Courses
AGRN 125: Soil Judging
The description, interpretation, and evaluation of soil properties in the field provide critical information towards proper land use management, natural resource assessment, and environmental protection. This course provides training and practical experience for students seeking to learn proper methods of soil and site evaluation used by professional soil scientists.
This course is taught in the fall semester of every year.
Learn More About AGRN 125AGRN 415: Soil Survey and Land Use
Soils data is one of the most widely utilized spatial data sets among natural resource managers and land use specialists. However, it is sometimes misused or misrepresented because it is in an inappropriate format or inappropriate scale for various applications. In this course we will examine the various components of modern soil survey, including soil morphology, soil classification, soil mapping, and soil interpretation. This course will provide you with tools that will enable you to design, create, and interpret soil spatial data for a multitude of land use applications.
This course is taught in the fall semester of odd years.
AGRN 417: Soil Genesis and Classification
The study of soil genesis and classification deals primarily with (i) the formation and evolution of soils, (ii) their organization and categorization as natural bodies resulting from natural factors and processes, and (iii) their distribution throughout the world. Physical, chemical, mineralogical, and morphological soil characteristics are studied in the field and in the laboratory, and are then used to classify soils. These soil characteristics are the result of the processes (biological, chemical, physical) that have controlled the development of soils, and which are influenced by environmental factors which regulate their feasibility, rate, and extent. This course will provide you with tools that will enable you to interpret the messages found in the soil that tell us what has happened in the past and guide us toward soil management strategies that will be successful now.
This course is taught in the fall semester of even years.
AGRN 552: Pedology
The soils and landscapes of West Virginia and the northeastern United States are dynamic bodies that change in response to natural and human forces. The soils in the region—which have been and continue to be influenced by climate, vegetation, topography, and geology—possess properties that often present land users with distinct management problems. Human modification of the landscape may produce additional complications. Pedology, or the study of soil properties and processes in situ on the landscape, provides a framework for understanding both landscape evolution and land use potential. This course begins with training and practical experience on the proper field methods of soil description and site evaluation used by professional soil scientists. Participants will then embark on a week-long field trip to examine soil and land-use problems across representative land regions and soil systems of the northeastern United States, investigate morphological properties of natural and disturbed soils in the field, and evaluate these observations to develop interpretations of suitable soil use and land management.
This course is taught in the summer semester of odd years.
PLSC 547: Applied Wetlands Ecology and Management
Wetlands are some of the most imperiled but ecologically important systems in the world. Because wetlands ecology is a complex topic that covers many disciplines, this course is taught using an interdisciplinary approach by faculty instructors with expertise in wetland vegetation, wetland hydrology, and wetland soils. We will study the three primary factors that define a wetland (vegetation, hydrology, and soils) and discuss wetland ecology, wetland wildlife management, and wetland laws and regulations. The objectives of this course are (i) to gain an understanding of basic wetland ecology, (ii) to enhance knowledge of wetland and wetland wildlife management practices, and (iii) to provide a background in wetland delineation, mitigation, and restoration. This course is also listed as WMAN 547 and CE 547.
This course is taught in the fall semester of odd years.