Jeremy Sweat, Chief of Resource Management at Bandelier, will teach Introduction to Conservation and Land Management. Photo by Nancy Coombs/UNM-LA

Bandelier National Monument. Courtesy photo

UNM-LA News:

This summer UNM-Los Alamos (UNM-LA) will offer a new one credit college course focusing on federal conservation and environmental policy. Thanks to a collaboration with Bandelier National Monument and The Family YMCA, UNM-LA will offer ENTC 290, Introduction to Conservation and Land Management, taught by Chief of Resource Management at Bandelier Jeremy Sweat, for participants in the Y Bandelier Corps (YBC) through the YMCA as well as UNM-LA students.

The class will meet 3-5 p.m. Fridays, June 16 to July 21 and provide students with an overview of conservation and environmental policy, an introduction to federal land management agencies and their missions, and practical advice on land management and environmental careers.

The YBC, a summer youth employment program emphasizing conservation and trail building, is open to youth ages 16 to 25. High school YBC workers will take the UNM-LA course as a dual credit class.

The course will begin with a historical overview of trends in policy from the development of the first protected areas in the 19th century to the creation of federal land management agencies in the early 20th century to current practices and policies. Sweat will offer students a chance to consider how laws, policies and national movements have influenced land management practices.

All students in the course will have the opportunity to visit Bandelier National Monument to discuss park operations and careers with National Park Service employees. Sweat shared, “On a practical level, students interested in a career path in a land management agency (such as the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will learn how to compete for entry level positions.”

Sweat has been at Bandelier since 2015, where he supervises the park’s natural and cultural resource programs, including archaeology, museum collections, wildlife biology, botany, and environmental compliance. Sweat began his National Park Service (NPS) career as a seasonal archaeological technician at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2006, and much of his career has focused on resource management law and policy. His other positions with the NPS have included management assistant at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, policy analyst and legislative affairs specialist in the NPS Headquarters in Washington D.C., deputy superintendent at Rock Creek Park, and district ranger at Fort Washington. 

For more information about the class, visit https:////losalamos.unm.edu or call 505.662.0332.