History

The School of Natural Resources and the Environment was established in 1974 (as the School of Renewable Natural Resources), but our roots in protecting the environment and its resources go back more than a century.

The earliest program began in the 1913-14 school year with a Grazing Range Studies course in the Biology Department, and by 1930 Range Ecology had become a department in the College of Agriculture. It later was combined with Botany, and over the years various other subjects were added, including Wildlife and Fisheries Management, Agronomy, and Watershed Management, although under the auspices of different departments.

On Dec. 21, 1974, the School of Renewable Natural Resources was formally created, with eight undergraduate majors – five from the old Department of Watershed Management and three transferred from other departments (Horticulture, Biological Sciences, and Soils, Water and Engineering).

Ultimately, the School of Natural Resources merged with the Office of Arid Lands Studies to become what we have today: the School of Natural Resources and the Environment in the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.