The William Main Distinguished Visitor Program in Forestry and Natural Resources for the Spring 1998 Semester was co-sponsored by CSRD and the College's Forestry Center. This year's topic examined the issues raised by the Quincy Library Group (QLG) proposal and currently pending legislation before the US Congress. The QLG is made up of Northern Californian industrial and agency foresters, environmentalists, citizens, and local government representatives. It has advocated using a combination of small group selection harvesting and the creation of "defensible fuel-breaks" to return a large area in the Sierra Nevada to what has been called a "pre-settlement" state. The proposal and related legislation have been controversial with respect to the efficacy of the proposed measures in reducing the risk of catastrophic fires, the impact
of the proposed harvesting on forest structure, its cost, and the way in which it has moved forward in the national legislative agenda. The Main speakers and their topics were as follows:

January 27 
The Quincy Library Group (QLG): Past, Present, and Future 
    Mike Jackson, Environmental Attorney 

February 3 
The University and the QLG 
    Mike DeLasaux, UC Cooperative Extension 

February 10 
An Environmentalist's Comments on the QLG 
    Louis Blumberg, The Wilderness Society 

February 17 
Community Economic Development and the QLG 
    John Sheehan, Executive Director Plumas Corporation 

February 24 
The Resources Agency and the QLG 
    William Stewart, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 

March 3 
Independent Forest Products Firms and the QLG 
    Bruce Main, President, Big Valley Lumber Company 

March 10 
A Graduate Student¹s Perspective on the QLG 
    Jonathan London, University of California, Berkeley 

March 17 
Chemical Processing: A Potential Market for Forest Thinnings from the QLG Area 
    George Craig, President HFTA 

March 31 
Fire Research and the QLG 
    Phil Weatherspoon, USFS PSW Experiment Station 

April 7 
The US Forest Service and the QLG 
    Kent Connaughton, Supervisor, Lassen National Forest 

April 14 
Wildlife Research and the QLG 
    Cynthia Zabel, USFS PSW Experiment Station 

April 21 
Local Government and the QLG 
    William Coates, Former Supervisor, Plumas County 

April 28 
A Citizen's Perspective of the QLG 
    George Terhune, Citizen 

Special Lecture Series on Sustainable Development was given by Emery Roe at the Institute for Developing Economies in Tokyo Japan from May 25 - 29. The series was based on his book, Taking Complexity Seriously, which summarized the results of his work at CSRD (Publications).