doctoral degrees in multiple departments, for example SNRE and Anthropology, has also been increasingly common among our interdisciplinary-focused doctoral students.

For more information on graduate degree requirements for both the Masters and Ph.D. programs, please visit the School's Graduate Programs website.