GEOG 405
CSU Chico
Nature and Restoration: Habitat Conservation, Management and Restoration
Tentative Syllabus
Instructor:
Don L. Hankins
539 Butte Hall, phone 898-4104, email dhankins@csuchico.edu
Office Hours: T/TH 12:30-2:00 or by appointment
Times and Locations:
11-12:15 Butte 101 and field locations
Course Format:
Lecture and discussion with lab and fieldtrip activities.
Readings:
Choose one of the following to read for this class:
Anderson, M.K. 2005. Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of
California’s Natural Resources. University of California Press. Berkeley, California
Borgerhoff Mulder, M. and P. Coppolillo. 2005. Conservation: Linking Ecology,
Economics, and Culture. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey
Morrison, M.L. 2002. Wildlife Restoration: Techniques for habitat analysis and animal
monitoring. Island Press. Washington, D.C.
Wilcove, D.S. 1999. The Condor’s Shadow: The Loss and Recovery of Wildlife in America.
W.H. Freeman and Company. New York, New York
Additional readings will be provided electronically or placed on reserve.
The following are good sources of current information on the course topic:
http://ser.org/resources
http://www.conbio.org/publications
My Philosophy:
We all share responsibilities as caretakers of our environment. We live in a time of declining
natural resources (i.e., biodiversity, water, soil, and air) and relationships to the natural world. A
primary goal of my teaching is to instill a sense of appreciation for the resources and baseline
knowledge, which is integral to sustainable living.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness
of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers.
So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin.
Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever
befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All
things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Chief Seattle, Suquamish
Course Description:
This course will provide analysis of landscape features as plant, wildlife, and fisheries habitat
and the key processes that create them. It will serve as an assessment of current approaches to
conservation of habitats and the methods and approaches to restore degraded habitats. All
organisms (plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, etc.) will be discussed from the population to
landscape scale. This course will include discussion of the historic drivers for habitat loss and the
tools used to offset those losses (e.g., mitigation banking and conservation planning). Key
environmental policies related to conservation, management, and restoration will be analyzed.
Course Objectives:
 Students will be versed in examples of local to international approaches to the conservation,
management, and restoration of habitat.
 Students will gain an appreciation for the variations in methodological approaches, data,
politics, and constraints to conservation, management, and restoration.
 Students will able to develop an outline and framework approaches to conserving,
managing, and restoring habitats of interest.
Assignments:
 Midterm
 Final Exam
 Lab/Field Activities (including fieldtrips)
 Service Learning (18 hours)
 Journal/Reflections
 Research Paper Outline
 Research Paper
 Oral Presentation
Grading:
Grades will be assigned on a straight scale based on the points earned for each assignment (See
example grade ranges below). This system will enable each student to earn a fair grade based upon
the percent of points earned on assignments rather than competing with others in the class for the
top grade.
 Make-up exam(s) will be given for excused absences only, and must be completed within a
week of returning to class.
 One late homework assignment will be accepted without an excused absence.
 Other late assignments will have 10 % deducted for each day they are late.
 No assignments will be accepted more than one week after the due date.
 All written assignments based on assigned readings will be due one week from the date
assigned unless otherwise advised.
 Incompletes will only be considered if most of the course requirements have been fulfilled.
 Spelling, grammar, and composition will be considered part of the grading of the
assignment.
A 93.5%
A- 90%
B+ 87%
Etc.
Midterm
Final exam
Service Learning
Journal/Reflections
50
75
50
40
points
points
points
points
(11 %)
(16 %)
(11%)
(9 %)
Essay Outline
Research Essay
OR
Species/Management Compendium
Oral Presentations
Lab/Field Assignments
20
75
points
points
(4 %)
(16 %)
75
50
100
points
points
points
(11 %)
(22%)
Total
440/460 points
(100 %)
(Note: these values are an approximation of point allocation. Additional points for other
assignments may be assigned at instructor’s discretion)
Tentative Schedule:
Week Topic
1
Introduction and Overview
Importance of habitat conservation, management, and
restoration
2
Activity
Regional biodiversity and conservation,
management, and restoration
assessment
Conservation biogeography/Landscape ecology
Physical Processes as drivers of habitat
structure and diversity (fieldtrip)
3
Mechanisms of biodiversity loss and habitat degradation
4
TENTATIVE AFTERNOON FIELDTRIP
Environmental policy and regulation
5
Conservation and recovery of species and their habitats:
principles of reserve design
6
7
8
Habitat analysis: terrestrial
Principles of Reserve Design
Habitat analysis: freshwater
Habitat analysis: marine
Approaches to habitat restoration
Conservation Case Study: Threats
Matrix
Fieldtrip
Habitat Lab
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
MIDTERM
Goals and Objectives of Restoration Projects
Conservation Planning
Captive breeding and Reintroductions
Genetic and demographic conservation and restoration:
the role of metapopulations
Monitoring
The community approach to conservation, management,
and restoration
Holiday Week
Conservation Financing
Cultural restoration/conservation
Conservation Planning/NCCP
Wildlife/fisheries restoration (fieldtrip)
Mitigation and management in
perpetuity
16
Synthesis, presentations, and review
17
Final Exam