Natural
Resource Recreation
Natural resource recreation
is focused on management of the recreational use of settings
such as national parks, national forests, beaches, wilderness
areas, state parks, refuges, preserves, nature centers, trails,
public and commercial campgrounds, greenways, rivers, lakes,
aquatic parks and cultural sites (historic battlefields,
lighthouses, monuments, archeological sites, etc.). There
are hundreds of these public areas in Florida and thousands
in the USA and other countries.
The primary focus is
on management of the "human dimensions" of natural sites, that
is, managing personnel, "the public," visitors,
residents and tourists and the budgetary, legal, policy,
conflict, economic benefits, public safety, interpretation,
communication, marketing and multiple use issues associated
with park, beach and forest operations and management.
Other
related areas include outdoor leadership, entrepreneurial
tour, guide or expedition leadership, ecotourism, rural
tourism, charter boats, raft trips, whale or porpoise watching
boat
trips, commercial scuba diving businesses, summer camps,
wildlife programs, youth-at-risk outdoor challenge programs,
special needs outdoor challenges programs, ski resorts,
environmental education, rope challenge courses, and environmentally
oriented,
non-profit, "NGO’s" that deal with public
conservation-recreation issues (e.g., Nature Conservancy,
Center for Marine Conservation, Save the Everglades coalition,
etc.).
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OPTION
AREAS
Each graduate student is asked to form a graduate committee consisting
of three professors. This committee will assist the student in designing
a degree plan that will lay out the appropriate coursework. With the diversity
of courses available throughout the University of Florida, many options
can be constructed. Example concentration areas include: park management,
coastal resource recreation management, nature-based tourism, natural resource
recreation public policy, outdoor leadership or park interpretation and
communications.
SUPPORTING AREA COURSEWORK
The use of outside disciplines to support the selected or designed
option is encouraged. Example courses include selections from Urban
and Regional
Planning, Wildlife Sciences, Forestry and Conservation, Marketing,
Management or Sociology. One of the three faculty forming the graduate
committee
must be from a discipline other than Tourism, Recreation & Sport
Management. The student chooses this person from another Department,
such as those
just listed as supporting areas.
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