A Global Environmental Management (GEM) Pioneer Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point urges people to maintain their environmental values in times of crises and names water supply the environmental "issue of the century" in a recent issue of Wisconsin Academy Review magazine.

Michael Dombeck, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service and a UW System Fellow for Global Conservation, was interviewed and wrote "Protecting the Stuff of Life" for the winter 2002 issue, published by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in Madison.

"It�s when we�re not in good economic times that our conservation efforts are really going to pay off," he said. "Our quality of life is dependent on the quality of the land and the water."

In his article, he relates that as the world population grows and long-term pure freshwater supply declines, two-thirds of the world will deal with water shortages in the next 25 years. Watersheds, land drained by a single river system, also must be kept healthy.

"We can leave no greater gift to our children than to leave the watersheds entrusted to our care healthier, more diverse and more productive," he said.

The article also traces the history of water conservation, the downfall of early civilizations without good conservation practices and the movement to improve those practices in America.

Dombeck is a committee member of Waters of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin academy�s statewide initiative for sustainable water use and conservation. He recently received the fourth Lady Bird Johnson Conservation Award from the LBJ Foundation.

Having led the USDA Forest Service from 1997 to April 2001, Dombeck is now leading the planning and development of the GEM Education Center at UWSP. A native of Stevens Point and recipient of the 1997 Distinguished Alumnus Award, Dombeck has professional expertise in watershed restoration, fisheries and ecosystem management in addition to his connections to forestry.

The Wisconsin Academy Review is available at many bookstores and excerpts are available online at www.wisconsinacademy.org.

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