General Overview

Wildlife Management integrates many of the concepts and applications of modern forest and habitat management with a thorough understanding of wildlife biology, ecology, and behavior. With increasing pressures on wildlife and their habitats and concerns about decreasing biodiversity at local and regional scales, modern wildlife professionals must be able to synthesize information from a range of sources, evaluate sustainability of current management practices, and develop and implement scientifically sound conservation and management recommendations. Students in the Wildlife Management program become immersed in the art, science, and theory of wildlife management, with an emphasis on applied wildlife management. We not only emphasize the understanding of the concepts of wildlife ecology and management, but the application of theory to real management situations. Professional wildlife managers and wildlife biologists must be knowledgeable in a diverse array of subjects, such as plant and animal ecology, physiology, and behavior, fire ecology, hydrology, silviculture, soil science, entomology, and agriculture.

Students earning a Bachelor of Science in Forestry with a Major in Wildlife Management possess a unique combination of skills rarely found in other natural resource professionals. Because of the dual emphasis in Wildlife Management and Forestry curriculum, graduates have the academic credentials to eventually become certified a Certified Wildlife Biologist from The Wildlife Society and a Certified Forester from the Society of American Foresters. In addition to the general education and Forestry curriculum, the Wildlife Management curriculum includes courses in forest wildlife management, wildlife techniques, wildlife habitat management, wetland wildlife management, wildlife population ecology, and nongame wildlife ecology, among others.

Employment opportunities exist for graduates from the Wildlife Management program in state and federal natural resource agencies, private consulting firms, non-government organizations, and many others. Alumni of the Wildlife Management program include waterfowl biologists, game wardens, environmental and wildlife consultants, endangered species biologists, ranch and preserve managers, university professors, upland game bird biologists, and foresters working for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Corps of Engineers, to name a few. Many of our graduates continue their education pursuing their Master’s or Ph.D.

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