This minor provides students with the opportunity to combine visitor management with protected area management. This minor is available to SU students as well as ESF students. Understanding the need to balance the opportunity for visitor experiences with protecting and stewarding protected areas provides professional insight into planning and managing those areas for limited visitor access. Understanding the motivations, preferences, and behavior of recreational users is necessary to integrate the human dimensions into protected area management with consideration of the social and environmental factors related to such management. Protected area managers need to be able to manage both the resource itself as well as a wide variety of users, such as campers, hikers, bird watchers, boaters, nature photographers and others who enjoy nature-based experiences in extensive protected area environments owned by public agencies, private landowners, or NGOs.

Admission to the minor requires students to have a cumulative grade point average of 2.75, and permission of the Forest and Natural Resources Management Curriculum Director (320 Bray Hall). Nineteen credit hours of courses are required.