401-Series Fire Ecology and Management Certificate

Meet your 401-series requirements while learning useful information for your future jobs with this certificate.

Upon completion of the certificate program, you will:

• understand the importance of forest and fire ecology as well as fire science concepts to land management and fire management
• have a working familiarity with fire effects and/or fire behavior models
• be prepared to apply your knowledge to your daily job and to land management

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the unpredictability of COVID, Fall 2021 classes will be all online with no in-person component.

Complete 401-series course offerings

Required courses for the 401-series certificate

* Spring classes generally run January through March; Fall classes, October through December; and Winter classes, December through January.
** For instructor consent, please call 928-523-8810.

Additional online courses offered

These courses are not directly part of the Undergraduate Fire Ecology and Management Certificate but are available to satisfy additional units that may be needed beyond the certificate. These courses are regular Northern Arizona University distance learning courses and are not designed especially for managers. Current offerings are a good introduction to Vista and Forestry.

Please Note: There is some indication that 100 and 200 level courses may not satisfy the 401-series requirements. Please check with your human resources officer.

Current 401-series certificate courses

Educational objectives

We expect certificate candidates have basic writing, speaking and computational skills that would be expected in a wildland firefighting position. We expect certificate candidates to be proficient in fundamentals of computer operation (some basic Windows-based operating system/software experience) and we have provided online training links to help them with this.

During the course of the certificate program we expect students to gain the following knowledge and skills:

1. An understanding of ecological adaptations of forests including genetic variation and adaptations as well as the basic concepts of tree reproduction, growth and structure.
2. Students will be able to characterize the biogeochemical processes of forested ecosystems.
3. Comprehension of population models, predator-prey relationships, habitat selection and quality, and the interactions of wildlife and their required resources.
4. An understanding of plant community concepts in forest ecology, niche and niche differentiation concepts and biodiversity concepts.
5. An understanding of disturbance terminology and regime characteristics, the role and importance of native and introduced species and succession terminology and life-history characteristics
6. An understanding of landscape ecology concepts, terminology and the importance of scale in space and time.
7. An understanding of what silviculture is and how it applies to forest and fire management as well as basic concepts of stand development, forest strata, regeneration, site preparation, and intermediate treatments.
8. An understanding of how silvicultural and ecological concepts relate to fuel treatments, fire effects, and land management.
9. An understanding of basic GIS concepts and how ArcGIS can be applied directly to forest and fire management issues.
10. An understanding of basic vegetation and fire monitoring terminology, protocols and data as well as fire behavior and fire effects models.
11. An understanding of the philosophical, historical, legal, ecological, social and cultural aspects of land management and how that relates to fire management.

Upon completion of the certificate program:

1. Certificate recipients will understand the importance of forest and fire ecology as well as fire science concepts to land management and fire management.
2. Certificate recipients will have a working familiarity with fire effects and/or fire behavior models
3. Certificate recipients will be prepared to apply their knowledge to their daily jobs and to land management.

Course costs

General Tuition and Fees can be found at Student and Departmental Account Services.

1. Select “Tuition and Fees” from the top menu.
2. Under the heading “Undergraduates”, select the semester of interest.
3. Select “Online Campus”, then select “Undergraduate”.

Courses may have additional course and program fees, so please refer to the Enroll Now documents for the specific course. These fees range from $10-$40 per course.

Other information

Our certificate program parallels the Undergraduate Certificate in Fire Ecology, Management, and Technology at the University of Idaho. If our course schedule does not meet your needs, 6 units of our certificate may be taken elsewhere. Any changes need to be approved in advance by the Northern Arizona University Fire Ecology and Management Certificate advisors.

Application instructions (Word doc download)