Environmental Conservation & Management program

Rooted in perspective

Cluster of trees set against a white background representing our Environmental Studies major

FLC’s Environmental Conservation & Management program puts you in the field where the mountains greet the desert southwest, and the snowmelt meets the rivers. 

You’ll develop practical skills as you study climate change, food systems, traditional ecological knowledge, natural resource management, environmental justice, water conservation, public policy, and more.

Jade Slavin, Environmental Studies

The connection between over-serving yourself and stress.

 

Kathy Hilimire, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies in reference to our Environmental Studies degree

"Our department will have you devising solutions to today’s most pressing problems. Tackle environmental injustice, climate change, and more through collaborative work with peers and field-based study."

The outdoors as a laboratory

You’ll develop practical skills through interdisciplinary course study and access to Colorado's boundless natural laboratory and cultural landscapes.

Place-based learning

Our location in the American Southwest's Four Corners region—a crossroads of deserts, canyonlands, and mountains—is ideal for studying issues like energy production, local farming, water conservation, natural resource, and public land management, public policy, land use, urban planning, and more. Our proximity to four Native American nations offers significant opportunities to study environmental issues on tribal lands.

Individualized instruction

Our small classes and our strength in field-based, experiential education mean you get individualized instruction from our expert faculty and exposure to environmental professionals in various settings. Because our faculty focuses on teaching, they work closely with their students, stay involved in their progress, and tailor their assistance to each learner's needs.

Senior capstone

Students can conduct a senior capstone project using field data collection or literature review. For field-based research, you'll utilize methodologies from the social, natural, or interdisciplinary sciences. Research-based literature review emphasizes integrative work drawing together theory and research. Your senior thesis project includes a paper, research poster, and oral presentation.

What can you do with a Environmental Conservation & Management degree?

Our complex world calls for dynamic leaders capable of integrating and applying knowledge from multiple perspectives. Some of those leaders boast the profound backbone of an Environmental Conservation & Management degree.

 

The road ahead

FLC Environmental Studies major conducting environmental field work near campus
FLC Environmental Studies major conducting environmental field work near campus

Our complex world calls for dynamic leaders capable of integrating and applying knowledge from multiple perspectives. Some of those leaders boast the profound backbone of an Environmental Conservation & Management degree.

Imagine yourself as a:

  • Conservation scientist
  • Environmental consultant
  • Environmental educator
  • Environmental policy, advocacy, and law
  • Land conservation and restoration
  • Park ranger
  • Public lands management
  • Renewable energy planner
  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Tribal environmental management