The MSFM is a three-term course-based program consisting of 33 credits:
- 21 required credits (FCOR 510, FCOR 511, FRST 555, FRST 556, FRST 557, FRST 558), and 12 elective credits*.
* as approved by the Course Instructor
Timeline to Completion Options
There are two paths for completing the program. Note that both require full-time registration, but Option 2 provides a one-year leave period in between the Summer/Fall and Winter Terms:
OPTION 1:
Graduation requirements are completed in 10 months. This is the best option for students wishing to devote a concentrated period to study and graduate in the shortest time possible.
- Summer Term Year 1 (July-August): MSFM registration and tuition assessment officially begins at the start of UBC’s Summer Term Two (July 1). Note that students are not required to arrive on campus until mid-August, which is when the first course (FRST 555 immersion field camp) begins. Prior to field camp, students are sent a pre-arrival reading package and are expected to be familiar with this material by August arrival.
- Fall Term Year 1 (September-December): full-time course work including FRST 556, FRST 557 and electives.
- Winter Term Year 1 (January-April): full-time course work including FRST 558 and electives.
- Degree Conferral: May (on campus requirements completed by April 30).
OPTION 2:
Graduation requirements are completed in 22 months. This is the best option for students who are limited in the period of time in which they can be away from employment or family obligations. It allows the first half of the degree to be completed, followed by a one-year leave from study and then return the following year for program completion. NOTE: UBC assesses a per-term leave of absence fee. See the tuition page for more details.
- Summer Term Year 1 (July-August): MSFM registration and tuition assessment officially begins at the start of UBC’s Summer Term Two (July 1). Note that students are not required to arrive on campus until mid-August, which is when the first course (FRST 555 immersion field camp) begins. Prior to field camp, students are sent a pre-arrival reading package and are expected to be familiar with this material by August arrival.
- Fall Term Year 1 (September-December): full-time course work including FRST 556, FRST 557 and electives.
- Winter Term Year 1 (January-April ): official leave of absence
- Summer Term Year 2 (May-August): official leave of absence
- Fall Term Year 2 (September-December): official leave of absence
- Winter Term Year 2 (January–April ): full-time course work including FRST 558 and electives.
- Degree Conferral: May (on campus requirements completed by April 30).
Course Descriptions
FCOR 510 (1.5 credits): Professional Communication
Course Overview
This hybrid course is focused on providing students from different course-based master’s (CBM) programs (MGEM, MSFM, MUFL, and MIF) with epistemological agility. Evidence shows there is a lack of sufficiently effective communication skills among early career graduating professionals to speak to diverse audiences. This course will provide applied opportunities for students to engage in and hone their cross-boundary communication skills. Bringing all the CBM students together will provide opportunities for students to communicate with people and stakeholder groups outside of their topical niche. Students will practice professional communication skills demanded of individuals, and as part of diverse teams, in the field of forestry. This course aims to have students identify audiences, core messages, positionality and practice communicating through diverse media.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course students will be able to:
- Identify, analyze, and investigate diverse audiences in the field of forestry
- Demonstrate communication of specialized topics in a manner appropriate to the specific audience groups
- Develop a core message to communicate and convey this core message consistently through multiple communications and/or media
- Appraise their individual communication, positionality, and conflict style, address how this may influence their approach to communication, and demonstrate how to account for these factors in communication approaches or strategies
- Critique power and bias in professional communication and develop strategies to identify and address these issues in their own communication
- Compare and demonstrate different tools for managing difficult conversations in a professional setting
- Determine a core message and identify/analyze an audience, and for this scenario elucidate the pros and cons of different communication forms and media, selecting the most appropriate form
- Develop insight into the objectives and perspectives of the different course-based masters programs in Forestry, through collaboration and communication with other members of the CBM community
FCOR 511 (1.5 credits): Working with Diverse Knowledge Systems in Sustainable Natural Resources Management
Course Overview
This hybrid course aims to enhance the awareness of diverse knowledge systems (including western scientific, local, Indigenous) and their implications for decision-making and policy among students in the Faculty of Forestry’s four course-based master’s programs (MGEM, MSFM, MUFL, and MIF). It addresses power dynamics between these knowledge systems and introduces strategies for equitable co-production of environmental management decisions. The course emphasizes the need to confront and navigate different worldviews, ethical practices, and norms related to credible knowledge within systems marked by power imbalances.
CBM students will have practical opportunities to engage with and discuss these issues through individual and group activities. This collaborative approach will foster communication with peers from varied knowledge backgrounds, promoting the development of professional skills and the ability to work effectively in diverse teams.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course students will be able to:
- Distinguish how knowledge is contingent and shaped by social, historical, and values-based elements
- Appraise distinct forms of knowledge; media for communication / transmission; sharing of new knowledge; rights of access; confidentiality and Intellectual Property Rights
- Reflect on your own worldviews and ethical and political values and how this shapes your approach to knowledge production
- Assemble a range of approaches for achieving cooperative decision making and knowledge in diverse resource management settings/contexts
- Critique the central issues relating to data ownership and sovereignty, and identify best practices
- Reflect and develop a robust understanding of professional ethics in practice as concerns knowledge co-production – including and beyond institutional ethics
- Collaborate and communicate with other members of the CBM community to value the objectives, perspective, and approach of each CBM to these challenges
FRST 555 (3 credits): Fundamentals of Sustainable Forest Land Management (Summer Term)
Sustainable forest management maintains the long-term health of forest ecosystems while providing environmental, economic, and social benefits for present and future generations. This course introduces the fundamental concepts and principles that underlay stand and forest level decision-making including: an overview of key concepts in ecosystem classification, soils, hydrology, climate, measurements, silviculture, forest health, wildlife habitat supply and use, operations, community forestry and an introduction to stand and forest level planning. The course will be delivered as a two week course in the summer, part of which will be a residential field camp. Students will be provided with a package of material to read prior to the commencement of the course.
FRST 556 (3 credits): Land Information Acquisition and Analysis (Fall Term)
Students will learn the principles behind forest land data acquisition and use and will practice some of the procedures. Practical examples and exercises will be used throughout the course to provide a deeper understanding of the complexities and uses of this information.
FRST 557 (5 credits): Site-Level Forest Land Management (Fall Term)
Design and implementation of site-level plans that integrate ecological, social and economic components. Includes topics from silviculture, forest operations and forest health.
FRST 558 (7 credits): Landscape-Level Forest Land Management (Winter Term)
Preparation of landscape-level sustainable forest management plans that integrate ecological, social and economic components.
Electives:
- Forest and Conservation Economics (3 credits): FRST 537c
- Forest and Environmental Policy (3 credits): FRST 523
- Advanced Geomatics for Natural Resource Management (3 credits): FRST 538
- Supplementary coursework or Directed studies in specialization (3 credits)
A maximum of 6 credits may be completed at the undergraduate 300-or 400-level.
