Umpqua Community College

FOREST RESTORATION & FIRE, ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE DEGREE

Foresters actively plan, observe and manage for the health of the entire forest ecosystem. Foresters play a critical role in understanding and protecting multiple-use natural resources. The primary goals of a forester include managing natural resources for sustainable timber harvesting and protecting forests for conservation and recreation purposes.

The Restoration & Fire option focuses on managing forest disturbance processes, such as fire, landslides, insects, and disease.

The Forest Restoration and Fire option prepare students with skills needed to engage in forest disturbance management and processes, including wildfire, landslides, insects, and disease.

Graduates will have the knowledge and the skillset to incorporate natural processes, including disturbance, into active forest management planning. Disturbance processes are important considerations in any actively managed forest, regardless of the specific management objective.

PROGRAM OUTCOMES:

This UCC program aligns with the programs offered through the OSU College of Forestry Program. UCC students that complete the Forest Restoration & Fire AS degree will have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the role of active adaptive management on forested landscapes when outcomes are uncertain

Demonstrate an understanding of the management of ecosystems in an era of rapid change, including change in climate patterns, land use patterns, and political and social institutions

Demonstrate understanding of forest ecology and silviculture principles to understand how forests and forested watersheds respond to natural disturbances or management activities

Develop skills in geospatial analysis, basic surveying, mapping, and GIS

Demonstrate the ability to measure and inventory forest vegetation with precision and accuracy

CAREER CONSIDERATIONS: Forest Restoration and Fire graduates may become professional foresters, field technicians, wildland firefighters, fire ecologists, forest pathologists, or entomologists.

The UCC Forest Restoration & Fire program prepares students for transfer to the Forestry bachelor’s degree program at Oregon State University (OSU). The curriculum is intended to meet the requirements for the first two years of coursework necessary to apply to the professional program in the College of Forestry – Restoration & Fire Option at OSU.

Forestry students can expect to get lots of hands-on experience. Every term, students participate in approximately ten field trips. Weekly classes are outdoors in the field.