About the Program

The Master of Forestry (MF) degree is the advanced professional forestry degree granted by the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. The student who has completed an undergraduate curriculum in forestry is usually broadly trained in the principles of forestry but has not yet developed proficiency in the application of these principles to diverse problems involved in professional practice. The Master of Forestry program is designed to advance the student's understanding of the essentials of professional forest management at the graduate level within the context of resource and environmental planning of sustainable systems. 

Visit Department Website

Admissions

Admission to the University

Minimum Requirements for Admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all graduate programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
2. A grade point average of B or better (3.0);
3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g., Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 90 on the iBT test, 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 on a 9-point scale (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
4. Sufficient undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants Who Already Hold a Graduate Degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees not as vocational training certificates, but as evidence of broad training in research methods, independent study, and articulation of learning. Therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to pursue new subject matter at an advanced level without need to enroll in a related or similar graduate program.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree only if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may apply only to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Required Documents for Applications

1. Transcripts: Applicants may upload unofficial transcripts with your application for the departmental initial review. If the applicant is admitted, then official transcripts of all college-level work will be required. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) attended. If you have attended Berkeley, upload your unofficial transcript with your application for the departmental initial review. If you are admitted, an official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required.
2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants may request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries or political entities in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, most European countries, and Quebec (Canada). However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a US university may submit an official transcript from the US university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement:
   • courses in English as a Second Language,
   • courses conducted in a language other than English,
   • courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and
   • courses of a non-academic nature.

If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests. Official TOEFL score reports must be sent directly from Educational Test Services (ETS). The institution code for Berkeley is 4833. Official IELTS score reports must be mailed directly to our office from British Council. TOEFL and IELTS score reports are only valid for two years.

Where to Apply

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page. 

Master's Degree Requirements

Curriculum

The MF program has four components: course work, an internship, a professional paper, and an oral examination, and typically takes about two years for completion.

Course work
Twenty-four semester units of upper division and graduate courses, of which at least 12 units are at the graduate level. The Forestry graduate adviser and the student’s guiding professor must approve the program of study to assure advanced specialized training in professional forest resource management. Advanced courses in forest measurements, silviculture, and management are required.

Internship
Normally with a public or private forestland management organization, the internship provides direct experience in the application of theory to professional land management.

Professional paper
The paper demonstrates a student’s ability to assemble and analyze data and to recommend a resolution of an applied forest problem. The paper may be based on the internship or on another supervised professional work experience, or may be a report based on independent analysis. The paper must have guiding professor and forestry graduate adviser acceptance and approval.

Oral Exam
A comprehensive oral examination covering forest management is taken after completion of course work and approval of the professional paper. Primary emphasis will be on work done in the period of residence, but students should also be prepared to demonstrate mastery of the general field of forestry.

For more information on the Master of Forestry degree, please contact Lyn Rivera, the forestry graduate adviser.

Courses

Forestry

Faculty and Instructors

+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

Rodrigo P. P. Almeida, Associate Professor. Disease ecology, vector, plant disease, Xylella fastidiosa, emerging.
Research Profile

Miguel A. Altieri, Professor. Agriculture, environmental science, pest management.
Research Profile

Ronald Amundson, Professor. Pedology isotope biogeochemistry, impact of climate and life on earth processes, soils in biogeochemical cycles, human impacts on soils and ecosystems.
Research Profile

Gary Anderson, Adjunct Professor. Microbial ecology, genomics, diversity in extreme environments.

Jodi Axelson, Assistant Cooperative Extention Specialist. Forest Health, insect outbreaks, forest ecology, resource management, Dendrochronology and wood anatomy.

Dennis D. Baldocchi, Professor. Biometeorology, biosphere-atmosphere trace gas fluxes, ecosystem ecology, climate change.
Research Profile

Jillian Banfield, Professor. Nanoscience, Bioremediation, genomics, biogeochemistry, carbon cycling, geomicrobiology, MARS, minerology.
Research Profile

John J. Battles, Professor. Forest Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics.
Research Profile

Steven R. Beissinger, Professor. Conservation, behavioral and population ecology.
Research Profile

Gregory Biging, Professor. Forest Biometrics and Remote Sensing.
Research Profile

Carl Boettiger, Assistant Professor. Theoretical ecology, ecoinformatics, modeling, data science, resilience, early warning signals, decision theory.
Research Profile

Timothy Bowles, Assistant Professor. Agroecology, Sustainable Agriculture.

