Ecosystem Management and Conservation Specialization

Program Courses

Core

 Two courses required.

Course 1

Choose one of the following 2 courses. The Goal of Core I is a strong foundation in natural science theory in relation to conservation and land stewardship 

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 660 Forest Dynamics	Duguid Tu,Th 10:30-11:50		Duguid
ENV 752 Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Forests	Comita M,W 10:30-11:50		Comita

Course 2

Choose one of the following 2 courses. The Goal of Core II is a strong theoretical foundation in sociology and environmental anthropology as it relations to conservation and land stewardship.

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 759 Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science	Dove M 1:00-3:50		Dove
ENV 764 American Cosmologies	Farrell Th 9:00-11:50

Elective

Four required courses. Students must take at least one course from each of the following four bins:

Social Science Principles

The Goal of the Social Science elective is to apply social science principals to applied conservation topics or issues. It is typical to take these courses after fulfilling your Core 2 requirement. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 573 Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making	Grove W 1:00-3:50		Grove
ENV 631 Poverty, Environment and Inequality	Taylor Tu,Th 1:00-2:20
ENV 685 Engaging Landholders and Communities in Conserving and Restoring Tropical Forest Landscapes		Garen M,W 10:30-11:50		Garen
ENV 737 Socio-ecology of Water in Eastern Africa		Faculty W 1:30-3:20
ENV 740 Understanding Environmental Philanthropy: Funding, Financing, and Grant Writing			Taylor
ENV 742 Fundamentals of Working with People		DeCew Tu,Th 8:30-9:50
ENV 792 Climate Change Communication	Leiserowitz M,W 10:30-11:50
ENV 796 Biopolitics of Human-Nonhuman Relations		Dove Th 1:00-3:50
ENV 951 Strategic Environmental Communication		Leiserowitz M,W 1:00-2:20
ENV 962 Public Lands and Tribal Natural Resources	Gonzalez-Rogers W 9:00-11:50		Gonzalez-Rogers Tentative

Natural Science Principles

The Goal of the Natural Science elective is to natural science principals to applied conservation problems and topics. It is typical to take these courses after fulfilling your Core 1 requirement. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 586 Fisheries & Aquaculture		Freidenburg Tu,Th 1:00-2:15		Freidenburg
ENV 610 Managing Ecosystems for Climate Change Solutions	Brando Tu,Th 1:00-2:20
ENV 629 North American Drylands: Ecology and Land Use		Lauenroth Tu,Th 9:00-10:20
ENV 646 Regenerative Agriculture Systems		Wood Tu 2:30-5:20		Wood
ENV 659 The Practice of Silviculture: Principles in Applied Forest Ecology (Friday field trips)		Ashton M,W 8:30-10:20		Ashton
ENV 691 Field Course: Tropical Sustainable Landscape				Brando
ENV 692 Science and Practice of Temperate Agroforestry	Orefice M 2:30-5:20		Orefice
ENV 709 Lectures, Discussions and Applications of Soil Science	Bradford W 9:00-11:50
ENV 713 Coastal Ecosystems	Anisfeld M 1:00-6:00		Anisfeld
ENV 723 Wetlands Ecology, Conservation & Management	Freidenburg Tu,Th 9:00-10:15		Freidenburg
ENV 744 Conservation Science and Landscape Planning		Schmitz M,W 10:30-11:50
ENV 745 Global Human-Wildlife Interactions		Harris Tu 1:00-3:50	Harris

Quantitative Analysis

The Goal of this elective is to give you exposure and applied skills to applications and methods used by conservation professionals and scientists. Understanding the analysis and interpretation of quantitative data is a crucial skill for solving environmental problems. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 603 Environmental Data Visualization for Communication	Queenborough Tu,Th 9:00-10:20
ENV 684 Forest and Ecosystem Finance				Spalding
ENV 726 Observing Earth from Space		Lee Tu,Th 9:00-10:20		Lee
ENV 730 Environmental Data Science in R: Introduction to Data Integration and Machine Learning	Malone Th 2:30-5:20		Malone
ENV 755 Modeling Geographic Space		Kelly Th 1:00-3:50		Kelly
ENV 756 Modeling Geographic Objects	Kelly Th 1:00-3:50		Kelly
ENV 757 Data Exploration and Analysis	Reuning-Scherer Tu,Th 9:00-10:15	Reuning-Scherer Tu,Th 9:00-10:15	Reuning-Scherer	Reuning-Scherer
ENV 758 Multivariate Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences		Reuning-Scherer Tu,Th 1:00-2:15		Reuning-Scherer
ENV 819 Measuring and Visualizing Urban Environments		Salazar Miranda Th 2:30-5:20		Salazar Miranda

Environmental Policy and Economics

The Goal of this elective is to apply the social science principals of political science and economics to applied conservation topics or issues. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 639 Food Systems and Climate Services	Hernandez-Aguilera Tu,Th 10:30-11:50		Hernandez-Aguilera Tentative
ENV 641 Market-Based Mechanisms for Water Management		Pilz Tu 1:00-3:50
ENV 682 Environmental Justice/Water Justice	Torres M,W 10:30-11:50		Torres
ENV 760 Conservation in Practice: An International Perspective		Vedder Tu,Th 10:30-11:50		Vedder
ENV 795 Nature as Capital: Merging Ecological and Economic Models		Fenichel M,W 9:00-10:20
ENV 821 Environmental Policymaking: From Local to Global	Sanford M,W 1:00-2:20		Sanford
ENV 824 Environmental Law and Policy		Klee M,W 1:00-2:20		Klee
ENV 834 Environmental Economics and Policy		Faculty M,W 9:00-10:20		Kotchen
ENV 962 Public Lands and Tribal Natural Resources	Gonzalez-Rogers W 9:00-11:50		Gonzalez-Rogers Tentative

Additional Electives

In addition to the two required courses and the four electives, students may select additional electives to complete the requirements for the MEM degree. Additional electives that may support students’ focus area in the Ecosystem Management & Conservation Specialization are listed below.  

Course	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Fall 2026	Spring 2027
ENV 644 Coastal Environments in a Changing World			Decker Tentative
ENV 677 Ecological Restoration		Duguid Tu,Th 10:30-11:50
ENV 683 Seminar in Tropical Forest Restoration		Ashton M,W 1:00-2:20
ENV 686 Synthesizing Science for Policy and Practice				Bradford
ENV 767 Tools for Conservation Project Design & Management		Vedder M,W 2:30-3:50		Vedder
ENV 836 Agrarian Societies: Culture, Society, History, and Development	Faculty W 1:30-3:20		Faculty Tentative
ENV 956 Strategies for Land Conservation		Gentry Tu 2:30-5:20		Holmes
ENV 965 Regenerative Agriculture & Just Food Systems Lab	Engel W 1:00-3:50			Engel
ENV 971 Land Use Clinic		Bacher W 10:30-11:50		Bacher