Summer 2014 Inside this issue • Dean’s Desk • Treehaven Tromp • Douglas R. Stephens Endowed Chair hired • Rogers family donates 39 acres to UW-Stevens Point • 2014 Award recipients • Student Research Symposium • Student travels to Siberia • Student highlights • Partnership brings Chinese students to Wisconsin • Alumni Updates • Faculty, staff and outreach highlights • Retirements • Wisconsin River Water Quality Symposium
www.uwsp.edu/cnr facebook.com/UWSPCNR Editor: Stacey Allen Bannach
First Conservation major inducted into the Hall of Fame The love of a stream brought conservation into Bill Horvath’s heart at an early age. Born in 1938 on a farm with no running water or electricity in Navarino, Wisconsin, he enjoyed spending time fishing at a stream near his home. Horvath was devastated when the stream was destroyed for improved agricultural production. This defining moment put Horvath on the course to become the first University of WisconsinStevens Point Conservation major to be honored with induction into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame (WCHF). The Conservation major was the precursor to the College of Natural Resources.
Bill Horvath is the first Conservation major to be inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame. Photo courtesy of Bill Berry
Many would describe Horvath as the complete conservation package. His life’s work spanned education, training, research, public policy legislation and leadership with respect to wise use and management of natural resources within the state of Wisconsin and across the nation. Graduating from what is now UW-Stevens Point in 1961 with a double major in conservation and English he continued his schooling at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor completing his master’s degree and beginning a position with the Pennsylvania Soil and Water Conservation Department. He soon took a position as director of the Maryland State Soil and Water Conservation Agency before he found himself back in his home state as director of the Wisconsin Soil and Water Conservation Board. During his time on the board he initiated a project impact evaluation process resulting in soil and water public assistance programs. This resulted in a shift of emphasis from channelization back to water management on the land. In 1972 he was hired as the first Midwest Regional Director by the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). In this role, Horvath found himself coordinating conservation district work in eight Midwestern states. Early in his tenure he led the conservation districts into cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency, obtaining support for dozens of watershed management demonstration projects. With Horvath at the helm the Midwest Region garnered grants totaling more than fifteen million dollars and thousands of acres were placed under good watershed management. Originally retiring in 2002, he didn’t stay away long before going back under contract directing the organization’s forestry programs office. He retired for a second time in 2005. (continued on page 15)