This award provides funds to develop a natural resource management practicum for upper division students enrolled in the School of Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In order to facilitate field data collection, this award will be used for the acquisition of portable electronic field data recorders. These field data recorders will be used by a team of students with backgrounds in forestry, fisheries and wildlife to gather biological data on a real tract of land. These data will then be downloaded to existing portable computers for input into biological simulation models to analyze and evaluate different proposed natural resource management regimes for the tract of land. The proposed practicum will bring together young professionals in an outdoor setting where they will be expected to develop an integrated plan for the management of multiple natural resources, under various disciplinary resource constraints and objectives, and work together as a multi- disciplinary team. Additionally, this course will serve as a feedback mechanism which can be used by the School to assess the quality of the natural resource program. The grantee is matching this award with funds from non-Federal sources.
