As a college student in the 1960s, Kim Steiner joined many other forestry majors in assuming that he was on a well-worn and time-honored career path straight into the nearest national forest. Forestry, it was understood, meant managing board-feet of timber as it grew and matured from its pre-harvest state into a valuable commodity, and young Steiner was sure that his responsibility as a forester would be maintaining the nation’s supply of wood.

Today, as assistant director of academic programs for the School of Forest Resources, Steiner continues an educational tradition that reaches back to 1907, when Penn State became one of the first schools in the country to offer a bachelor’s degree in forestry. From an early focus on timber and wood, the school expanded to encompass wildlife and fisheries. But for years, student interest continued to be directed toward the forest as a source of commodity or sport.

“That is no longer true,” Steiner says. “Today’s forestry student doesn’t necessarily view the forest primarily as a source of timber, and today’s wildlife student is not necessarily interested in hunting.” Also, Steiner explains, today’s student doesn’t always agree that the state’s forested lands should serve as generators of top-quality timber and wood products. “Many of our students have grown up watching the Discovery Channel and envision a career of studying polar bears in the Arctic or managing a nature preserve in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. There is almost a cultural dichotomy between the resource managers and the protectors of the environment, with many more ‘protectors’ in the wildlife and fisheries program, and many more ‘managers’ in forestry. But both cultures are represented in both of those majors, and the differences are good. Our students help one another to appreciate all sides of forestry and wildlife. “This diversity is also reflected in our faculty and in our curricula, and we are now as likely to be studying biodiversity, conservation, or restoring wetlands as we are to be talking about growing sawlogs or managing the turkey population.

“The ecological movement of the last 30 years has influenced our school,” Steiner adds. “Since the emergence of the environmental movement, most forestry schools have shifted away from a timber management focus on trees as a commodity. The emphasis now is on managing other natural resources of the forest: the
wildlife, the watershed, the biodiversity.”

The school offers baccalaureate degrees and minors in wood products, forest science, and wildlife and fisheries
science. It also offers graduate programs, as well as associate degrees in forest technology at Penn State Mont Alto and wildlife technology at Penn State DuBois.

While forest science remains the school’s best-known major, it is undergoing many changes as a result of new economic and political realities. “Most undergraduates coming into the program visualize themselves as being government foresters for state or federal agencies,” Steiner says. “That appeals to many of our students who want to spend their lives in the woods, and public sector employment is still a reasonable option. However, nationally—and particularly in the West—the public sector is no longer the major employer for foresters.”

This has been more than offset by the burgeoning industry of independent consulting forestry. Because Pennsylvania has an unusually large forest resource—60 percent of the state is covered with forest, and 75 percent of that forest is privately owned by small landowners—many Pennsylvanians are finding a need for their own forestry expert.

“Some people are discovering that they have timber that’s worth a great deal of money,” Steiner says. “Although loggers aren’t intentionally destructive, they naturally have their own interests at heart when they buy timber. It’s possible that they might not leave the landowners with something they’ll want to live with for the next several decades. A consulting forester can prepare a management plan for the property that ensures a sustained supply of benefits to the landowner, and provides oversight to the timber sale in a manner that protects the owner’s financial interest and leaves a forest that will regenerate and appreciate over time.”

Wood products majors enjoy a similar industry demand. The major seeks to prepare students with a basic knowledge of the anatomical, physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of wood as a commodity. Students can pursue either the business and marketing option, or the processing and manufacturing option. “Very few schools have a wood products major,” Steiner says, “but the job opportunities are tremendous. Virtually all of our graduates find employment at very good starting salaries.
“Processing/manufacturing graduates are versed in applied or basic research and prepared to provide technical service to milling and manufacturing companies that use wood as a raw material. The business/marketing option is geared to produce professionals who understand the role of marketing, but can speak knowledgeably about the specialized materials and products they are selling. There’s quite a demand for them in the furniture and retail lumber industries.”

While the employment picture for the wood products major makes it the school’s best-kept secret, more students enroll in the wildlife and fisheries science major than in the other two majors combined. “It’s our most popular major, but also one we’re most uncomfortable with in terms of being able to deliver on the expectation of a job after graduation,” Steiner says. “When we get visits from high school students, they almost always want to major in wildlife and fisheries. We always tell prospective wildlife students that finding a job closely related to their major will be difficult.

“Yet, enrollment keeps growing. Salaries are lower than in forestry or in wood products, but these people love what they do. Our challenge is to tailor our major and refine our job placement strategies so that we can continue to place as many of our graduates as possible in the kind of positions that they want. We take this quite seriously, because we want our alumni to be happy they came here.”

Revisions to the wildlife and fisheries science major already are planned, according to Larry Nielsen, professor of natural resources and director of the school. Pending approval from the University’s Faculty Senate, the major will be divided into two separate options.

The school also hopes to offer a 200-level introductory course to help prospective students gauge their interest in forestry and natural resources before committing to the field. The changes are targeted to meet the needs and interests of today’s students, who often come from more urban backgrounds than in the past. “As the interest in natural resources has expanded, we’re getting students with less hands-on experience with forests and fields, but great interest in natural resource management,” Nielsen says. “That’s why we’re adding courses that provide field and lab experience. In addition, we’re getting more people interested in careers as environmental educators. They’ve worked part-time at nature centers and camp programs, and their interest lies in improving urban environments, dealing with wildlife in backyards, and urban forestry.”

As the school embraces new courses and options, one constant is the unique esprit-de- corps shared by lovers of wildlife and nature. For everyone from 50-year alumni to first-year undergrads, the School of Forest Resources represents more than just a major. “A common thread joins us all together,” Nielsen says. “We want to make the world as good as possible through the use of natural resources. Because of that, there’s a special connection between first-year students and faculty that comes through every day in the way we work. For our faculty, students are our greatest natural resource.”

Visit the School of Forest Resources on the Web at http://www.sfr.cas.psu.edu/.