Justin S. Brashares, Associate Professor. Wildlife, biodiversity, ecology, conservation, human livelihoods.
Research Profile

Eoin Brodie, Assistant Adjunct Professor.
Research Profile

Thomas D. Bruns, Professor. Microbial biology, plant biology, fungi, nucleic acid sequences, basidomycetes, ectomycorrhizal fungi communities.
Research Profile

Stephanie M. Carlson, Associate Professor. Fish ecology, freshwater ecology, evolutionary ecology.
Research Profile

Claudia J. Carr, Associate Professor. International and rural resource development.
Research Profile

Ignacio Chapela, Associate Professor. Agriculture, biotechnology, environmental science, microbial biology, policy and management.
Research Profile

Paolo D'Odorico, Professor. Ecohydrology, surface hydrology, ecosystem ecology, Aeolian processes, desertfication, stohastic, nonlinear environmental dynamics, water and food security.
Research Profile

Todd Dawson, Professor. Physiological plant ecology, evolutionary plant ecology, ecosystem processes, adaptations of plants, carbon, water, nitrogen.
Research Profile

Kathryn De Master, Assistant Professor. Sociology and political ecology of agriculture, agrarian change, rural conservation and development, agri-environmental policy, food justice/sovereignty movements, heritage and terroir, diversified farming systems, participatory mapping.
Research Profile

Perry De Valpine, Associate Professor. Population ecology, mathematical modeling and statistics.
Research Profile

Richard S. Dodd, Professor. Tree genetics and systematics.
Research Profile

Damian O. Elias, Assistant Professor. Neuroethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary biology of arthropods.
Research Profile

Mary K. Firestone, Professor. Soils, environmental policy, environmental science, policy and management, wildlife, miicrobial biology.
Research Profile

Brian L. Fisher, Associate Adjunct Professor. Entomology, Ants.
Research Profile

Gordon Frankie, Professor. Urban entomology, policy, environmental policy, environmental science, pest management, management.
Research Profile

Inez Fung, Professor. Global change, environmental policy, ecosystem scienes.
Research Profile

Matteo Garbelotto, Adjunct Professor. Forest pathology, forest mycology, forest and tree management.
Research Profile

Wayne Marcus Getz, Professor. Africa, disease ecology, wildlife conservation, resource management.
Research Profile

Rosemary Gillespie, Professor. Evolutionary ecology, systematics, spider biology, conservation.
Research Profile

+ J. Gilless, Professor. Environmental policy, resource economics, forestry, forest economics, wildland fire.
Research Profile

Allen Goldstein, Professor. Global change, air pollution, environmental science, biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry.
Research Profile

Charles Griswold, Adjunct Professor. Entomology.

John Harte, Professor. Global change, ecology, sustainability, energy policy, theoretical ecology, biodiversityl.
Research Profile

Susan Hubbard, Adjunct Professor.

Lynn Huntsinger, Professor. Rangeland conservation and management.
Research Profile

Alastair Iles, Associate Professor. Science, technology and environment, green chemistry, sustainability learning, environmental policy.

David Kavanaugh, Adjunct Professor. Systematics, biogeography, evolution, and natural history of carabid beetles.
Research Profile

Maggi Kelly, Professor in Residence. Remote sensing, wetlands, ecosystem sciences, forests, geoinformatics, participatory web, GIS.
Research Profile

Siamak Khorram, Adjunct Professor. Remote sensing, image processing.

Claire Kremen, Professor. Conservation Biology, Pollination, Agroecology, Entomology.

Isao Kubo, Professor. Agriculture, insect biology, pest management.
Research Profile

Laura N. Lammers, Assistant Professor. Environmental geochemistry, crystal growth, mineral-fluid and fluid-fluid interfacial processes, contaminant transport.

