Utah State University Extension Forestry Specialist Presents

Mike Kuhns, Utah State University Extension Forestry Specialist and associate professor of forestry, recently presented an exhibit at a Washington, D.C., congressional reception highlighting the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. His exhibit was one of 36 Extension and Ag Experiment Station projects chosen to be presented to members of Congress, their staff and agency representatives. Several hundred attended.


"Mike has been a great asset to Extension and the state of Utah," said Jack Payne, vice president for Extension. "If you limit your travel to I-15, you may not realize that about 30 percent (16 million acres) of Utah is forest land. Forested lands are an important natural resource in Utah, and carefully managed forest lands provide substantial benefits not only to the private landowner, but to communities as well."

"It was an honor to be part of this reception," said Kuhns. "They highlighted advancements being made at the nation's land grant universities in agricultural and natural resources research and Extension."

Kuhns's exhibit highlighted Utah State's Forest Landowner Education
Program and its effort to provide current, unbiased information to Utah's private forest landowners and others interested in managing forest lands in Utah. The exhibit also highlighted community and wildland-urban interface forestry with a display explaining various aspects of USU Extension forestry.

This year's Congressional reception theme was "The Land-Grant System: Science and Education Working for and Serving America." This is the sixth year the event has been held.

Kuhns has worked at Utah State since 1992.