Special alumni from the University of Minnesota Forestry Class of 1957 and Susan Stafford, dean of the former College of Natural Resources (CNR), which became the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Science (CFANS) in 2006, have put pen to paper to record their memories and wisdom after decades in the fields of forestry and natural resources. We are pleased to publish these stories exactly as there were written for all to enjoy. We invite you to explore their stories by reading the prologue and clicking on the links below.
With the publication of this group of essays, we also honor the late Theodore (Ted) Hullar, Ph.D., former Chancellor of the University of California and environmental leader, and Floyd Rudy, a forester-turned-attorney who supported both his community and the University, who both passed away before their essays were finished.
No edits have been made to the original content. To get a peek at what life was like as a forestry student in 1957, visit the 1957 issue of the Gopher Peavy, the UMN forestry yearbook published from 1928 – 1993.
Prologue
February 14, 2022
When you graduate, how will you look back on your education decades later? Do you think that what you experienced might make any different to future generations? Four of us who were members of the Minnesota Forestry Class of 1957, along with the Dean who hosted our 50th class reunion, wrote these essays to share our perspectives on our education, our careers, and what we learned along the way that might be relevant to your lives. We hope you find our reflections interesting, if not relevant.
Nearly half of the 40 students in our class came from the Twin Cities. All were men, and most represented the first generation from their families to attend college. We were born in the depression years of the 1930, most of our fathers served in World War II, and some of our classmates and family members served in the Korean War (1950 - 53). As a result, we grew up to respect authority and were ready to take on responsibilities early, including those associated with marriage. The veterans in our class took leadership roles on campus and damped juvenile activities among the rest of us. The presence of vets, along with the requirement of a B average for academic deferment from the draft, led to amazing scholarship. Five members of our class attained PhDs and two became successful attorneys.
None of us accumulated college debts because tuition was only $100 per year for in-state students and $300 for those from out of state. Today, those values would increase by 9-fold, but most of us also had half-time jobs paying $1.00 per hour while we were in college. Although forestry students may have owned a few more cars than other majors, social life was rich on campus without access to private transport; dances were scheduled most weekends and buses ran between the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses every hour.
Upon graduation, we entered an expanding job market for forestry graduates with hundreds of positions created in the private and public sectors. Our class, and that immediately before and after, averaged three job offers per applicant, not counting conscription in the military forces. These years represented the peak employment for forestry graduates at the University of Minnesota. Our class members bonded through membership in the Forestry Club and through summer camps at Itasca Stat Park at the end of our freshman year at at Cloquet for spring quarter during our junior year. To date the era in your minds, we stayed in wooden cabins heated with wood stoves constructed from oil barrels and visited logging camps where pulpwood was harvested with bowsaws and horse-pulled sleds filled with the wood to plowed road. Although river drives were over in Minnesota by the 1950s, a few continued in northern Idaho at that time.
We and our classmates bonded through membership in the Forestry Club on campus, and by attending Itasca and Cloquet camps, where we slept., ate, studied, and played together those long years ago.
The authors tell stories that include critical decisions, each made along their respective career paths. Each learned to work with people with different talents and personalities.
Stories
"From Forester to National Conservation Leadership"
By Robert (Bob) L. Herbst
About the author: Bob Herbst was a former Commissioner of Minnesota Natural Resource, later served as Executive Directors to both the Izaak Walton League of American and Trout Unlimited. His most influential government position was as the US Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and National Parks in the Carter Administration.
"The Careers of Richard Manly, Forestry Class of 1957"
By Richard (Dick) Manly
About the author: Dick Manly was awarded Minnesota Forester of the Year in 1965 and is a former director of the National Audubon Society.
"From Forester to Climate-Change Scientist"
By Richard (Dick) Waring
About the author: Dick Waring attained his PhD at the University of California, Berkley and went on to do research and graduate teaching at the College of Forestry at Oregon Stat University. He was elected as a Distinguished Professor in 1995 by the University and in 2020 was honored as a joint recipient of the Marcus Wallenberg Prize in Forestry for creating a model to predict the response of forests to climate change.
"Reflections and Insights: Mentoring Lessons for Women – That Also Apply to Men!"
by Susan G. Stafford, PhD
About the author: Susan Stafford was Dean of the College of Forestry at the University of Minnesota between 2002 and 2006. Previous to that she was Department Head at the College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, an Administrator at the National Science Foundation, and a Professor of Applied Statistics in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University.