Online Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Courses: An Overview

Online Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Programs: General Information

You can enroll in a variety of online forestry and wildlife conservation programs depending on your immediate needs and career goals. Because forestry and conservation primarily involves study of the outdoors, programs are not typically offered fully online; rather, students may complete individual courses online in combination with on-campus and field work. The Natural Resources Distance Learning Consortium (NRDLC) maintains a listing of member institutions that offer online forestry courses, such as Oregon State University and Northern Arizona University.

Overview of Online Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Courses

Schools offering online forestry and wildlife conservation courses do so at different educational levels, which will affect the prerequisites you may need to enroll. Online graduate courses, for example, usually require students to have completed previous natural sciences coursework. No matter the type of degree, online courses in forestry and wildlife conservation will utilize the Internet and will most likely require you to have adequate access to a computer and pertinent computer programs to complete assignments. You will use tools such as e-mail, online chat rooms and online social communities to receive assignments and ask questions.

Within this field of study, you will learn about different conservation methods, ecology and various types of wildlife. Specific course topics may include soils, human population, water pollution, forest management and wildlife extinction. Students in an online program may also have the opportunity to delve deeper into certain subtopics of forestry and wildlife conversation. Specializations may be chosen in areas such as fire ecology, natural resources or restoration ecology.

Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Career Outlook

There are a variety of career opportunities for students with postsecondary backgrounds in forestry and wildlife conservation. Some examples of such job titles include wildlife biologist, park ranger, horticulture specialist, tour guide and conservation scientist. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, www.bls.gov), job vacancies for foresters and the like will grow by 12% between 2008-2018, which is similar to the average growth rate for all occupations. Many of the new job openings will be located in government agencies at the local, state and federal levels, according to the BLS.