Survey of Professional Attitudes toward Range Science Education and Training

Abstract

Questionnaires relative to range science education and training were completed by about 120 professionals in the discipline. Respondents were in general agreement that coursework in the social sciences should receive more emphasis in range curricula. Most respondents also stressed the ever-increasing need for development and refinement of communicative skills. Natural resource use, planning, and management was most frequently cited as an important future problem facing range workers. Expertise in public relations also rated high as a future need for rangemen. The majority of the respondents indicated that training undergraduates as land resource managers should be emphasized instead of utilizing curricula dominated by "strictly scientific aspects." Most respondents were optimistic concerning future employment possibilities for range majors with indications that future graduates might be in increasing demand for certain areas of industry and business.