WCU is a University of North Carolina Campus
Careers in Recreation Resource Management
If you are interested in natural resource management, you should choose the recreation resource management concentration, which can lead to your working for the Park Services, the Forest Service, or the Army Corps of Engineers as a ranger.
We tailor this concentration to fit the different land agencies; for example, law enforcement experience is more useful to those working with the Parks Service than to those working with the Forest Service. You can take law enforcement training for Park Rangers at Southwestern Community College and transfer the credit to the concentration in this major, because this coursework puts you ahead of others when applying for park jobs.
If you are interested in wildlife management, consider taking some wildlife management courses at Haywood Technical College. We will count this credit as part of this concentration.
- Ranger - Park Service
- Interpreter - Forest Service
- Naturalist - Army Corps of Engineers
- Trail crew - Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- Resource management – state parks
Strategies:
- Complete criminal justice course for Park Rangers at South Western Community College (SCC)
- Complete wildlife courses at Haywood Tech
- Do co-ops as early as possible - especially for the engineers. Choose internships in appropriate agencies.
- Get involved in volunteer rescue work
- Take rescue courses
- Plan approved area of study early
- Join Student Conservation Association (SCA)
- Take summer seasonal positions
- Adopt-a-Trail
- Apply theories learned in class