Watershed Science and Management

Catalog description

If your professional trajectory is to work with any landscape-scale oriented organization, such as a watershed, river or lake association, a regional planning agency, state or federal governmental organizations focused on water resources, or NGOs, such as Trout Unlimited or Clean Water Action, this is a necessary course to secure the job and effectively ensure watershed scale decisions maintain and restore the ecosystem services upon which society depends. Students will be introduced to the watershed through multiple lens and scales of analysis. The major modules to be addressed will be surface and ground water sources and pathways; soils through the perspective of what locations should be preserved and what are the most appropriate land use to be sited on a specific soil type; vegetative cover types through the lens of the watershed-scale habitat connectivity and preservation of species meta-populations on the landscape. All these topics will be addressed with in the context of land use change, within the context of a changing climate. Finally, the cutting-edge approaches to both build stakeholder support and instituting policies and regulations to maintain watershed health will be touched upon. This course will provide the depth of knowledge and desk-top skills to prepare the student to take the field course, Watershed Rapid Field Assessment Techniques.