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Michelle Paulman/Dally Nebraskan
Congressman Doug Bereuter talks with Nebraska nut growers Terrence Kubicek (left) and Ted
Rethmeier at the 81st annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association on Tuesday.
Bereuter ate lunch with the growers in the pecan orchards on the University of Nebraska
Lincoln East Campus at 48th and Holdrege streets.
ui\l may provide research location
Center to test trees
By Jennifer Dods
Suff Reporter
A national center for scmiarid
tree research may be housed
on the University of Nebraska
Lincoln East Campus in less than two
years, said Rep. Doug Bercutcr on
Tuesday.
Speaking in Lincoln at a confer
ence for the Northern Nutgrowers
Association, Bercutcr said the center
would research ways Nebraska and
other scmiarid states could grow trees
commercially.
The Scmiarid Agroforcstry Re
search, Development and Demonstra
tion Center was a proposal added to
the U.S. House of Representatives’
Farm Bill by a Bercutcr amendment.
The bill is still under debate in the
House.
Bercutcr said the U.S. Senate al
ready has passed the proposal for the
1 research center. The U.S. Forest Serv
ice and the Nebraska State Foresters
helped write the proposal.
The research center would be es
tablished at the Forestry Sciences
Laboratory, operated by the LJ.S.
Department of Agriculture Forest
Service on UNL’s East Campus.
The research center, along with
federal, slate and local government
4
offices and the National Arbor Day
Foundation, also would test varieties
of trees compatible with scmiarid
climates and develop improved shcl
lerbelt and windbreak technologies.
Bereuter said the earliest the funds
for the project could be available,
depending on Congressional appro
priations, would be October 1991.
The congressman said the center
would be good for Nebraska, as it
would promote using nuts such as
pecans, walnuts and chestnuts for a
cash crop.
“Someday the (nut) tree may
become valuable here,” he said. “And
who better lead this than Nebraskans,
since Arbor Day started here?”
Ted Rcthmcier, member of the
board of the Nebraska Nut Growers
Association, agreed.
“We can’t live on corn and beef
forever. Trees are necessary,” he said.
Bereuter said that about the only
commercial trees grown in the state
are Christmas trees, although one man
Irom Crete is now starting a commer
cial walnut tree farm.
The southeast corner of Nebraska,
which receives the most rainfall, would
be the best place to grow the trees,
Bereuter said. But he said Nebraska’s
varying climate would be the “ulti
mate test.”
For the last 12 years, UNL faculty
members have researched nut har
vests from pecan trees on East Cam
pus.
Rethmcier said Nebraska is the
northern limit for pecan tree growth,
but the trees grown in UNL’s North
ern Pecan Research Orchards have
harvested edible and good nuts.
According to one UNL official,
Nebraskan pecans arc sometimes tastier
than those grown in southern states.
Loyd Young, director of the South
east Research and Extension Center
said that the pecan trees benefit from
the acidic soil in Nebraska.
“It has been amazing that these
trees have really done very well, much
to our surprise,” Young said.
When the pecan orchards were
planted, Young said, the biggest
concern was if the trees could survive
Nebraska winters. But he said the
trees have shown endurance in their
12 winters.
Along with the pecan orchards,
UNL has several other plots of spe
cialty tree tests, including varieties
such as the Persian Walnut, the Shag
bark Hickory and the Siberian Filbert
on East Campus.
Young said that while Nebraska
farmers might not be able to afford
switching over to tree nuts as their
main crops, nuts could someday be a
profitable second crop.
Officials: UNL salaries
must remain competitive
»y c may wastrel
Staff Reporter _
To avoid future shortages, sala
ries for UNL faculty members
nfttisi iviitai.rcumpciit. ve, sakr
two associate deans and the director
of institutional research at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
By maintaining competitive sala
ries, UNL’s colleges can combat the
rising number of faculty members
retiring, they said.
Projections of rising numbers of
faculty members retiring at UNL by
the end of the century are consistent
with national trends, said John Ben
son, director of institutional research
planning and fiscal analysis.
Benson said that according to a
study from last year, 19 percent of all
UNL tenured and to be tenured fac
ulty will be 65 years old by 1995, 31
percent will turn 65 by 2000 and 47
percent will be 65 by 2005.
These numbers, he said, are addi
tive, so that the 47 percent who will
tum 65 by 2005 includes the 31 per
cent that will tum 65 by 1995.
This trend could have a significant
impact on UNL, he said, and will
make it important for UNL to main
tain competitive salaries.
It is projected that the number of
students receiving doctorates will not
be enough to take the places of all
retirees, Benson said.
And an increase in the student
population will contribute to prob
lems for universities across the na
tion, he said.
Associate Dean Morris Schneider
of the College of Engineering and
Technology said about 30 percent of
the college’s faculty will reach retire
ment age by 2000.
pm the cortege jusrhnrd TLfac
ulty members last year and 10 this
year, Schneider said.
And if the college is willing to pay
a good staning salary, he said he
thinks it will be able to compete in the
national market.
Once the college attracts teachers,
faculty members will be convinced to
slay because Lincoln is a good place
to live, work and raise children, he
said.
Schneider said he’s not sure the
number of faculty members retiring
would encourage students who might
otherwise not complete a doctorate to
continue their schooling.
“That all depends on the market
place,’’ he said.
Students who can earn a starting
salary of $40,000 after completing a
bachelor’s degree would have to decide
whether a little more money would be
worth continuing their education for
a few more years, he said.
A1 Kilgore, associate dean of the
Teachers College, said that although
he is unable to predict how many
faculty members will retire, the col
lege “is in a lime of transition.”
“We’ve had 18 retire with the
university policy on tenure buyout,”
he said, and the college has hired 12
new faculty members this year, Icav
See FACULTY on 2
festival turnout pleases
‘ Summertime' coordinators
By Cindy Wostrel
Staff Reporter
Coordinators of Summertime Ne
braska, and managers and
owners of Haymarket businesses
called the festival “outstanding.”
Julie Lattimer, public information
specialist for the Citizen’s Informa
tion Center, said the event turned out
great.
“We were delighted,” she said.
“Of course, the weather couldn’t have
been better.”
“Your first year, you don’t really
know.”
Carol Eddins, festival coordina
tor, said, “I think it went beauti
fully.”
On Friday, Eddins said, she wor
ried that the weather might be a prob
lem, because as she was marking off
room for booths, the tape she was
using wouldn’t stick to the wet ground.
But the better weather later on
encouraged people to stay at the fes
tival longer, she said.
“The weather was incredibly
good,” she said.
Eddins said she was pleased with
the turnout of about 60,000 to 65,000
people for the three-day event.
Artists and craftspeople told her
they had a constant stream of people
looking at their booths, she said.
The Children’s Fair was “jammed
inside and out,” Eddins said. And the
festival featured something for every
age, she said.
“It had to appeal to every taste.’’
Eddins said those who planned this
year’s festival will meet and discuss
how the festival went, including re
finements such as making it easier for
people to find specific areas.
Mayor Bill Harris will decide
whether Summertime Nebraska will
continue next year, she said.
Lai timer said things look good for
a festival next year because of this
See SUMMERTIME on 2
