State University of New York at Morrisville

Dr. Walid H. Shayya
School of Agriculture, Business, and Technology



Course Outline of RREN 421 

Fall 2023

Brightspace Access of Course Material On-line (for students enrolled in the course)


INSTRUCTORS:

 

Instructors' Contact Information

Dr. Walid H. Shayya, Ph.D.
Prof. Bill Snyder
Prof. Brendan Kelly
 

GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION:

ENRM 421 is a senior-level course in the Renewable Resources Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.). It is offered during the first ten weeks of the fall semester in which students are expected to master the application of geospatial technology to natural resources management through independent and group projects.  It is a capstone course where many college forested land will be inventoried using the methodology covered in ENRM 420. The course employs integrated approaches to managing and monitoring forest land and assessing habitat resources for wildlife management through its focus on a new college property each year. Geospatial technologies including the global positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing are combined with field-tested, scientifically-based principles that provide an integrated approach to natural resources management of the forest.

Course Format: Face to Face
Meeting Times/Locations: Lecture (Tues. @ 2:00 p.m. in Bicknell 203), Laboratory (Fri. @ 1:00-5:00 p.m., or at a mutually agreed time, in the field)
Semester Start Date: August 28, 2023
Semester End Date: November 7, 2023

Prerequisite: ENRM 420
2 credit (1 lecture hour, 5 laboratory hours), fall semester, first ten weeks


EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES:

Upon the successful completion of ENRM 421, students will have

  1. Developed inventory systems that account for standing trees, culls, and snags; herbaceous vegetation; tree regeneration; soils; the presence of wildlife; and anthropomorphic access ways.

  2. Identified and described existing floral communities with respect to tier classification, taxonomic grouping, and wetland indicator category status.

  3. Gathered georeferenced overstory and understory forest inventory data as well as cover-type data using field data recorders.

  4. Analyzed data using appropriate GIS software to delineate project area boundaries, summarize represented cover types, estimate probable compartment units, and establish transect baselines for upland, wetland, and riparian ecosystems.

  5. Compared their results against tabulated standards for wetland areas, riparian buffer strips, wildlife habitat needs, and habitat fidelity.

  6. Determined appropriate goal-oriented management strategies suggested by their data analyses.

  7. Explored (through the application of visualization software) different management strategies based on the interrelationships among measured forestry and habitat resources parameters.

  8. Created and presented professional quality reports of their field work, results, and management analyses.


STUDENT HOURS:

Each course instructor has at least five designated student hours per week. The times will be shared with the students during the first class meeting (also posted on the instructor’s office door). If necessary, Students are encouraged to make appointments to see course instructors at other times if necessary. 


INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS:

The following represent some of the many instructional methods to be followed in ENRM 421:

  1. Weekly report presentation and question/answer session.

  2. Reading assignments.

  3. Written weekly reports of project activities.

  4. A group field and computer laboratory project.

  5. Reading current literature related to the covered topics.


CONTACT HOURS AND CLASS SCHEDULE:

ENRM 421 is a two-credit hour course that meets for the first ten weeks of the semester (Part term A).  It includes one scheduled contact hour per week with the instructors for oral weekly presentations/discussions and five hours of independent laboratory work.  The class meets weekly with the instructors on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. in Room 115, Bicknell Hall.


TEXTBOOK(S):

The course manual from ENRM 420 will provide all the necessary reference material for completing this course. These include the instructors' lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations (printed in handout format), pertinent reading material, and printouts of the laboratory exercises. Course material will also be available online under Brightspace, accessible only to students enrolled in the course. Numerous resources are also available at the college library and online. Students are encouraged to be actively involved in acquiring some pertinent knowledge from all available resources. The following publication (utilized in ENRM 303) will also serve as a reference:

  1. Bolstad, P. and S. Manson. 2022.  GIS Fundamentals: A First Textbook on Geographic Information Systems (7th Edition). Eider Press, White Bear Lake, Minnesota (ISBN: 978-0-97176-475-0).

  2. Law, M. and A. Collins. 2022. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop 10.8 (6th Edition). ESRI Press, Redlands, California (ISBN: 978-1-58948-577-8).

  3. Gorr, W.L. and K.S. Kurland. 2020. GIS Tutorial for ArcGIS Desktop 10.8. ESRI Press, Redlands, California (ISBN: 978-1-58948-614-0).


REQUIRED MATERIAL/EQUIPMENT AND DRESS CODE:

The instructors will provide the required material and equipment to complete project activities. However, blaze orange must be worn in the field.  The students are asked to prepare a list of what is needed to carry out project activities (could be based on what was used in ENRM 420) and submit that list to the instructors by noon on Friday, August 26, 2022.  Students must sign out the required material/equipment from the instructors, be responsible for keeping all equipment in good condition, and return all equipment and non-consumables to the instructors by week 10 of the semester.  Additionally, students are required to provide the following material:

  1. Field notebook.

  2. Manual for Geospataial Technology Applications I and II.

  3. ENRM 420 project material and notes.

  4. Appropriate dress for scheduled field operations and work (to be discussed during the first class meeting).


CLASS POLICIES:


GRADING/EVALUATION OF STUDENT:

Evaluation is a shared responsibility between the teacher and the student. The evaluation aims to demonstrate how well the professor has taught and the student has learned specific course materials, the principles, concepts, and terms relevant to the covered topics.  Evaluation is also intended to assess the student's ability to utilize the acquired knowledge in problem-solving.

In ENRM 421, each student will contribute to a group project assigned by the instructors. Students will be expected to present their projects during week 11 of the semester. The project will be worth eighty percent (80%) of the grade. Work on the project should be completed during the five hours set aside each week for ENRM 421 when the students work independently (or as a group) to collect, document, compile, and analyze field data. Students' full involvement and participation in the project and other pertinent class activities is paramount. Each student’s involvement in the project is done in a manner that contributes to the achievement of the overall objectives of the course. Weekly reports on progress by all students will be required and will be the basis for evaluating the student's attitude and full participation in project activities. Weekly written and oral progress reports will account for another ten percent (10%) of the final course grade. Failure to fully participate in project activities will result in the student receiving a substantially lower grade or potentially failing the course.

The breakdown of grading in this course will be as follows: 

The distribution of grades in this course will be based on the A-F College grading scheme. The letter grades correspond to the following percentage scale: A (90-100%), A- (87-89.9%), B+ (83-86.9%), B (80-82.9%), B- (77-79.9%), C+ (73-76.9%), C (70-72.9%), C- (67-69.9%), D+ (63-66.9%), D (60-62.9%), and F (<60%).


STARFISH EARLY ALERT SYSTEM:

This course participates in the Starfish Early Alert System, an early intervention system designed to enable academic success, student persistence, and graduation. When an instructor observes student behaviors or concerns that may impede academic success, the instructor may raise an alert flag that notifies the student of the matter, requests an individual contact to discuss the issue, and (in most cases) refer the student to the academic advisor. If you receive an email notification of an early alert, you must contact the instructor as soon as possible to discuss the issue. The purpose of the contact is to determine the severity of the issue, accurately assess its potential impact on your academic success, and plan actions to prevent negative consequences and enable academic success. For more information about the Early Alert system, contact your academic advisor.


COLLEGE-WIDE POLICIES:

To view the College-wide policies page, please click on this link.