Jonas Meckling, Assistant Professor. Climate policy, energy policy, political economy.
Research Profile

Carolyn Merchant, Professor. Environmental history, philosophy and ethics.
Research Profile

Adina Merenlender, Adjunct Professor. Conservation biology.
Research Profile

Arthur Middleton, Assistant Professor. Wildlife ecology, management, and policy.

Nicholas J. Mills, Professor. Invasive species, Biological control, Population ecology, Entomology/Insect biology.
Research Profile

Katharine Milton, Professor. Tropical ecology of humans and non-human primates diet parasite-host interactions.
Research Profile

Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor. Race and class determinants of the distribution of health risks associated with air pollution among diverse communities in the United States.
Research Profile

Patrick M. O'Grady, Assistant Professor. Population genetics and phylogenetics of Drosophila, adaptive radiation, biogeography.
Research Profile

Kevin O'Hara, Professor. Stand dynamics silviculture forest management.
Research Profile

Kate O'Neill, Associate Professor. International environmental politics/ global political economy.
Research Profile

Dara O'Rourke, Associate Professor. Environmental justice, globalization, industrial ecology, labor.
Research Profile

George Oster, Professor. Computational biology, developmental biology, mathematical modeling of molecular and cellular systems, protein motors, cell motility, spatial pattern formation in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells, neural pattern formation.
Research Profile

Celine Pallud, Associate Professor. Biogeochemistry, iron reduction, metals and contaminants, soil aggregates, selenium kinetics of organic matter degradation, nitrate reduction, soil and environmental biogeophysics, biogeochemical cycles, fate and transport of nutrients, sulfate reduction, wetland soils, littoral sediments, spatial variation in biogeochemical processes.
Research Profile

Nancy L. Peluso, Professor. Political ecology/resource policy and politics/forests/agrarian change/property and access.
Research Profile

Matthew D. Potts, Associate Professor. Forest management, biofuels, plantation agriculture, land use planning, land use policy, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, tropical ecology, environmental economics.
Research Profile

Robert Rhew, Associate Professor. Geography, terrestrial-atmosphere exchange of trace gases, atmospheric chemistry and composition, halogen biogeochemistry, stratospheric ozone depletion issues, coastal salt marsh, chaparral, desert, tundra, boreal forest, grassland.
Research Profile

George Roderick, Professor. Invasion biology, Biodiversity science, Sustainability and global change, Insects.
Research Profile

Erica B. Rosenblum, Assistant Professor. Evolutionary ecology, speciation and extinction, ecological genomics, herpetology, global change biology.
Research Profile

Whendee SIlver, Professor. Ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry.
Research Profile

Scott L. Stephens, Professor. Wildland fire science, fire ecology, forest ecology, forest policy, forest management.
Research Profile

Mark A. Tanouye, Professor. Genetics, neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, mechanisms of nervous system structure and function, drosophila mutants.
Research Profile

Neil Tsutsui, Professor. Genetics and behavior of social insects.
Research Profile

Ian Wang, Assistant Professor. Landscape genetics, landscape ecology, ecological and conservation genomics.

Kipling Will, Associate Professor. Carabid beetles/ Insect Systematics/ Associate Director,Essig Museum of Entomology.
Research Profile

David E. Winickoff, Associate Professor. Biotechnology, bioethics, environmental regulation, Science and Technology studies, geoengineering, technology transfer.
Research Profile

Robert York, Adjunct Assistant Professor. Forest Ecology, Silviculture, Giant Sequoia restoration and ecology.
Research Profile

Specialists

Van Butsic, Assistant Specialist. Land systems science, conservation, environmental economics and policy, coupled human natural systems, GIS applications.
Research Profile

Kent M. Daane, Specialist. Control of insect pests in agricultural crops.

Christy M. Getz, Associate Specialist. Ethics, history, politics, rural development.

Ted Grantham, Assistant Specialist. Freshwater ecology, stream hydrology, climate risk assessment, California water management and policy.

Vernard Lewis, Specialist. Biology and management of structural and household pests.
Research Profile

Max A. Moritz, Associate Specialist. Fire Ecology and Management.
Research Profile

Thomas A. Scott, Specialist. Wildlife conservation, human impacts on wildlife, wildlife/urban interface.

