About the Department

As population and affluence increase, we must become increasingly efficient in our natural resource use, while at the same time maintaining ecosystem services derived from working lands.  Our Department was designed to meet this challenge. 

A defining characteristic of the Department is that our faculty and staff comprise an interdisciplinary team of scientists with expertise in forest resources, soils, fisheries, wildlife, ecology, and the human dimensions of natural resource management.  This level of intellectual diversity is unique in PSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, and rare among academic departments nationwide.  It enables us to tackle complex environmental problems in a wide array of ecosystems.  It also equips us to train students, citizens, and youth to be skillful natural resource stewards who are proficient with an advanced ecosystem management tool kit.

Though broad in scope, we maintain core research strengths in disciplines that are in high demand in Pennsylvania and globally.  We offer undergraduate majors and graduate degree programs in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Forest Resources, and Soil Science.  We also support University-wide graduate programs in Ecology, Plant Biology, Genetics, Bioinformatics & Genomics, Biogeochemistry, and Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment.  Our extension programs include major emphases in youth education, bioenergy, and natural resource management.

OUR MISSION is to build and disseminate knowledge for the conservation and management of natural and human-dominated ecosystems.  We focus on applications in:

• Fisheries
• Wildlife
• Soils
• Forestry
• Water
• Agriculture

OUR VISION is to become world leaders in ecosystem science.