UGA Bulletin

Course Description

Renewable resource policy as a process, concentrating on analysis of laws and rules affecting the use and production of renewable natural resources. Topics of focus include property rights development with discussion given to private property resources, such as forests, common property resources such as wildlife and fish, and the evaluation of current policy issues.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to write an additional paper dealing with a policy topic of their choosing. The paper should include sufficient references and in-depth analysis to demonstrate graduate-level work. There will also be additional meetings with the professor to discuss the development and appropriateness of their chosen research topic.

Athena Title

Renewable Resources Policy

Non-Traditional Format

This version of the course will be taught as writing intensive, which means that the course will include substantial and ongoing writing assignments that a) relate clearly to course learning; b) teach the communication values of a discipline—for example, its practices of argument, evidence, credibility, and format; and c) prepare students for further writing in their academic work, in graduate school, and in professional life. The written assignments will result in a significant and diverse body of written work (the equivalent of 6000 words or 25 pages) and the instructor (and/or the teaching assistant assigned to the course) will be closely involved in student writing, providing opportunities for feedback and substantive revision.

Prerequisite

(FORS 4700/6700-4700L/6700L or FANR 3300-3300D or ECON 2100 or ECON 2100E or ECON 2105 or ECON 2105E or ECON 2105H or ECON 2106 or ECON 2106E or ECON 2106H or ECON 2200 or ECON 2200E or ECON 2200H) and senior standing

Semester Course Offered

Offered spring

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to describe the division of authorities among federal, state, local, and tribal governments regarding the governance of key issues related to forests, wildlife, water, and outdoor recreation in the United States.
Students will be able to explain how renewable resource policies in the United States have developed over the course of the country’s history and how policy tools such as regulation, incentives, information provisioning, and government ownership have been used to address different issues over time.
Students will be able to identify scenarios characterized by private, government, commons, and open-access property regimes and describe the policy tools used to address each one.
Students will be able to assess different techniques for evaluating policy effectiveness and their application to major natural resource policies.
Students will be able to analyze contemporary debates over natural resource policy in terms of the relevant interests, discourses, and preferred policy approaches as well as the venues each coalition might choose to advance their interests.

Topical Outline

Understanding Policy
What is Policy?
Delineation of a Policy Issue: Fire in the West
Justification for Intervention
Forest Certification as a case study
The Policy Process
Development of the Policy Process model
NEPA Case Study & Discussion of the EIS Process
Policy Issues
Property Rights
Regulation of Private Land and Regulatory Takings
Land Use Policy in the U.S
NFMA and the Development of Ecosystem Management
U.S. Wildlife Policy
The Endangered Species Act of 1973
International Case Study -- Forest Policy in Colombia
Water Policy in the United States – BMPs
Property Tax Issues in Georgia
Marketing of resource issues
Negotiations

Institutional Competencies

Analytical Thinking

The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.

Critical Thinking

The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.

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