Examination of topics related to global forests including forest ecology, disturbance regimes, biogeography, and management issues. Case studies will focus on western US forests and highlight the use of geospatial techniques to study forest change.

Knowledge and Skills Developed:

• To be able to describe the distribution of different forest types and explain their distribution in terms of climatic, geomorphic, and human controls.
• To demonstrate knowledge of what constitutes a forest environment, both ecologically and theoretically.
• To understand how different geospatial technologies (aerial photos, remotely sensed images, GIS maps) are used to study forest environments.
• To identify the dominant tree species in Pacific Northwest forests and some components of the understory vegetation; to become familiar with field methods used to study forests.