专业描述

Natural Resources' teaching, research, and outreach have a long history at UNH. Even before the first formal forestry programs began in 1911, forestry and soils courses were part of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture's curriculum. The Wildlife and Forestry programs have been linked for decades and together with Soils, Hydrology, and Resource Economics, merged to form the Institute of Natural and Environmental Resources (INER) in the very early 1970s. The faculty within the newly formed INER launched the Environmental Conservation program in response to growing interest in conservation and the environment. In 1983, in response to perceived threats to the professional accreditation of the forestry program, INER was dissolved. The hydrology program became part of the Department of Earth Sciences, Resource Economics and Community Development became its own department, while the Forestry, Soils, Wildlife, and Environmental Conservation programs emerged as the Department of Forest Resources. The Water Resources Management degree program was added in 1988. Recognizing that the interests and expertise of the students and faculty had broadened beyond forests, the Department was renamed the Department of Natural Resources in 1989. We have since combined the Soil Science and Water Resources Management programs, along with the Hydrology program from Earth Sciences, to create the Environmental Sciences undergraduate degree program.