Professor Mike Ferguson explains how RMP's programs help prepare students for successful careers in the outdoor industry:
I think one of the things that sets the RMP program at UNH apart from any other program in the nation is obviously our stronghold within New England and our very hands-on faculty as well as the research experiences that we provide. These students are literally putting on a Forest Service hat and a Forest Service uniform and working with the USDA Forest Service in the White Mountain National Forest. Things like working in the visitor center and collecting wilderness campsite impact data, things like that.
I think that when they come out of this; it's a significant experience--16 weeks in the forest throughout the entire course of the summer--and they walk away from it with a greater understanding and appreciation for not only what the USDA Forest Service does but also the impact of empirical research and the importance of research in data informed decision-making.
It's a wonderful experience and our goal, full circle, is to train the educators and conservationists of the future so that these people will stay within the state of New Hampshire and work in the state of New Hampshire, in New England, paying it forward to the next generation. There's no better resource for recreation management than the White Mountain National Forest, right here in our own backyard.
This is the most highly visited National Forest on the East Coast--over 6 million visitors a year--more than Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone combined. And so managing outdoor recreation visitation and the ecology and ecosystems here are critical and what better place for collaboration than between the land grant University of the state and the largest natural resource and asset in the state.
