Program Overview

Outdoor Recreation Management Option

The Outdoor Recreation Management Option is available within the Tourism, Recreation, and Adventure Leadership major at Oregon State University. This option is designed for students pursuing careers as outdoor recreation planners and managers in public land management agencies and non-profit organizations at local, state, and federal levels.

Overview

Students in this option study land management, stakeholder engagement, and laws relevant to outdoor recreation. They create monitoring and assessment protocols for recreation resources in natural settings and learn to respectfully engage with individuals and groups that may have diverse perspectives and priorities regarding recreation opportunities. Students are trained to facilitate understanding and conflict resolution across individuals and groups.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the program, students will meet the following learning outcomes:

• Explain the importance of tourism and recreation in natural settings for achieving societal goals, such as community development, human health and quality of life, and sustainable use of natural resources.
• Identify, analyze, and apply the best available information on science, management practices, and public preferences to address contemporary tourism, recreation, and outdoor leadership opportunities and issues.
• Make tourism, recreation, and outdoor leadership decisions within applicable laws, policies, and regulations and across cultural and national contexts.
• Communicate effectively with a variety of audiences in appropriate formats.
• Work effectively and professionally in groups, both as leaders and followers.
• Understand principles and methods for successful supervision of employees and/or volunteers.

Plan of Study

The plan of study for the Outdoor Recreation Management Option is as follows:

First Year

• ECON 201 or AEC 250 or ECON 202: Introduction to Microeconomics or Introduction to Environmental Economics and Policy or Introduction to Macroeconomics (3-4 credits)
• FW 251: Principles of Fish and Wildlife Conservation (3 credits)
• TRAL 251: Recreation Resource Management (4 credits)
• Select one of the following:
  • FES 240: Forest Biology
  • FES 341: Forest Ecology
  • FES 440: Wildland Fire Ecology
  • FES 452/FW 452: Biodiversity Conservation in Managed Forests
  • FOR 346: Topics in Wildland Fire
• Select one of the following:
  • FOR 111: Introduction to Forestry
  • NR 201: Managing Natural Resources for the Future
  • NR 202: Natural Resource Problems and Solutions

Second Year

• AEC 351 or TRAL 432 or AEC 352/ECON 352: Natural Resource Economics and Policy or Economics of Recreation and Tourism or Environmental Economics and Policy (3 credits)
• ST 202: Principles of Statistics (4 credits)
• TRAL 351: Outdoor Recreation Management on Public Lands (3 credits)
• TRAL 354: Communities, Natural Areas, and Sustainable Tourism (3 credits)

Third Year

• FES 485: Consensus and Natural Resources (3 credits)
• FE 257 or FW 303 or GEOG 360: GIS and Forest Engineering Applications or Survey of Geographic Information Systems in Natural Resource or GIScience I: Geographic Information Systems and Theory (3-4 credits)
• LEAD 430 or LEAD 442 or NMC 311: Foundations of Adventure Leadership or Leadership Skills for Career Success or Introduction to Nonprofit Management (3 credits)

Fourth Year

• GEOG 452/ENSC 452: Environmental Assessment (3 credits)
• TRAL 456: Planning for Sustainable Recreation (4 credits)
• Select one of the following:
  • ENSC 321: Environmental Case Studies
  • FOR 460: Forest Policy
  • FW 439: Human Dimensions of Fisheries and Wildlife Management
  • TRAL 375: Experiential Education
  • WR 462: Environmental Writing
• Select one of the following:
  • AEC 432: Environmental Law
  • FES 486: Public Lands Policy and Management
  • FOR 461: Forest Policy Analysis
  • PS 477: International Environmental Politics and Policy

Option Code

The Option Code for the Outdoor Recreation Management Option is 873.