Students will acquire the knowledge necessary to gain an
understanding of forestry, forest stewardship, responsible
citizenship, and employment opportunities in forestry. Students
will also gain an understanding of current technology and
socio-economic values associated with managed public and private
forest and natural resources. Upon the completion of the course,
students should be able to understand basic principles and
methods used by foresters and be aware of forest and natural
resource conditions and typical management recommendations for
achieving various landowner and societal objectives. Students
should be able to expand the application of sustainability
principles to other natural resources and human-natural
environment interactions.

One main outcome of the course is to engage students through
written and oral assignments, structured and unstructured
discussions, and lectures on forests and human use of the land.
The activities noted below are designed to help students
understand the role and place of humans in the broader landscape
and to help them evaluate whether our use of resources is
directed toward the greater common good (socially,
environmentally, economically). Many human uses of land, forest, 
and natural resources are discussed, and ethical behavior of 
humans is intertwined with these subjects through the informal
class discussions. Some lectures focus on environmental and
business ethics with respect to human use of land and associated
resources. These activities should foster an environment where
the class can discuss human stereotypes and prejudices that exist
in society today. They should help students understand why
certain social systems interact with the environment in the
manner that they do, which should contribute to a broader
understanding of human use of the land and a reduction in
stereotypes and prejudices. 
 
The objectives will be met through the following activities:

1) Class Assignments and Discussion Participation:  Once per week
you will be given an assignment that involves a short, written 
summary of a forest and natural resource sustainability subject 
that pertains to current or previous lectures. These writing 
assignments will be graded and will contribute to your course 
grade as explained below. Unless indicated otherwise, these 
assignments will be due at the beginning of the next class
meeting. The writing assignments will be variously structured to
provide opportunities to address your thoughts to different
audiences (academic, social, professional). We will spend some
time at the beginning of a lecture period discussing your work on
these assignments, so please come prepared to participate in
class discussions. The discussion will involve considering the
subject from environmental, economic, and social perspectives,
and will prompt you to think about how your thoughts on a subject
might interest different audiences (academic, social,
professional). Instructors will provide advice and guidance on
how to compose these writing assignments for both academic and
professional audiences. Instructors will also provide advice and
guidance on how these writing assignments can be adjusted to be
more stylistically appropriate for the audiences for which they
are developed. Through class discussions of these assignments,
advice and guidance will be provided on interpersonal and oral
presentation of ideas that is stylistically appropriate, mature,
and consistent with professional and academic norms. We will
encourage and facilitate discussion that fosters and engages
opposing points of view. However, we will also provide advice and
guidance on how these weekly assignments might be strengthened to
support your point of view and foster a consistent purpose.

2) Reading and Synthesis Assignment: Around the middle of the
term you will be assigned a paper to read concerning a current
international forest and natural resource sustainability-related
issue. The paper selected will have been peer-reviewed and
published in a reputable forestry or natural resource journal.
The paper will focus on the integration of forest natural
resource concerns with social, economic, and environmental
aspects of human use of the land. At the time of this assignment,
and given the subjects covered previously during class lectures,
you will be asked to assimilate and analyze the work and present 
in written form your impression of the scientific method and 
advances proposed. The advice and guidance provided for weekly 
assignments should be of benefit in prompting you to think about 
how your thoughts on the subject might interest different 
audiences (academic, social, professional), how your thoughts 
might be structured to be stylistically appropriate and mature, 
and how they can be structured to support your point of view on 
the paper. We will discuss and prepare you to analyze the
arguments presented in the discussion section of the paper, where
the advances made in the research are placed into a larger
societal and research context. When the assignment is due, we
will spend a portion of a lecture period discussing your various
thoughts on the paper. As with class assignments, the discussion
will involve thinking about the subject from environmental,
economic, and social perspectives, and will prompt you to think
about how the important messages in the paper might interest
different audiences (academic, social, professional). These
discussions should broaden your perspective of the subject,
provide an avenue for intellectual discourse, and help you
understand the different values people hold regarding forestry
and the use of land. Through the written and oral portions of
this assignment, you should gain insight into the inferences and
subtleties each of the other students in the course gathered by
reading and pondering the work.

3) Bonus Paper (optional):  Students who desire extra credit may
select a news article that relates to an issue concerning forest
and natural resources and write a short report summarizing it. 
The news article must have been published in a creditable
newspaper or weekly magazine (print or online) during 2016 or
later.  Press releases, opinion pieces, and articles in agency or
activist organization magazines do not qualify.  We will be happy
to review candidate articles if you send them to us or bring them
to class.

Students will write a 1,000 word paper that first summarizes the
news article and then give their opinion of the article and the
issue described in the article. A copy of the news article must
be submitted with the paper. Papers are to be typed in 11-point
or larger font, single-spaced, with 1” margins throughout. 
Papers will be graded on how well each issue is summarized and
critiqued (70% of credit) and on correct format, spelling, and
grammar (30% of credit). Papers without the article attached
(stapled) will not be accepted. Only printed versions are
acceptable (paper is renewable and recyclable) as links and
formatting are still often problematic with electronic 
submissions.

The potential value given to a bonus paper will decline as the
semester progresses as follows:

Received By	Maximum Credit
Week 4	              5
Week 8	              4
Week 12	              3
After Week 8          0

4) Exams:  There will be 4 exams (multiple choice, true/false,
matching, and short essay questions). Exams will cover lecture
material from class and assigned readings. Each exam is
comprehensive, but will primarily focus on topics covered since
the previous exam (except the final). Exams will intentionally
include some questions about material covered only in lecture,
discussions, and class videos, not just material from readings or
the class slides, thus regular class attendance is highly
recommended.

1. Introduction to the course
2. History of forestry, forests in the current world context
3. Forests of the world
4. Forest landowners
5. Forest landowners objectives and constraints
6. Forest products-commodities (lumber, paper, chemicals, etc.)
7. Forest products-non-timber (wildlife, biodiversity,
aesthetics, water, etc.)
9. Forest recreation
10. Forest ecosystem services
11. Forest wildlife habitat development, manipulation, and models
12. Measuring forest conditions
13. Mapping, aerial photographs, satellite images
14. Lasers, LiDAR, GPS
15. Tree anatomy
16. Tree physiology
17. Forest dynamics-communities, competition, succession
18. Forestry practices
19. Forest harvesting systems
20. Forest economics
21. Forest disturbance and health
22. Forest policies and external pressures
23. Forest certification
24. Urban forestry
25. Forestry conservation and business ethics
26. Forestry careers