Conservation Science and Practice (BSc Program)

Art Fredeen, Professor Emeritus

Ken Otter, Professor and Chair
Darwyn Coxson, Professor
Dezene Huber, Professor
Chris Johnson, Professor
Kathy Lewis, Professor
Brent Murray, Professor
Mark Shrimpton, Professor
Oscar Venter, Professor, and Forest Renewal BC Endowed Chair in Growth and Yield and Forest Valuations
Ché Elkin, Associate Professor, and FRBC/Slocan Mixed Wood Ecology Chair
Scott Green, Associate Professor
Eduardo Martins, Associate Professor
Phil Mullins, Associate Professor
Erin Baerwald, Assistant Professor
Lauren Harding, Assistant Professor
Jennifer Wigglesworth, Assistant Professor
John Shultis, Adjunct Professor
Pamela Wright, Adjunct Professor
Roy Rea, Senior Lab Instructor
Ecological systems underpin human well-being in many ways from art and culture to food security. Conservation professionals work to ensure that ecosystems continue to provide these values for future generations. However, we are facing an increasingly complex set of challenges as human populations and resource development increase and the global climate changes. Meeting these challenges requires an integration of human and ecological values across a broad range of ecosystems at increasingly larger spatial and temporal scales.

Students pursuing a BSc in Conservation Science and Practice focus on understanding and addressing the contemporary challenges facing the sustainable use and conservation of our environment. Navigating these challenges requires a strong scientific foundation, including the necessary appreciation for both the natural and human dimensions of conservation and management. This degree equips students with the knowledge to enter a solutions-based career that actively contributes to solving today’s conservation and management problems. Our goal is to provide students with the philosophical foundation, scientific theory, and technical skills to address the challenge of maintaining the functioning of ecosystems across developed, developing and still-wild landscapes.


Major in Conservation Science and Practice - Wildland Conservation and Recreation (BSc)
Major in Conservation Science and Practice - Wildland Conservation and Recreation (BSc Honours)
Major in Conservation Science and Practice - Landscape Conservation and Management (BSc)
Major in Conservation Science and Practice - Landscape Conservation and Management (BSc Honours)


The BSc in Conservation Science and Practice allows students to pursue one of two majors:
 
  1. Wildland Conservation and Recreation
  2. Landscape Conservation and Management
The major in Wildland Conservation and Recreation focuses on portions of the landscape where conservation values, including recreation and aesthetic values, are the priority land-use activities, and where these activities intersect with other values, priorities, and uses. Topics of study include: the promotion of and advocacy for conservation; integrated management of legally designated parks and protected areas; conservation area design; and human activities across these areas, including recreation, ecotourism and the associated positive and negative impacts on ecological integrity. Students develop the skills necessary to identify, plan, monitor, and manage conservation values within the parks, recreation and tourism sectors.

The major in Landscape Conservation and Management focuses on natural and human-modified systems across broad spatial scales. The emphasis in this major is on integrated landscapes that support a wide variety of values and activities, including the maintenance of biodiversity, the rights and practices of Indigenous Peoples, ecosystem services, and resource extraction. Courses in this major consider human activities across a range of ecological scales but with an emphasis on landscape and ecosystem-level processes. Graduates from the major develop the skills to work with cutting-edge tools and data that are necessary for the planning and management of multiple values across space and time. 

Both majors are premised on an interdisciplinary and multi-value perspective. The degree is focused on the natural sciences, and draws on ideas, theory and practice from the social sciences. This broad perspective recognizes that humans are part of socio-ecological systems; thus, the human dimensions of conservation, management and natural sciences are integral components of the curriculum.


Major in Wildland Conservation and Recreation

Program Requirements

Lower Division Requirement

100 Level
BIOL 103-3 Introductory Biology I
BIOL 104-3 Introductory Biology II
BIOL 123-1 Introductory Biology I Laboratory
BIOL 124-1 Introductory Biology II Laboratory
CHEM 100-3 General Chemistry I
ENVS 101-3 Introduction to Environmental Citizenship
FNST 100-3 The Aboriginal Peoples of Canada
NREM 100-3* Field Skills
ORTM 100-3 Foundations of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
*Note:  Applications for exemption from NREM 100-3 must be made within the first year of study in this major.


200 Level

BIOL 201-3 Ecology
FSTY 201-3 Forest Plant Systems
   or BIOL 301-3 Systematic Botany
GEOG 204-3 Introduction to GIS
NREM 204-3 Introduction to Wildlife and Fisheries
NREM 209-3 The Practice of Conservation
ORTM 200-3 Sustainable Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
ORTM 205-3 Outdoor Skills and Leadership
STAT 240-3 Basic Statistics

Upper Division Requirement

300 Level

ENPL 304-3 Mediation, Negotiation and Public Participation
   or ENVS 326-3 Public Engagement for Sustainability
GEOG 300-3 Intermediate GIS
NREM 303-3 Aboriginal Perspectives on Land and Resource Management
ORTM 300-3 Recreation and Tourism Impacts
ORTM 305-3 Protected Area Planning and Management
ORTM 332-3 Outdoor, Environmental, and Experiential Education
ORTM 333-3 Field School
Two of the following:
BIOL 302-3 Limnology
BIOL 304-3 Plants, Society and the Environment
BIOL 307-3 Ichthyology and Herpetology
BIOL 308-3 Ornithology and Mammalogy
BIOL 318-3 Fungi and Lichens
BIOL 322-3 Entomology
BIOL 323-3 Evolutionary Biology
BIOL 333-3 Field School
BIOL 350-3 Ethnobotany
NREM 333-3 Field Applications in Resource Management

