Urban Naturalist Certificate Program

OVERVIEW

The NYBG Urban Naturalist Certificate Program equips you with the observation, identification, and documentation skills you need to become a citizen scientist and an effective environmental steward. Led by Nancy Slowik and a team of expert naturalists, you’ll use NYBG grounds and select New York City Parks as living labs to investigate the interrelationships between species and discover how our urban environment sustains those ecosystems. NYBG Urban Naturalists will learn to keenly observe the natural world using a variety of scientific tools. You’ll also create scientifically useful records—written, hand-drawn, and photographs—of your observations. Current NYBG Urban Naturalists are using the knowledge and skills they gained to develop their own projects, help manage invasive species in local parks, and document NYC plant species as volunteers in NYBG’s EcoFlora project.

 

REQUIRED COURSES

COURSE	CODE		HOURS
Introduction to Natural History	NAT 300		12
Natural History of Birds*	NAT 321		12
Natural History of Insects	NAT 322		9
Urban Ecology Field Study Workshop	NAT 323	P	9
One of the four Native Flora courses:			12
Native Flora in Autumn*	BOT 331		--
Native Flora in Winter*	BOT 332		--
Native Flora in Spring	BOT 333		--
Native Flora in Summer	BOT 334		--
Elective courses			30
TOTAL REQUIRED HOURS			96

 

* Courses offered in the Fall-Winter Season

P= Courses with a prerequisite before you can register