Graduate Studies in Natural Resources Science and Management

Facilities

Natural Resources Science and Management research is enhanced by the availability of laboratories, greenhouses, and growth chambers located in Green Hall, the Kaufert Laboratory, Hodson Hall, and the Engineering and Fisheries Laboratory on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus, as well as by field facilities in northern Minnesota located at the Cloquet Forestry Center, the North Central Research and Outreach Center (Grand Rapids), and the Wilderness Research Center (Ely).

Kaufert Laboratory

Kaufert Laboratory houses part of the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. This building contains classrooms and laboratories for teaching and researching wood science and surface chemistry, biological deterioration, wood microstructure, paper and fiber products technology, wood mechanics and structural design, particleboard technology, and lumber processing.

Green Hall

Green Hall houses the Department of Forest Resources. This building contains classrooms, a greenhouse, and laboratories for teaching and researching tree physiology, forest ecology, silviculture, forest genetics and molecular biology, hydrology and water quality, resource management, economics, policy, remote sensing, geographic information systems, recreation resource management, and urban forestry.

Hodson Hall

Hodson Hall houses the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. This building contains numerous laboratories and the MN Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit. In addition, the Entomology, Fisheries and Wildlife Library is located here. 

Cloquet Forestry Center

The Cloquet Forestry Centeris a 3,751-acre forest located 135 miles north of St. Paul that is used as a research, instruction, and demonstration site. The center hosts field courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate students use Cloquet Forestry Center facilities when their studies require the type of forested environment found in the area. Currently, the center is the base for several research projects in natural resources inventory, forest soils, forest ecology, wildlife ecology, silviculture, timber harvesting and engineering, hydrology, and forest genetics. Classrooms, conference rooms, laboratories, offices, a dining center, student housing, and related facilities are available.

North Central Research and Outreach Center

Faculty also conduct research at the University's North Central Research and Outreach Center in Grand Rapids.

Libraries

The University library system, one of the largest in the United States, contains approximately five million catalogued volumes as well as substantial holdings of government publications, manuscripts, archives, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, and other materials. The Twin Cities campus library system includes over 30 special subject libraries.

The St. Paul campus is served by the St. Paul Campus Magrath (Central) Library, which houses most of the University's agricultural and biological sciences collections. Several special-subject libraries also are located on the campus, including the Forestry Library in Skok Hall. The Forestry Library currently has about 25,000 volumes, making it one of the finest collections of technical and scientific forestry literature available between New York and California.

The Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife Library in Hodson Hall is a wild zoology collection. Collection strengths are in aquaculture, conservation biology, bee and beekeeping literature, endangered animals, entomology, fisheries management, herpetology, ichthyology, mammalogy, non-human primatology, ornithology, animal taxonomy, and wildlife management.

Computer Labs & GIS

The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences maintains a large computing laboratory in Skok Hall with over 30 microcomputers. Each department in the college and the Cloquet Forestry Center also has a computing laboratory with additional microcomputers. Numerous high performance workstations are associated with research projects in the college including those in the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory of the Department of Forest Resources. A high-speed network connects nearly all of these computers, as well as faculty and staff computers, to the University's backbone network and the Internet. Green Hall also houses the Environmental Resources Spatial Analysis Center, which provides remote sensing and GIS capability to a wide array of University departments.

North Central Research Station

The North Central Research Station (NCRS), the regional research facility of the USDA Forest Service, is headquartered on the Twin Cities campus in St. Paul. The close affiliation with and proximity to the NCRS is an invaluable asset in the College of Natural Resources' instructional and research programs. Students also benefit from the work opportunities and seminars provided by the NCRS. Staff of the USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry branch are also based on campus and participate in the graduate program. The college is also home to the USDI Cooperative Park Studies Program and the Great Lakes - Northern Forest Cooperative Studies Unit.

Close working relationships with federal, state, county, other agencies, and industry also facilitate a wide range of research sites and activities statewide. For additional links, see departmental web sites.

Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

The Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program was established to facilitate cooperation among the U.S. Department of the Interior (formerly through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. National Biological Service--now through the U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division), universities, state fish and wildlife agencies, and private organizations, by conducting programs of research and education related to fish and wildlife resource management. The Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unitemphasizes research on impacts of human activities on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that are of state, regional, and national significance. The research program addresses not only the biological, but also social and economic aspects of both game and nongame fisheries and wildlife management in the context of maintenance of biological diversity, and integrity and sustainability of ecosystems.