Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University
Natural Resources Program
at the Northern Virginia Center
Introduction
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, is Virginia’s largest university. Founded in 1872, it is the state’s flagship land-grant institution and offers diverse curricula in several colleges. The Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources is unique in Virginia and offers degree programs in four Departments: Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Forestry, Geography and Wood Science and Forest Products. With over 500 undergraduate students, 130 graduate students, and 70 faculty members, it is one of the larger colleges of its type in the United States, and is consistently ranked as one of the best programs of its kind in the country. The College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech has offered courses since Spring 1997 at the Northern Virginia Center located in Falls Church, Virginia. Special Studies topics have been offered every subsequent academic year, including Conservation Ecology, Ecosystem Management, Biorealities of Natural Resource Management, Global Issues in Natural Resources, Public Policy and Private Land Conservation, Urban Forestry, Communications in Natural Resources, and Modern Wildlife Management.
Director
Dr. Michael J. Mortimer is the Director of Natural Resources Programs in Northern Virginia and is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Forestry in the College of Natural Resources. Dr. Mortimer has worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, served on the faculty of Virginia Tech’s Department of Forestry in Blacksburg, VA, and has acted as the Director of Forest Policy for the Society of American Foresters in Washington, DC. He is currently involved in research on national forest management, particularly implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act and litigation against the U.S. Forest Service. He has published more than 40 natural resource-related articles and book chapters, and has given more than 40 professional presentations in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Dr. Mortimer teaches “Natural Resource Law and Policy” and “Environmental Conflict Management” at the Northern Virginia Center. Dr. Mortimer received a B.A. (1984) from Washington & Jefferson College, a J.D. (1991) from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. (2001) in Forestry from the University of Montana. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters, the American Bar Association, the Virginia Forestry Association, and the International Association for Society & Natural Resources.
The Vision
Our vision for the Northern Virginia Natural Resources Program is to be a leader in the areas of natural resource policy, sustainable development of urban environments, and the sustainable management of natural resources on adjacent rural lands—both public and private.
Program Description
Virginia Tech is well positioned to reach this goal, as our expertise in the College of Natural Resources is not duplicated by any other university with a presence in Northern Virginia. We have established a teaching/research/outreach program focusing on Sustainable Natural Resources In Rapidly Urbanizing Environments. We intend to address the complex ecological issues related to land and natural resources in the rural-urban transitional environment in Northern Virginia, one of the most rapidly developing areas in the United States. As the population of Virginia grows, urbanization will place increasing pressure on rural lands and natural resources. The challenge will be to satisfy the need for developed land while conserving natural resources and the benefits they bring to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Also, increased urbanization will bring the challenges of managing natural resources in a new setting. How to balance natural resources and human needs in urban and urbanizing landscapes is emerging as the central question confronting community leaders, resource managers, land use planners, landscape architects, engineers, park managers, and many others. Conflicts between developers and conservationists are escalating as competition for land and other resources intensify. In addition, resource-based industries are facing economic impacts from urbanization, e.g., decline in commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay. As our use of land for urban and suburban development increases, traditional natural resources values are either reduced or lost. As a result, we must find ways to maintain and restore ecologically significant habitats and processes in and around urban areas. We must also abandon the myth that wildlife and other living resources can be relegated to the countryside and kept separate from the “built and landscaped environment” of the city. Communities and corporations are becoming aware that maintaining a close connection between people and the natural environment is a vital component contributing to “quality of life” and “sense of well-being.” In response, there is a growing awareness across the United States of the need for proactive management for urban natural resources. States, counties, and cities are hiring urban resource professionals, enacting legislation, and implementing programs to create harmony between natural resources and people who inhabit our communities. However, there are emerging concerns that the proliferation of urban natural resources programs is extended beyond the existing scientific underpinnings for sound resource management and conservation. Thus, this nexus of development pressures and conservation interests provides tremendous challenges as well as unique opportunities. The Natural Resources Program in Northern Virginia focuses on these emerging information and policy needs in urban and urbanizing environments. While traditional natural resource education, research, and outreach programs have addressed issues involving rural environments, our program addresses natural resource issues in the urban environment as well as in the growing urban/rural interface. Issues such as urban fisheries and wildlife management, urban forestry, open space management, greenways and blueways, land use policy, water allocation, and sustainable development are included. As remote sensing and geographic information systems are important tools in managing natural resources, we also incorporate Virginia Tech’s expertise in this area. The teaching portion of our program includes at least two courses per semester leading to a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Natural Resources. In addition, a non-thesis degree, the Master of Natural Resources (MNR) is available for students in Northern Virginia. The research component of our Northern Virginia program will focus on natural resources policy—in a broad sense—with emphasis on urban forestry and wildlife, as well as issues related to sustainable urban development. As we expand our program and add additional members to the faculty, the research component will expand into other related areas. Our research will be multidisciplinary in scope and interdisciplinary in approach. Studies will be conducted in collaboration with other Virginia Tech departments, as well as appropriate partners in Federal, Commonwealth, County, and City government agencies. The outreach component of the program will include short-courses, workshops, and seminars on urban wildlife management, urban forestry, bioenergy, effects of urbanization on instream flow and aquatic resources, and geographic information system applications to urban land management and planning.
Program Connections
The College of Natural Resources at the Northern Virginia Center is an extension of the highly respected programs already in place in Blacksburg. The program therefore has the ongoing support of the College’s four departments and their faculty members. Blacksburg faculty members offer courses at the Northern Virginia Center (via VTEL, in-person, or both); continuing education courses in Northern Virginia, and collaborate with faculty members located in Northern Virginia to secure outside funding and to conduct research. The new Natural Resources Program will also have connections to other programs that Virginia Tech operates in the Northern Virginia area. For example, there are strong synergies between the Landscape Architecture program and our program. Similarly, there are already ties between our program and the Master of Public Administration program administered by the Center for Public Administration and Policy, as well as with the School of Public and International Affairs. In addition, we are developing academic and research relationships with the Civil and Environmental Engineering program, as well as with the Urban Affairs and Planning program that Virginia Tech recently established in Northern Virginia, and are engaged in a new relationship with the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, VA.