re: What’s a good college degree for working outdoors?

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Biology. Get a job with an agency that deals with wildlife.

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And hope there are a bunch of retirements soon, or be prepared to move.

In all seriousness, getting into the wildlife/natural resources field requires a few things.

First and foremost, a willingness to move. You may get lucky and be able to stay around Lafayette, OP, but don't count on it. I know people with the same degree as me that didn't want to move, and they don't even work in the field.

Second is a willingness to "settle" for something to get your foot in the door. It took me 10 years working professionally to finally land the job I wanted because I had to wait on guys to retire, or move halfway across the country. Again, if you're lucky, you may land your dream job right out of school, but I know very few people who managed that. And I hate some of them for it because I'm envious of their career...

Last but not least is working your arse off and making the right connections/impressions. I'm sure this applies to any field, but it's worth saying. As competitive as jobs are these days, anything you can do to separate yourself from the pack helps.

I love my job and the field I work in, as it is a true profession. But it takes work to get where you want to be.

You can work in the "environmental" field doing groundwater or air sampling/monitoring, or go be a field technician and not need a degree. But if you want to work as a "scientist", biologist, forester, etc., you need a degree, and the 3 things listed above.

As to your original question--there really is no "one size fits all" degree. You have to determine what you want to do, and then figure out what degree is going to get you there. In most cases, if you want to be a forester, nothing short of a forestry degree is going to get you there. But if you want to be a biologist, there's a much wider range of degrees that will get you qualified academically.