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May 08, 2025
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2023-2024 College Catalog [***ATTENTION: THIS IS AN ARCHIVED CATALOG***]
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FNR 211 - Conservation Practice and Evaluation
Credits: 3
This course is designed to complement youth conservation corps work experience. Students will receive technical training in a variety of topics that may include: chainsaw operation and maintenance; herbicide application; plant identification of invasive weeds and ecologically and culturally important native forbs, grasses, and trees; methods for vegetative reclamation such as tree planting, pole planting, plug planting, seed drilling, and seed spreading; deployment of climate adaptation methods such as assisted migration and species migration; fire suppression treatments such as forest thinning; fuelwood provisioning; recreational trail development; spring restoration; design of weirs and check-dams; wildlife and pasture animal management; exotic plant management; use of GPS and drones, and; monitoring of vegetative recovery, insect diversity, and soils. Students will implement such treatments in a variety of ecosystems around the Colorado Plateau.
Course Outcomes:
Students will be able to:
- describe a diverse array of measurement techniques that are useful for describing forest stand structure, ecosystem properties and processes, and ecosystem rehabilitation effectiveness for multiple functions;
- develop and apply allometric equations to estimate stand biomass;
- estimate and predict forest stand carbon stocks;
- develop and use transect protocols for estimating survival of reforestation efforts;
- implement standard protocols for determining insect biodiversity;
- explain standard forest health monitoring protocols such as FIA, Browns transects, USFS stand exams, and LTER/ForestGeo);
- demonstrate proficiency in a variety of conservation treatments as described in Catalog Description;
- describe ecosystem health issues and design treatments to improve ecosystems to desired conditions.
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