Service Learning as a Stimulus to Community Natural Resource Management

Professional forestry and natural resource management undergraduate courses usually require a capstone course in forest resource management plans. This involves plan development for a forest ownership. Traditionally the ownership is a section of a university-owned forest or a hypothetical forest that exists only on paper. Service learning provides an opportunity to expose forestry students to a variety of landowners with diverse motivations, objectives, and forest conditions. This interaction tends to increase community involvement in forest resource planning, and landowners seek to become involved with the service learning. This project found that service learning led to increased student satisfaction and enhanced awareness of forest resource planning in the community. Service learning in higher education is receiving wide attention as an innovation that enhances course concept acquisition and broadens student attitudes concerning social problems, community involvement, and civic activity (Moely et al., 2002). Community and service learning also provides an outstanding framework to enhance natural resource management education by adding the human dimension to natural resource plannin