The Forest Products Society (FPS) is an international organization with the primary purpose of informing both the public and private industry of new and/or alternative technologies.

An economic analysis of a riparian management system (RiMS) applied to the 7 ,655 ha Bear Creek agricultural watershed in central Iowa was done. The present value (PV) cost(@ 5% real ARR) is $2.16 million to establish and maintain for 20 years riparian buffers, streambank stabilization, and constructed wetlands in the upper one-half of the Bear Creek watershed. The RiMS model assumed 20 m wide, multiple species tree/shrub/perennial grass buffers planted on 169 ha of land (only 90 ha in crops), 30% of 17. 7 km of stream banks protected by bioengineering techniques, and two major wetlands totaling 8. 9 ha constructed to intercept large tile lines. To justify the RiMS model in the watershed means that expected PV benefits must equal or exceed the PV cost. PV willingness to pay (benefits) for desired surface water quality improvements in Bear Creek total about $610,000. With the consideration of other nonmarket and market values associated with the RiMS, such as improved aesthetics and wildlife habitat and production of fiber, the efficiency of this specific RiMS model can be improved.

The last six months of 1999 were to me a period of new discoveries and opportunities for both professional and personal learning. My husband Ken and I journeyed to the Republic of South Africa, the country at the southernmost tip of the African continent, for a combined sabbatical leave. Our destination was the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of Natal. We had been invited by the University's Vice Chancellor.

Yes, the foresters of tomorrow will need to be well-versed in prescribed fire as well as the traditional teaching and tactics of fire prevention and fire suppression. Iowa landscape has changed. Private landowners, natural resource managers and government policy are all striving to return the land to a more diverse, pre-settlement-type vegetation. The historic native grasslands and woodlands of Iowa were a function of cultural and natural fire occurrences. Managing for the species of this historic landscape signals a reintroduction of fire as a tool to manage that landscape.

An article in the February 2000 Journal of Forestry predicts an end to tree cutting on the National Forests. Tree cutting is one of the mainstays of stand tending that the forestry profession has used for centuries, and for the public lands of the United States for about a century. While cessation of this means of stand tending may seem a little extreme to many of us, in reality we are closer to that point now than you think. Throughout most of the twentieth century net growth rates have far exceeded removals. Recent figures show that, for Forest Service Regions One through Four, net growth is more than three times removal rates; now nearly everywhere you look forests are being choked to death by too many trees.