On December 28 I left Ames for a 6 month faculty improvement leave (sabbatical) with the Forestry Department at the universidad Autonoma Chapingo (Mexico's top agriculture school). I drove 2000 miles from Ames to Mexico City in 4 uneventful days. However, the day after I arrived at the house of some friends, I was involved in an automobile accident. Fortunately, I was the passenger or I would have had worse problems than having been knocked out and having badly sprained neck muscles. My friend and I were in a hospital and a police station for 12 hours before I was released. My friend spent 12 hours in jail before he was released. Mexican justice assumes you are guilty until proven not (or, on occasion, until a bribe is paid.)

Forestry extension at Iowa state university has the basic mission of improving and expanding tree resources in the state through educational programs. The unit is housed in the Department of Forestry and is staffed by two professionals plus a graduate assistant. Dean R. Prestemon is the subject matter leader with a 75% extension – 25% resident teaching appointment. Paul H. Wray is the other full-time professional with a 75% extension - 25% research appointment. Dean's specialty is wood products and housing while Paul focuses on tree biology and forest management. Reinee Hildebrandt, graduate assistant, keys on youth programs. Overall, administration of the program rests with the Chairman, Department of Forestry, and the Extension Program Leader for Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Since 1965 when I started in forestry, I have had to answer the question “Why is there a forestry school in Iowa?''. Initially, it was preceeded by the question "Why do you want to be a forester?”, but once I became one, people seemed content to assume the die was cast as far as my career choice was concerned, and they settled into a fairly predictable pattern, tongue in cheek, twinkle in eye, of asking "Why in Iowa?'' in one form or another.