Shaffer Given Extension Award From Forest Landowner Association

Bob Shaffer, Charles Nettleton Professor of Forestry Operations and Timber Harvesting Extension Specialist, received the Forest Landowner Association's (FLA) 2003 "Extension Forester of the Year" Award at the group's 62nd Annual Meeting in Asheville, North Carolina.

The FLA is an 11,000-member organization of forest landowners from across the country with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. They honored Shaffer primarily for his leadership in promoting non-regulatory forest water quality protection through "outcome-based" programs of BMP (Best Management Practices) education and monitoring rather than "process-control" government forest practice regulations that could impact private property rights.

Shaffer has been a faculty member in Virginia Tech's Forestry Department since 1983. He is a past president of the Virginia Forestry Association and received the Virginia Tech Alumni Association's Excellence in Extension Award in 1999.

Written by Hilary Fussell, Public Relations Assistant