Range Management and Grassland Ecology
This emphasis provides the student with a concentrated study in grassland ecology and rangeland management. It focuses on creating an understanding of grassland ecosystems including prairies, shrub-steppes and other rangeland ecosystems. Current societal demands for limited resources including open space, aesthetic values, wildlands for recreation and solitude coupled with global climate changes and introductions of exotic species will undoubtedly increase the complexity of management of public and private rangelands. In Montana and throughout the west sustaining healthy environments, conserving remaining remnant prairies, maintaining biological diversity, complementing diverse uses, and increasing our understanding of ecosystem values of these lands requires sound technical skills and an ability to integrate and communicate the need for ecological and interdisciplinary study and approaches to management. Our goal is to train students with broad natural resource technical and integration skills in grassland ecosystems that allow students to be successful resource specialists with government agencies, NGOs, or continue into more specialized graduate programs. Our program stresses the western U.S. and Montana; however, students will be introduced to world issues and concerns related to these lands.
Specific requirements for the 455 series - For students who wish to qualify for federal jobs as range technicians.
Required Core Curriculum
In addition to specialized courses in the Range Management and Grassland Ecology track, all students must complete the required core curriculum.
Within the required core curriculum, students in the Range Management and Grassland Ecology track should take BIOO 105 Botany and NRSM 462 Range Ecology.
Suggested Course for the Range Management and Grassland Ecology Track
The following courses are recommended for students emphasizing Range Management and Grassland Ecology. Please note that the courses in bold are the most important courses for students in this track to take.
|NRSM 265 - Elements of Ecological Restoration||one ecology or biology course||3|
|WILD 275 - Wildlife Conservation||3|
|FORS 230 - Fire Management & Environment||3|
|FORS 250 - Intro to GIS for Forest Management||3|
|FORS 333 - Fire Ecology||FORS 230||3|
|BIOO 335 - Rocky Mountain Flora||BIOB 160 or 170||3|
|NRSM 360 - Rangeland Management||3|
|BIOE 370 - Ecology||BIOB 275, STAT 216||3|
|NRSM 379 - Collaboration in Natural Resource Decisions||3|
|NRSM 385 - Watershed Hydrology||3|
|GPHY 335 - Water Policy||3|
|BIOE 447 - Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology||one ecology course||3|
|NRSM 462 - Range Ecology||3|
|BIOE 458 - Forest & Grassland Ecology||3|
|NRSM 121S - Nature of Montana||3|
|ECNS 201S - Principles of Microeconomics||3|
|BIOO 433 - Plant Physiology||BIOB 170||3|