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.