MISSOULA - The University of Montana School of Journalism has created a new master's program in environmental science and natural resource journalism.

The school is accepting applications for the new degrees through Feb. 15, 2010, and will select its first class in April. Classes will begin in the fall of 2010.

The school created the program to address the growing need for journalists who can better understand science and natural resource issues, said UM Journalism Dean Peggy Kuhr.

"We're very excited about the new program because it strengthens and focuses our graduate degree," Kuhr said in a statement.

The university already offers an undergraduate journalism program. The graduate level environmental degree will expand the expertise of the faculty and allow students and faculty to work with scientists on campus, she said.

Associate Professor Henriette Lowisch, the program director, said almost half of the course work in the two-year program will be classes outside of journalism, such as wildlife biology, forestry, climate change and environmental policy.

"Stories about what we call 'the environment' cross beats and media," Lowisch said. "They need to be told by reporters who 'get' science as well as economics and global politics."

The university recently added an undergraduate minor in climate change studies, which combines training in sciences with course work in ethics and policy.