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Plants serve numerous purposes in human environments, enhancing both indoor and outdoor spaces while preventing soil erosion, conserving energy and water, and rehabilitating damaged ecosystems. Those pursuing an environmental horticulture and urban forestry degree explore the intricate connections within managed landscape systems, which involve plants, people, wildlife, soil, water, air, and microorganisms. This major offers diverse fieldwork opportunities, allowing students to focus on urban landscape management, floriculture/nursery operations, or plant biodiversity and restoration. Based on your chosen specialization, you'll gain expertise in designing landscapes and maintaining urban green spaces, greenhouse production, or ecological restoration. UC Davis provides exceptional learning resources, including an arboretum, automated greenhouses, an outdoor nursery, and proximity to restoration initiatives.
Students are urged to pursue on- or off-campus internships to complement their academic and lab experiences. Opportunities exist with the university's greenhouse, the UC Davis Arboretum, landscape design firms, local plant nurseries, government bodies, regional nonprofits, and restoration companies. Graduates can pursue careers in plant cultivation and management across various sectors, such as nurseries and arboretums, arboriculture consulting, urban/landscape/restoration horticulture, entrepreneurship, park administration, landscape contracting, or roles in public, private, or nonprofit organizations.