Management & Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems Capstone Courses
Course Overviews
Welcome to the MRAE Capstone Course Website! The primary audience for this site are the students enrolled in WATS 5340, WATS 5350, and WATS 6350 at Utah State University. However, the resources found here may be of general interest to a broader ecosystem management and restoration community, including practitioners, managers, stakeholders, and researchers. In these capstone courses, we will spend a full year focusing on the restoration process.
A total of four credits (2 in fall, Capstone I, and 2 in spring, Capstone II) will provide experience in applying watershed science principles to real-world aquatic ecosystem management and restoration problems and projects. The two courses apply the principles covered in WATS 5300, Principles of Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration, and the depth of skills and understanding developed throughout the curriculum to actual management and restoration projects. Different case studies and on-the-ground projects in nearby watersheds will be used each year and students will gain direct experience working with restoration practitioners and managers to assess watershed impairments, create new plans to address those impairments, evaluate different conceptual design alternatives, and prepare applications to win projects and navigate through the regulatory process.
Graduate students enrolled in the Masters of Ecosystem Restoration take WATS 6350 - Capstone Mentoring, in which they play a leadership and mentoring role to Seniors enrolled in WATS 5350.
Course Materials
WATS 5340
Capstone I
WATS 5350
Capstone II
Syllabi
For students enrolled in WATS 5350/6350, all course materials can be found on this site, whereas you will submit assignments, track your grades, and engage in collaborations on our Canvas Course Pages. Students enrolled in WATS 5340 will primarily use Canvas, but these pages are maintained as a resource for 2020 students and earlier.
WATS 5340
Canvas Links & Syllabi
WATS 5350 & 6350
Canvas Links & Syllabi
Restoration Consortium
These capstone classes are the flagship synthesis of the Watershed Sciences Management & Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems undergraduate major. The major is one of three programs offered through USU's Restoration Consortium.
