A first of its kind, Feather River College announces the final approval of its second bachelor’s degree.
The community college in Quincy will soon welcome its first cohort of students earning a degree in Ecosystem Restoration and Applied Fire Management. The California Community College Board of Governors gave the final blessing after nearly a year of going through the approval process. The program will bring together local, regional, state, and private partners to provide a trained workforce skilled in wildfire prevention techniques and watershed and forest restoration practices.
Senate Brian Dahle commended the college on its leadership to build this workforce for the North State, as “hard experience” has revealed, “northern California’s forests need much better management.” The district manager of the Feather River Resource Conservation District said it has been challenging “finding employees with a diverse skill set to address the problems posed by the current wildfires,” adding that this program benefits “not only [the] district but all Californians.”
FRC President and Superintendant Kevin Trutna has often referred to the forests that surround the college and beyond as their million-acre classroom and seized the opportunity to bring students into the Sierra ecosystem to learn how to manage it as well as gain necessary federal certifications for prescribed burning, and create a sustainable landscape through riparian restoration, and reforestation of burned landscapes.
More about the program can be found by visiting the FRC website.
Photo: Chico State students, CAL FIRE, and state and local partners assisting in a prescribed burn at the FRC
campus
