Breadcrumb
Forestry, M.F.
Cal Poly Humboldt’s Master of Forestry (M.F.) is a hands-on, cohort-based program that combines training to become a practicing professional forester with interdisciplinary applied learning in the coastal redwood forest and nearby mixed-conifer forests. Build skills in forest management, restoration, silviculture, disturbance ecology, and geospatial science, then apply them through the development of a forest management project.
The program prepares you for professional forestry work and counts as education requirements toward California Registered Professional Forester licensure.
Why this Program
Learn in the Field
Study in the coast redwood forest and nearby mixed-conifer forests, where varied conditions offer outdoor settings to connect forestry concepts with working landscapes.
Prepare for a New Direction
This program helps students who have non-forestry bachelor’s degrees to pivot to forestry through applied coursework in forest management, restoration, silviculture, disturbance ecology, and geospatial science.
Turn Experience into a Plan
Complete a field-based project over the summer and develop a site-specific forest management plan that you present and defend publicly.
Did you know?
The 888-acre Goukdi’n-Jacoby Creek Forest, 30 minutes from campus, is a living laboratory where classes can conduct forestry and other management and monitoring activities.Student employees collect forest carbon data from a network of monitoring plots, and other projects are in development in consultation with the Wiyot Tribe.
One of the best-equipped university fire research facilities in the United States, Humboldt’s Wildland Fire Lab has a fire platform, ventilation hood, and a thermal imaging camera used in the lab and during wildland fires.
The 385-acre L.W. Schatz Demonstration Tree Farm is 45 minutes drive from campus, taking students east of the redwood range to a different forest ecosystem (evergreen mixed conifer) to conduct various class activities including active forest restoration projects, and see outcomes of past restoration.
Careers
The M.F. in Forestry prepares students for professional work in forest management and restoration across public agencies, private industry, Tribal forestry, consulting, and conservation organizations. Possible career paths include:
- Registered Professional Forester
- Consulting Forester
- Forest Management Specialist
- Forest Restoration Specialist
- Public Agency Forester
- Tribal Forestry Professional
- Forest Operations or Harvest Planner
- Geospatial Forestry Specialist
