Year 2

In this course, students integrate the knowledge and skills acquired in other program courses to identify, analyze, and manage areas of public and occupational risk within backcountry workplaces. Human, terrestrial, aquatic, and environmental hazards and risk are explored including an examination of leadership and decision-making skills, natural hazard analysis, land-use planning, risk management and mitigation, advanced navigation techniques, backcountry rescue, meteorology, and field weather forecasting.

This course is mainly taught in wilderness terrain. Students must be in good health and physical condition, as some instructional activities require participation for up to eight hours per day. Students must be able to hike, bicycle or snowshoe for four to eight hours at a time over rough, sometimes hazardous terrain in all weather conditions. In addition participants in this course must be able to swim at least one length of the pool.

RFW 263:  Outdoor Recreation Operations and Management is designed to prepare the student for employment in the field of parks and outdoor recreation.  The variety of employers offering outdoor recreation opportunities in B.C., and their roles in the province are examined.  Practical field skills such as trail and campground design, construction, and maintenance as well as analytical skills such as monitoring and managing impacts, assessing public safety, developing site plans and incorporating multiple natural resource and social values in protected area management will be studied and practiced.  Examples of real, contemporary recreational management issues are used to make the course current and relevant.

This course covers the ecology and management of freshwater fish and aquatic ecosystems, including standard field, laboratory, and office techniques used to sample in these ecosystems. The emphasis is on evaluating, assessing and managing freshwater ecosystems in B.C. The material in this course is continued in RFW 281.

ENVR 250: Indigenous Peoples of Canada and Environmental Management. The focus of the course is to enable students graduating in the field of natural resource management to better understand and work effectively with Indigenous peoples. Students will develop a greater awareness of Indigenous peoples and the cultural diversity that exists within this group of Canadians. The course will examine various topics related to Indigenous cultures
and pre and post contact histories, including the Indian Act and the legacy of residential schools. The work of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be discussed.

The course examines current issues connected to land management in BC, including the treaty process, consultation activities, capacity building and protection of traditional lands and rights. Landmark court cases that have helped define Indigenous land rights will be studied. Cultural Heritage Values are defined in the course and students will have the opportunity to review the Heritage Conservation Act as it relates to field observations and regulations.

Backcountry Risk Analysis and Mitigation II extends the study of natural hazard assessment and land
management to winter backcountry environments. The course is delivered as a project-based analysis of a local
provincial park or recreation area, in which students learn winter skills and identify and analyze avalanche terrain
and site-specific snowpack characteristics for the risk of human and structural exposure to snow avalanches.
Topics include avalanche forecasting and public safety, land use planning, hazard mitigation, techniques in
snowpack assessment and monitoring, avalanche rescue, and hazard mapping. Successful students receive a
certificate in avalanche safety recognized by the Canadian Avalanche Centre.

This course is taught in wilderness terrain. Participants must be in good health and physical condition. Activities
will be taught that require participation for up to eight hours per day for up to three days in duration. Participants
must be able to hike, ski or snowshoe for four to eight hours at a time over rough, sometimes hazardous terrain in
all weather conditions.

Applied Research Project supports each student in completing an applied research project that has both a field-based data collection component, and a literature-based research component.  Each student will select an approved research topic and complete a number of assignments, including writing a research proposal and producing final report. The research results and recommendations will be presented at the SEG student conference.