Jennifer Sowerwine, Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist. Building equitable, economically viable and culturally relevant food systems in metropolitan areas that contribute to healthy communities, ecological diversity and sustainable livelihoods.

Richard B. Standiford, Cooperative Extension Specialist. Forest management.

William Stewart, Specialist. Watershed management, forest management, resource economics.

William D. Tietje, Specialist. Oak woodland ecology, human impacts on wildlife.

Lecturers

Kendra Klein, Lecturer.

Alan H. Krakauer, Lecturer.

Patina Mendez, Lecturer.

Kurt Spreyer, Lecturer.

Bridget M. Tracy, Lecturer.

Visiting Faculty

Daphne Miller, Visiting Associate Professor.

Emeritus Faculty

Barbara Allen-Diaz, Professor Emeritus. Rangeland ecology and management, Plant community ecology.
Research Profile

John R. Anderson, Professor Emeritus.

Reginald Barrett, Professor Emeritus. Wildlife biology and management.
Research Profile

Frank Beall, Professor Emeritus.

David L. Brink, Professor Emeritus.

Leopoldo Caltagirone, Professor Emeritus.

+ Howell V. Daly, Professor Emeritus. Biosystematics of bees, traditional and modern taxonomic procedures, including use of computers in classification and data analysis and management.

Harvey Doner, Professor Emeritus. Chemistry of trace elements in soils, mineral-organic compound interactions, and chemistry of carbonates and more soluble minerals in soils.

John Doyen, Professor Emeritus.

Sally Fairfax, Professor Emeritus.

Louis A. Falcon, Professor Emeritus.

Louise Fortmann, Professor Emeritus.

Paul L. Gersper, Professor Emeritus. Soil/plant relationships, land use.
Research Profile

Peng Gong, Professor Emeritus. Remote Sensing and GIS.
Research Profile

Andrew Gutierrez, Professor Emeritus. Systems ecology biological control.
Research Profile

Joseph Hancock, Professor Emeritus.

Richard R. Harris, Specialist Emeritus. Forestry, resource management, riparian ecology.

John A. Helms, Professor Emeritus.

John Helms, Professor Emeritus.

Marjorie Hoy, Professor Emeritus.

Oenes Huisman, Professor Emeritus.

Robert S. Lane, Professor Emeritus.

William Libby, Professor Emeritus.

Werner Loher, Professor Emeritus.

+ Joe R. McBride, Professor Emeritus. Forest ecology and urban forestry.
Research Profile

John G. McColl, Professor Emeritus. Soil science: nutrient cycling, forest soils.
Research Profile

Doug McCreary, Specialist Emeritus. Artificial regeneration of native California oaks.

Dale McCullough, Professor Emeritus. Wildlife biology and management.
Research Profile

William Mckillop, Professor Emeritus. Forest economics, forest management, forest policy, timber supply, forestry economics.
Research Profile

Gary Nakamura, Specialist Emeritus. Forestry and silviculture.

Nickolas Panopoulos, Professor Emeritus.

Rudolph Pipa, Professor Emeritus.

Jerry Powell, Professor Emeritus.

Alexander H. Purcell III, Professor Emeritus. Insect vectors of plant pathogens.

Stephen Quarles, Professor Emeritus.

Robert D. Raabe, Professor Emeritus. Ornamental pathology.

Jeffrey Romm, Professor Emeritus.

Vincent Rush, Professor Emeritus.

Milton Schroth, Professor Emeritus. Ecology, pathogen physiology, biocontrol.

John Shelly, Professor Emeritus.

Philip Spieth, Professor Emeritus. Population Genetics and Evolution.

Garrison Sposito, Professor Emeritus.

Robert Van Steenwyk, Professor Emeritus. Pest management, forestry, microbial biology.
Research Profile

Lawrence Waldron, Professor Emeritus.

Stephen C. Welter, Professor Emeritus. Plant-insect interactions and agricultural entomology.

W. Wayne Wilcox, Professor Emeritus.

David Wood, Professor Emeritus.

Eugene Zavarin, Professor Emeritus.