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MF
Degree Program

Forestry

The Master of Forestry prepares students for a professional career in sustainable natural resource management and policy. Accredited by the Society of American Foresters (S.A.F.), the program covers a range of environments and scales — from rural to urban, global to local — readying students to solve critical real-world problems and resource conflicts across a complex web of social, political, and ecological systems.
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Program / Courses

Coursework
The Master of Forestry prepares students for a professional career in sustainable natural resource management and policy. Accredited by the Society of American Foresters (S.A.F.), the program covers a range of environments and scales — from rural to urban, global to local — readying students to solve critical real-world problems and resource conflicts across a complex web of social, political, and ecological systems.

The M.F. curriculum focuses on two major themes: multidisciplinary exposure in the biological and social sciences, and a progressive growth of experience in resource measurement, analysis, management and policy. Students gain hands-on technical experience at 11,000 acres of Yale-owned forests and opportunities in management and policy with a variety of forest centric School programs and centers, providing research opportunities alongside world-class YSE faculty. The breadth of exposure propels graduates to careers in private-sector forest management; federal, state, and local government; nonprofit conservation; and education.

The curriculum is designed in three educational stages, along with an emphasis on professional skill development.

Stage One

Basic Knowledge is a focus on understanding the biological, physical, and social science that is the foundation for forest ecology, management, and policy.

Stage Two

Frameworks and Skills for Integrating Knowledge provides many of the analytical techniques and tools for synthesis and analysis of scientific information within a social and political context.

Stage Three

Synthesis and Analysis of Knowledge is designed to address and prepare students for solving important real-world problems and resource conflicts.

Coursework

A. Basic Knowledge

 

1. Biological Sciences

Three courses from three different topic areas. Substitutions for individual courses are allowed, but must be approved.
 
a. Tree Physiology, Morphology, and Taxonomy
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 652
Wood: Structure and Function		   Brodersen
 		  Tentative
ENV 654
Structure, Function, and Development of Trees		 Berlyn
Tu,Th 4:00-5:20 		  Berlyn
Tentative 		 
ENV 671
Woody Plant Taxonomy and Dendrology		 Duguid
Th 1:00-5:00 		  Duguid  
ENV 679
Plant Ecophysiology		 Brodersen
M,W 2:30-3:50 		  Brodersen  
ENV 731
Tropical Field Botany		           Michelangeli
 
b. Forest Ecology, Forest Dynamics
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 660
Forest Ecology & Dynamics		 Duguid
Tu,Th 10:00-11:20 		  Duguid  
ENV 752
Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Forests		         Comita
Tentative 		 
 
c. Ecosystem and Community Ecology
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 602
Ecosystems and Landscapes		 Bradford
M,W 1:00-2:20 		  Bradford  
 
d. Forest Health
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 650
Seminar in Wildland Fire of the Western US		           Ashton
ENV 674
Seminar in Forest Ecosystem Health and Stability in a Changing Climate		   Ashton
 		       
ENV 677
Ecological Restoration		           Duguid
ENV 683
Seminar in Tropical Forest Restoration		   Ashton
 		       
 

2. Physical Sciences

Two courses from two different topic areas. Substitutions for individual courses are allowed, but must be approved.
 
a. Soils and Geology
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 709
Lectures, Discussions and Applications of Soil Science		   Bradford
 		  Tentative
G&G 110
Dynamic Earth		        
 
b. Hydrology
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 712
Water Management		 Anisfeld
Th 12:00-5:00 		    Anisfeld
ENV 714
Environmental Hydrology		   Saiers
 		  Saiers
ENV 724
Watershed Cycles and Processes		 Saiers
Tu,Th 10:30-11:50 		  Saiers  
 
c. Biometeorology
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 630
The Physical Science of Climate Change		   Lee
 		  Lee
ENV 722
Boundary Layer Meteorology (First Organizational Meeting, TBD)		         Lee
Tentative 		 
G&G 322a
Physics of Weather and Climate		        
G&G 140a
Atmosphere, Oceans and Climate Change		        
G&G 120a
Earths Changing Climate		        
 

3. Social Sciences

Two courses, one from each topic area. Substitutions for individual courses are allowed, but must be approved.
 
