CNR's History

The College of Natural Resources (CNR) serves society by generating and disseminating knowledge in the biological, physical, and social sciences in order to provide the tools to protect the Earth's natural resources and ensure economic and ecological sustainability for future generations.

Our roots extend to the beginning of the UC system, when the federal Morrill Act established a national system of land grant universities to foster agricultural teaching and research. In 1868, the California legislature established the University of California in Berkeley and the College of Agriculture.

In 1914, the College of Agriculture launched a forestry program that included the study of forests and wildlands, along with their resources and services, a program that eventually became the School of Forestry. In 1974, the former agricultural and forestry schools joined with other environmental, biological, and food sciences to form the College of Natural Resources.

Today, CNR has more than 120 faculty and approximately 1,800 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. We remain committed to engaging the issues that shape our world, from sustainable food systems to obesity, from water policy to energy policy, and from the far-reaching impacts of climate change to the linkages between the human genome, diet, and disease.

• Read more about the history of the College in the 2004 Breakthroughs magazine
• Explore an interactive timeline on the history of the University of California
• Visit the UC Berkeley 150th anniversary website