Michigan Tech Ecology Program
Sends Students "Into the Wild"
HOUGHTON, MI--Applied ecology students attending the Fall Camp segment of Michigan Tech's forestry program get to see, smell and touch the plants, trees and small organisms that inhabit the natural ecosystems that some students only get to read about in books.
The experience tends to capture their imagination and shape their vision of the future.
"It's really fun," said Alysia Condon, a junior from Troy. "I like the hands-on stuff and I find the material really interesting. It's much more forestry-based than most of the other ecology courses I've taken, so this is really unique for me.
"I heard about the camp from some friends who said they had really enjoyed it and I thought the field work aspect of it would increase my prospects in the job market. I hope to work for a forest land management agency after graduation and I think my experience here will really prepare me well to work with foresters--especially since I'm not a forester."
Forest ecology and management program coordinator Dr. Glenn Mroz says the program, now in its second year, evolved from a perceived need for better ways to deal with the increasing problems caused by the impact of human population on the natural environment.
"Basically, we saw a need for people broadly educated in the sciences so they could attack the bigger problems faced by forest managers," he said. "We thought about changing the forestry program but decided that wouldn't really meet this need. So we decided to pull together the environmental science resources on campus and create a new program that would allow students to concentrate more specifically on some of the real-life problems society is facing."
What Mroz and his colleagues wound up with is an interdisciplinary program that is somewhat unique in that it includes a strong emphasis on geographic information systems and remote sensing..."so it goes to the heart of how we manage large areas--both forested and non-forested."
Michigan Tech's ecology program focuses on several important problem areas.
"Water quality management is probably the most important environmental issue in the United States and will continue to be due to increasing human population and the resulting pressure on water resources," said Mroz. "Historically, water use has been determined by industrial and municipal needs, but people have now begun to look at the larger issue of how land is managed.
"Habitat management for wildlife use is another major issue since wildlife species use such a variety of habitats during their life cycles. This problem can be especially acute where urban areas are invading so many natural wildlife habitats. In instances like these, management decisions have to be made nearly every day. Just look at the dramatic human population increases that have occurred in our lifetime!"
Mroz notes that students successfully completing the requirements for the applied ecology and environmental science program meet the standards for ecologist certification from the Ecological Society of America and that helps them find jobs. Another perk is that they have the option of attending the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico for a semester of study.
When Rita Noble came to Michigan Tech, she enrolled in engineering. She'd been told that's where the jobs were and that's where the money was. But she soon found that engineering was too much of an "inside job" for her tastes.
"I realized that engineering was a lot of desk work and not a lot of field work," she said. "And I wanted to teach people about the stewardship of our land and other natural resources. I looked into the possibilities in forestry and I found that there I could combine my love for the out-of-doors and my desire to work with people. I also found the forestry faculty to be very personable and really interested in helping students. I really felt at home there right from the start."
So much so that after she graduated in 1996, Noble stuck around to become a recruiting specialist for the School of Forestry and Wood Products. She works on a variety of projects--from updating brochures to scheduling tours, hikes, and other events for undeclared students, visiting community colleges to recruit transfer students, and coordinating scholarship competitions.
One of her recruits is her husband, Scott, a graduate student from Coldwater who was so infected by her enthusiasm that he switched from applied physics to forestry. "I'm looking at this program as the basis for a career change," he explained. "This program offers a variety of natural resource management topics and a good balance between classroom study and field work. I feel the field work should be especially valuable as I'm looking toward a career in public or private land management."
Dr. Kurt Pregitzer, who spends much of his time leading students into wild places to show them first-hand how different ecosystems operate, believes that because the program is designed to train students to be able to solve environmental and ecological problems, many graduates will end up working for the private sector.
"Our students are broadly and practically trained so they can work in concert with civil engineers to address the problems society has related to human activity," he said. "Our goal is to prepare students to identify and solve the problems that inevitably occur when we manipulate the natural world. Our students will also be well prepared to go on to graduate school, but we're really preparing them to solve problems."
Pregitzer says students learn how to measure and quantify plant, soil, and aquatic communities. They learn how communities change as conditions change, and how management practices affect communities. The same focus applies to wetland communities as to animal communities. Students take a series of courses that expose them to a broad range of problems in science and ecology.
"Students who enroll in the ecology program come from both urban and rural environments," said Pregitzer, "but they all have one thing in common--a strong interest in the natural world.
"And Michigan Tech is a unique place for this type of program because of our location. Our campus is surrounded by a high quality natural environment--and we can easily get from the classroom to the field."
He feels graduates of the program will be in great demand.
"Civil engineering firms routinely conduct environmental assessments, and DNR and Department of Transportation projects require wetlands assessments, so our students should have no problem finding jobs."
Noble agrees. "There is a high demand for ecologists right now," she said. "I get several job vacancy announcements every week. Every time a road is built or almost any other kind of construction is begun--there is a need for an environmental assessment."
Students Mike Snodgrass and Travys Willman are counting on it.
Snodgrass, of Warren, switched to applied ecology from general forestry "because I wanted to deal more with the environmental aspect of ecology. I love the program. The field hands-on stuff is great--this is definitely something I could enjoy doing full-time." He hopes to have a career in public land management.
Willman is a junior from Mt. Clemens, who switched to applied ecology from electrical engineering. "I wanted to do more field work and I want to work somewhere more 'countryside' as opposed to the city--that's the big attraction this program has for me," she said. Willman said she was at a national park in Montana listening to a park interpreter explain the history of the Battle of the Little Big Horn when she decided she wanted to work for the National Park Service.
"I love the applied ecology program here," she said. "It seems like I'm helping to make my own major because I have such a wide variety of choices."
For more information on Michigan Tech's applied ecology program, call Rita Noble at 1-800-966-3764.