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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 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 652
Wood: Structure and Function		   Brodersen
 		Brodersen  
ENV 654
Structure, Function, and Development of Trees		 Berlyn
Tu,Th 4:00-5:20 		  Berlyn  
ENV 671
Temperate Woody Plant Taxonomy and Dendrology		         Duguid  
ENV 679
Plant Ecophysiology		 Brodersen
Tu,Th 1:00-2:20 		  Brodersen  
ENV 731
Tropical Field Botany		           Michelangeli
 
b. Forest Ecology, Forest Dynamics
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 660
Forest Dynamics		 Duguid
Tu,Th 10:00-11:20 		  Duguid  
ENV 752
Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Forests		         Comita  
 
c. Ecosystem and Community Ecology
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 602
Ecosystems and Landscapes		 Bradford
M,W 8:00-9:20 		  Bradford  
 
d. Forest Health
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 674
Seminar in Forest Ecosystem Health and Climate Change		   Ashton
 		  Tentative
ENV 683
Seminar in Tropical Forest Restoration in Human Dominated Landscapes		           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 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 709
Lectures, Discussions and Applications of Soil Science		   Bradford
 		       
G&G 110
Dynamic Earth		        
 
b. Hydrology
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 714
Environmental Hydrology		           Saiers
ENV 724
Watershed Cycles and Processes		 Saiers
M,W 10:00-11:20 		  Saiers  
 
c. Biometeorology
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 630
The Physical Science of Climate Change		   Lee
 		  Lee
ENV 722
Boundary Layer Meteorology		 Lee
O Intro in person Class: Monday, August 31 		         
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 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 759
Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science		 Dove
M 9:00-11:50 		  Dove  
ENV 764
Nature, Rationality, and Moral Politics		         Farrell  
ENV 831
Society and Natural Resources Seminar: A “Reflexive Conversation"		 Clark
W 1:00-3:50 		  Clark
Tentative 		 
ENV 839
Social Science of Conservation and Development		 Carpenter
Th 10:00-12:50 		  Carpenter  
ENV 952
Political Ecology of Conservation and Restoration of Tropical Forest Landscapes		   Doolittle
 		  Doolittle
 
b. Policy Science and Law
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 760
Conservation in Practice: An International Perspective		   Vedder
 		  Vedder
ENV 820
Land Use Law and Environmental Planning		   Shansky
 		  Tentative
ENV 824
Environmental Law and Policy		 Klee
Tu,Th 10:00-11:20 		  Klee
Tentative 		 
ENV 826
Foundations of Natural Resource Policy and Management		   Clark
 		Clark  
 

B. Frameworks and Skills

One course from each category
 

1. Economics

One course.
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 804
Economics of Environmental & Natural Resource Management		 Mendelsohn
M,W 10:30-11:20 		    Mendelsohn
 

2. Silviculture

One course.
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 659
The Practice of Silviculture: Principles in Applied Forest Ecology (Friday field trips)		   Ashton
 		  Ashton
 

3. Measurement

One course.
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 728
Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences		 Reuning-Scherer
Tu,Th 10:00-11:20 		  Reuning-Scherer  
ENV 751
Sampling Methodology and Practice		   Gregoire
 		  Gregoire
ENV 753
Regression Modeling of Ecological and Environmental Data		 Gregoire
M,W 10:00-11:20 		  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 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 726
Observing Earth from Space		   Smith
 		  Smith
ENV 755
Modeling Geographic Space		   Tomlin
 		  Tomlin
ENV 756
Modeling Geographic Objects		 Tomlin
Tu 10:00-12:50 		  Tomlin  
 

C. Synthesis and Analysis

One course from each category
 

1. Management of Forest Resources

One course.
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 688
Forested Management and Landscape Planning		   Orefice
 		  Tentative
ENV 954
Management Plans for Protected Areas (includes Friday and Saturday Field trips)		 Ashton
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 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 573
Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making		 Grove
Tu 5:00pm-7:50pm 		  Grove
Tentative 		 
ENV 767
Building a Conservation Toolkit: From Project Design to Evaluation		   Vedder
 		  Vedder
ENV 817
Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice		 Kooris
W 5:00-7:50 		  Kooris  
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 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 955
Seminar in Research Analysis, Writing and Communication in Forest Ecology		 Ashton
W 5:00-6:20 		Ashton
 		Ashton
Tentative 		Tentative
 

E. Field Trips

One week-long field trip.
Course Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022
ENV 668
Field Trips in Forest Resource Management and Silviculture		   Ashton
 		  Tentative
ENV 670
Southern Forest and Forestry Field Trip		   Tentative
 		  Tentative
F&ES 005
Forest Apprenticeship		 Western Forests Southern Forests    
 

Events

2021 PMF Application Informational Webinar
Tue. Sep. 22
2:00pm — 3:00pm
Presidential Management Fellowship Application Period Opens
Wed. Sep. 30
All Day
Presidential Management Fellowship Application Period Closes
Wed. Oct. 14
11:00am — 12:00pm

Learning Communities

 

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