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Fish & Wildlife Management (Graduate)
Students apply research to active problems within the fish and wildlife management fields alongside award-winning researchers.
Fish & Wildlife Management – Master of Science (M.S.)
Candidates within the Fish & Wildlife Management graduate program at Montana State conduct applied research on the ecology and management of the diverse mammal, bird and fish species within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Established in 1936, the Fish & Wildlife Management Program at Montana State is one of the oldest and most successful resource management programs in the United States and graduate students benefit both from this tradition and the resources provided by the Department of Ecology and mentorship from the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit of the USGS Biological Resources Division. The Master of Science in Fish & Wildlife Management can act as a terminal degree leading to professional employment as a fisheries or wildlife biologist but can also lead to a Ph.D. in Fish & Wildlife Biology or other disciplines.
Students within the Fish & Wildlife Management graduate program are able to work with such researchers as professor Al Zale, who collaborated with other MSU researchers on a recently completed artificial waterway at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fish Technology Center in Bozeman to help with refining the design of waterways intended to assist grayling and other species to overcome irrigation structures that would otherwise block the fishes’ seasonal movements.
Carnegie Classified
The prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education® ranks
Montana State University among the Top 5 public, 4-year universities for Very High
Research Activity with a STEM-dominant research doctoral program.
Nature's Laboratory
Montana State students make Montana, including nearby Yellowstone National Park, their
classroom, laboratory and playground.
Adventure Awaits
LendEDU has ranked MSU #1 in Outdoor Recreation, due to its proximity to world-class
skiing, blue-ribbon rivers for fishing and seemingly endless hiking opportunities,
as well as access to rental equipment from the ASMSU Outdoor Recreation Program.
Fund Your Education
The Graduate School at Montana State is dedicated to helping students secure funding during their time at MSU. Some resources the College of Letters & Sciences and the Graduate School offer includes:
More information about funding your Fish & Wildlife Management degree can be found on the Graduate School website.
Recent Areas of Study
Graduates within the Fish & Wildlife Management program conducted research on such projects as:
- Relationships between deer and other wild and domestic ungulates
- Ecology and habitat management of waterfowl
- Raptor habitat studies
- Ecology of warm- and cold-water fisheries
- Management of whirling disease
Admissions Requirements
Note: no GRE Required.
Each program within the Graduate School at Montana State has its own particular requirements for admission, and the Fish & Wildlife Management program is not different. To ensure that you start your application on the right foot, please review the admissions requirements for the Fish & Wildlife Management program. This includes any additional deadlines that the College of Letters & Sciences may have aside from the Graduate School, which does practice rolling admissions.
Careers after Graduation
Masters alumni in Fish and Wildlife Managment embark on a wide range of careers within 10-years of their graduation.
Nearly 50% are working in goverment, 31% in academia, and about 18.7% for nonprofit. Top industry employers include Montana State University and US Fish and Wildlife.
Across all career paths the estimated salary of alumni within 10 years of graduation ranges from $70,000 to $90,000 with an average of $80,000 (source of data Academic Analytics).