400 Level

BIOL 411-3 Conservation Biology
NREM 400-4 Natural Resources Planning
NREM 409-3 Conservation Planning
ORTM 400-3 Conservation Area Design and Management
Two of the following:
ORTM 307-3** Land Relations and Communities in Recreation and Tourism
ORTM 401-3** The Culture of Adventure
ORTM 405-3** Leadership Praxis
ORTM 409-3** Critical Approaches to Outdoor Recreation Activities
ORTM 433-(1-6) Field School II
ORTM 440-(2-6) Internship
ORTM 498-(1-3) Special Topics
ORTM 499-(1-6) Independent Study
One of the following:
BIOL 402-3 Aquatic Plants
BIOL 404-3 Plant Ecology
BIOL 406-3* Fish Ecology
BIOL 410-3* Population and Community Ecology
BIOL 412-3* Wildlife Ecology
BIOL 420-3* Animal Behaviour
BIOL 421-3 Insects, Fungi and Society
One of the following:
BIOL 409-3 Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems
BIOL 413-3* Wildlife Management
BIOL 414-3* Fisheries Management
NREM 413-3 Agroforestry
*Note: Prerequisites for these courses may be met by appropriate selection of courses in options listed in “Two of the following” and “One of the following” lists above.
**Note: Students should note that some senior-level ORTM classes are offered in alternating years.

Elective Requirements
Elective credit hours as necessary to ensure completion of a minimum of 120 credit hours.


BSc Honours - Conservation Science and Practice (Wildland Conservation and Recreation)

The Honours in Conservation Science and Practice (Wildland Conservation and Recreation) offers students a higher level of education and substantial research experience for proceeding to post graduate studies.

To enter the Honours Program, students must have completed 60 credit hours and obtained a minimum Cumulative GPA of 3.33. Attaining the minimum requirement does not guarantee entry into the Honours Program, which is at the discretion of the Conservation Science and Practice Curriculum Committee. Maintenance of a Cumulative GPA of 3.33 is required to remain in the Honours Program.

Honours students are required to complete the degree requirements for the BSc Conservation Science and Practice (Wildland Conservation and Recreation). In addition, each student must also complete an additional 6 credit hours in the form of an undergraduate thesis (normally NRES 430-6) under the supervision of a faculty member. Students are responsible to find their own undergraduate thesis research supervisor. Faculty members are under no obligation to supervise Honours students.


Major in Landscape Conservation and Management

Program Requirements

Lower Division Requirement

100 Level

BIOL 103-3 Introductory Biology I
BIOL 104-3 Introductory Biology II
BIOL 123-1 Introductory Biology I Laboratory
BIOL 124-1 Introductory Biology II Laboratory
CHEM 100-3 General Chemistry I
ECON 100-3 Microeconomics
FNST 100-3 The Aboriginal Peoples of Canada
MATH 152-3 Calculus for Non-majors
NREM 100-3 Field Skills
NREM 101-3 Introduction to Natural Resource Management and Conservation
NRES 100-3 Communications in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies

200 Level

BIOL 201-3 Ecology
ENSC 201-3 Weather and Climate
INTS 225-3 Global Environmental Change
   or NREM 225-3 Global Environmental Change: Sustainability
FNST 249-3 Aboriginal Resource Planning
GEOG 204-3 Introduction to GIS
NREM 204-3 Introduction to Wildlife and Fisheries
NREM 209-3 The Practice of Conservation
STAT 240-3 Basic Statistics

300 Level

BIOL 325-3 Ecological Analyses
ENPL 304-3 Mediation, Negotiation and Public Participation
   or ENVS 326-3 Public Engagement for Sustainability
ECON 305-3 Environmental Economics and Environmental Policy
   or FSTY 310-3 Forest Economics
   or NREM 306-3 Society, Policy and Administration
GEOG 300-3 Intermediate GIS
NREM 303-3 Aboriginal Perspectives on Land and Resource Management
   or ENPL 409-4 Advanced First Nations Community and Environmental Planning
Two of the following:
BIOL 301-3 Systematic Botany
BIOL 307-3 Ichthyology and Herpetology
BIOL 308-3 Ornithology and Mammalogy
BIOL 318-3 Fungi and Lichens
BIOL 322-3 Entomology
BIOL 350-3 Ethnobotany
FSTY 201-3 Forest Plant Systems
400 Level
BIOL 409-3 Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems
   or ENSC 425-3 Climate Change and Global Warming
BIOL 411-3 Conservation Biology
ENPL 401-3 Environmental Law
ENVS 414-3 Environmental and Professional Ethics
FSTY 405-3 Forest Ecosystem Modelling
   or ENSC 406-3 Environmental Modelling
NREM 400-4 Natural Resources Planning
NREM-409-3 Conservation Planning
ORTM 400-3 Conservation Area Design and Management
Elective Requirements
Elective credit hours as necessary to ensure completion of a minimum of 120 credit hours.


BSc Honours - Conservation Science and Practice (Landscape Conservation and Management)

The Honours in Conservation Science and Practice (Landscape Conservation and Management) offers students a higher level of education and substantial research experience for proceeding to post graduate studies.

To enter the Honours Program, students must have completed 60 credit hours and obtained a minimum Cumulative GPA of 3.33. Attaining the minimum requirement does not guarantee entry into the Honours Program, which is at the discretion of the Conservation Science and Practice Curriculum Committee. Maintenance of a Cumulative GPA of 3.33 is required to remain in the Honours Program.

Honours students are required to complete the degree requirements for the BSc Conservation Science and Practice (Landscape Conservation and Management). In addition, each student must also complete an additional 6 credit hours in the form of an undergraduate thesis (normally NRES 430-6) under the supervision of a faculty member. Students are responsible to find their own undergraduate thesis research supervisor. Faculty members are under no obligation to supervise Honours students.

Updated: September 8, 2023