a. Social and Political Ecology & Anthropology
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 685
Engaging Landholders and Communities in Conserving and Restoring Tropical Forest Landscapes		   Tentative
 		  Tentative
ENV 742
Fundamentals of Working with People		   DeCew
 		  DeCew
ENV 759
Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science		 Dove
M 1:00-3:50 		  Dove  
ENV 764
Sociology of Sacred Values: Modernity, Ecology, and Policy		 Farrell
Th 8:00-10:50 		  Farrell  
ENV 831
Society and Natural Resources Seminar: A “Reflexive Conversation"		   Clark
 		Clark
Tentative 		 
ENV 839
Power in Conservation		   Carpenter
 		  Carpenter
ENV 952
Political Ecology of Conservation and Restoration of Tropical Forest Landscapes		                
 
b. Policy Science and Law
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 760
Conservation in Practice: An International Perspective		   Vedder
 		  Vedder
ENV 775
Federal Indian Law		 Torres
M,W 10:35-12:00 		  Torres
Tentative 		 
ENV 820
Land Use Law and Environmental Planning		   Shansky
 		  Shansky
ENV 824
Environmental Law and Policy		 Klee
M,W 10:30-11:50 		  Klee  
ENV 826
Foundations of Natural Resource Policy and Management		 Clark
Tu 2:30-5:20 		  Clark
Tentative 		 
 

B. Frameworks and Skills

One course from each category
 

1. Economics

One course.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 795
Nature as Capital: Merging Ecological and Economic Models		           Fenichel
ENV 802
Environmental Valuation		         Mendelsohn  
ENV 804
Economics of Environmental & Natural Resource Management		 Mendelsohn
M,W 10:30-11:20 		  Mendelsohn  
 

2. Silviculture

One course.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 659
The Practice of Silviculture: Principles in Applied Forest Ecology (Friday field trips)		   Ashton
 		  Ashton
 

3. Measurement

One course.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 728
Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences		 Reuning-Scherer
Tu,Th 2:30-3:50 		  Reuning-Scherer  
ENV 751
Sampling Methodology and Practice		   Gregoire
 		  Gregoire
ENV 753
Regression Modeling of Ecological and Environmental Data		 Gregoire
M,W 10:30-11:50 		  Gregoire  
ENV 758
Multivariate Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences		   Reuning-Scherer
 		  Reuning-Scherer
ENV 781
Applied Spatial Statistics		   Gregoire
 		  Gregoire
 

4. GIS

One course strongly recommended.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 726
Observing Earth from Space		   Smith
 		  Tentative
ENV 755
Modeling Geographic Space		   Tomlin
 		  Tomlin
ENV 756
Modeling Geographic Objects		 Tomlin
Th 1:00-3:50 		  Tomlin  
 

C. Synthesis and Analysis

One course from each category
 

1. Management of Forest Resources

One course.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 688
Forest Management and Operations		   Orefice
 		  Orefice
ENV 954
Management Plans for Protected Areas (includes Friday and Saturday Field trips)		 Faculty
M,W 1:00-2:20 		  Faculty  
 

2. Professional Skills - Concentration Area

Examples of courses often taken for a self-designed concentration area.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 573
Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making		   Grove
 		Grove  
ENV 760
Conservation in Practice: An International Perspective		   Vedder
 		  Vedder
ENV 767
Building a Conservation Toolkit: From Project Design to Evaluation		   Vedder
 		  Vedder
ENV 817
Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice		 Kooris
Tu 4:00-6:50 		  Kooris
Tentative 		 
ENV 819
Strategies for Land Conservation		   Gentry
 		  Gentry
 

3. Professional Ethics

Required.
 
F&ES 009 Professional Ethics
 

4. Workshops and Skill Modules


PSC Short Course
 

D. Capstone

One course. Other project courses may be substituted with prior approval.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 955
Seminar in Research Analysis, Writing and Communication in Forest Ecology		 Ashton
W 4:00-6:50 		Ashton
 		Ashton Ashton
 

E. Field Trips

One week-long field trip.
Course Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2023
ENV 668
Field Trips in Forest Resource Management and Silviculture		   Tentative
 		  Tentative
ENV 670
Southern Forest and Forestry Field Trip		   Tentative
 		  Tentative
F&ES 005
Forest Apprenticeship		 Western Forests Southern Forests    
 

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