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.
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. David L. Trauger is the
Director of Natural Resources Programs in Northern Virginia
and he is a Professor in the Department of Fisheries and
Wildlife Science in the College of Natural Resources.
Dr. Trauger completed a 32-year career in natural
resources agencies of the Department of the Interior, including
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Biological
Service, and the U. S. Geological Survey. In various professional positions, he
conducted field research on waterfowl and wetlands throughout
North America. He
also was involved with research management and administration
leading research programs at several national research centers
and in the Washington Office.
Dr. Trauger served for 14
years on the Advisory Committee for the College of Natural
Resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In addition, he has been teaching “Conservation
Ecology” and “Ecosystem Management” at the Northern Virginia
Center since 1998.
He previously taught “Wildlife Conservation” and
“Environmental Biology” at Iowa State University, as well
as “Endangered Species Policy and Management” at George
Mason University.
Dr. Trauger received a B.S. (1964) and M.S. (1967)
in Wildlife Biology and a Ph.D. (1971) in Animal Ecology
from Iowa State University.
He is a member of The Wildlife Society, Society for
Conservation Biology, American Fisheries Society, Society
of American Foresters, Soil and Water Conservation Society,
Wildlife Management Institute, Renewable Natural Resources
Foundation, Natural Resources Council of America, and several
other conservation and environmental organizations.
The Vision
Our vision for the Northern
Virginia Natural Resources Program is to be a leader in the
areas of sustainable development of urban environments and
the sustainable management of natural resources on adjacent
rural lands.
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; students may also select
the Master of Forestry (MF) degree. The MNR is broader in
scope than the research and outreach activities included
in the MF program.
The research component of our
Northern Virginia program will focus 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, 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. We will also be an integral part of the
new Virginia Tech Metropolitan Institute.
Therefore, exciting times are ahead for students
interested in pursuing advanced studies in Natural Resources
at the Northern Virginia Center. Share the vision and spread the word!
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