2020-2021

Fire Ecology and Management, Undergraduate Certificate

Forestry

College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences

This undergraduate certificate is designed to provide a strong background for students and working fire professionals interested in studying fire or working in natural resources on fire management and general land management issues.

  • To receive an undergraduate certificate (at least 15 units) at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject matter areas with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0.

    Please be aware that federal financial aid is not available for some certificates, if the certificate is pursued and completed as a stand-alone certificate (i.e., not completed concurrently with a degree program). See the "Details" tab for additional information.

In addition to University Requirements:

  • Complete individual plan requirements.

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

Minimum Units for Completion 15
Major GPA 2.0

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this certificate, students will have:

  • An understanding of the physical process of fire and factors that influence surface and crown fire spread, extreme fire behavior and what fire danger rating is.
  • An understanding and the basic use of terminology and fire models used in fire management
  • An understanding of fire regimes and fire effects in a variety of ecological systems
  • An understanding of the philosophical, historical, legal, ecological, social and cultural aspects of land management and how that relates to fire management.
  • An understanding of monitoring, the adaptive management process, and the components of a monitoring program.
  • An understanding of sampling, variation, standard deviation, p-values and hypothesis testing
  • An understanding of different types of experiments, independence, confounding factors and the basics of experimental design
  • An understanding of different sampling methods and different federal fire monitoring programs

 

Certificate Requirements
  • Take the following 18 - 19 units with a Grade of "C" or better in each course (or "Pass" in Pass/Fail courses):

    Introductory Course (3 Units)

    • FOR 251 This requirement may be waived for students with 4 or more seasons of professional wildland fire experience.

    Students must complete one course from each of the following blocks:
  • * Prerequisite: enrollment in Forestry Federal Agency Training Group Status (FFAT)

    ** Forestry Majors may not use FOR 360 to fulfill the Management, Planning, and Policy Block.

    A minimum of 9 units of coursework must be taken at Northern Arizona University.

  • This certificate may be pursued and completed concurrently with a degree program or as a stand-alone certificate. Federal financial aid cannot be used if the certificate is completed as a stand-alone certificate.

  • Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.