Current news about the program.

 

Courses:

FOR 202 - Tropical Forestry and Natural Resources         (click here to see pictures)

FOR 301 - Forest Mensuration

FOR 350 - Tropical Silvicutlure

FOR 410 - Physiological Ecology of Tropical Forests

 

Tropical Forestry Mission Statement: The current mission statement for the UHH tropical forestry program is to present a production oriented program that maintains the long tradition of all UHH-CAFNRM specializations as a practical, hands-on and research-based teaching environment. The future mission statement will be expanded to include a major emphasis on landscape level management and conservation biology of tropical forest ecosystems. The basic educational goal is to provide UH Hilo’s forestry students with the knowledge, skills and abilities to work in Federal, State and Private tropical forest management, production and conservation positions. Specifically, the purpose and goals of the program are to present educational opportunities in sustainable forest management and forest products utilization with an awareness of traditional Hawaiian resource management philosophy in a multi-scale approach to natural resource management. Current Degree Program: UH Hilo currently offers a Certificate in Tropical Forestry; the first of it’s kind in the country. The certificate program, approved in 1997, is currently comprised of 18 credit hours from six classes; Forestry and Natural Resource Management (FOR 202), Tropical Forest Dendrology (FOR 203), Tropical Silviculture (FOR 350), Forest Mensuration (FOR 301), Properties and Utilization of Tropical Woods (FOR 380), and Physiological Ecology of Tropical Forests (FOR 410). These classes typically comprise the core courses for undergraduate forestry work in many of the nationally ranked forestry schools. Research Interests: Current areas of research focus on both native and man-made tropical forest ecosystems. On-going projects include The Sustainability of Plantation Forestry through multiple rotations; the design and impacts of timber harvesting systems on tropical soils and their impacts on the environment; plant water use and regional water balances in a tropical cloud forest; lowland plantation species experimentation; high elevation native forest restoration; and low elevation native forest regeneration. Pu'u Anahulu Fuel Management Project . Other activities: Advisor to the UH Hilo Forestry Club Hui O Ka Ulu La'au; advisory board member for Hawaii Community College A.S. program in Tropical Ecosystem and Agroforestry Management (TEAM); manuscript reviewer for the International Journal of Plant Sciences and Journal of Global Change Biology. Undergraduate Student Opportunities: The CAFNRM Tropical Forestry program occasionally offers employment opportunities for full-time enrolled students. Accepted students will perform a variety of assigned tasks on a range of field projects and gain hands-on experience in tropical forest ecology and management. To inquiry about possible positions please send, via email, cover letter and resume to senock@hawaii.edu