This program trains individuals to become environmental and wildlife management technicians who work mainly in the areas of research, management and education in a natural environment. The ultimate goal of practitioners is to help conserve natural resources, ensure their rational and sustainable use, and ensure that natural environments, and the biodiversity of these environments, are managed in an integrated and effective manner. The concept of natural environments, one of the main pillars of this program, is defined as including land, aquatic and wetland ecosystems of a given territory as well as water, air, soil, flora and fauna resources.
Environmental and Wildlife Management technicians work in wide-ranging areas of specialty, research being the most important. As part of a multi-disciplinary team, working under the supervision of a researcher, technicians work as head assistants performing duties related to natural environment inventories, the organization and management of work logistics (both in the field and in the laboratory), conducting certain laboratory analyses and planning work conducted for experimentation purposes.
The overall goal of research activities is ensuring the rational use of natural resources within a given territory. This territory may include protected areas, recreational and tourism activity areas, agricultural activity areas, forestry activity areas, urban areas and peri-urban areas. Technicians may be called upon to work in any of these areas.
They can also work in many different areas of specialty: environmental protection; conservation and protection of natural resources; and integrated territory management.