The Forestry Club has had another successful year, and once again stands as a shining example of what all clubs on campus should strive to be like.

We have all seen this frequently used quote from William Shakespeare on many occasions and maybe pondered its meaning in a particular context. In the case I am about to discuss it does have a lot of meaning to those of us in the natural resource professions here at Iowa State, because if all goes as planned, the College of Agriculture will undergo a name change in the not too distant future, to the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. This change has been precipitated by the recognition that the College is much broader than just agriculture, even by your most liberal interpretation of the meaning of that word.

0n Sunday, April 18, 1999, the ISU Forest Product Society Chapter em barked for the spring meeting held by the Midwest section of the Forest Products Society. We traveled to the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. Art Brauner, Executive Vice President of the Forest Products Society, hosted the visit.

Bear Creek Watershed Project: On June 16, 1998 the United States Department of Agriculture dedicated the Bear Creek Watershed Project as the Bear Creek Riparian Buffer National Research and Demonstration Area. The dedication was part of the Iowa Conservation Buffer Tour hosted by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the USDA State Technical Committee, Conservation Districts of Iowa, and Trees Forever. Over 100 conservation and agricultural professionals from around Iowa attended the tour. In his comments, Craig Cox, the Acting Deputy Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment in the USDA, cited the major impact the Bear Creek Watershed Project has had in fostering buffer adoption and demonstrating the effectiveness of the technology. In 1999 an additional 1.2 miles of Bear Creek is being planted on the Jon and Steve Risdal properties. These plantings will consist of nearly 20,000 tree and shrubs and over 17 acres of native grasses. Research is ongoing to assess the effectiveness of the buffers to improve water quality and wildlife habitat. These efforts will be bolstered by new competitive grants awarded from the USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources/ US Environmental Protection Agency Nonpoint Source Water Quality Program.

This article is intended to provide a brief history of forestry extension in Iowa over nearly the last fifty years, with particular emphasis on activities since 1966.