Here are the main stories in this issue:

• The six-member Joint Legislative Conference Committee on the Budget has approved several budget augmentations for CE and other DANR programs, but the package still requires the approval of the state Assembly and Senate and Governor Wilson’s signature.
• President Atkinson has formed a 28-member Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources. The group’s first meeting is scheduled for Sept. 24-25.
• Barbara Schneeman, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has announced she intends to step down from that post on June 30, 1999.
• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has donated a $4 million endowment to the Natural Reserve System. It is the largest private gift ever received by the NRS.
• Robert J. Reginato has been appointed interim director of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). Reginato, a former associate administrator of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, will serve until a permanent director is selected.

Also in this issue:

• Alameda County Cooperative Extension honors longtime volunteers at its June 16 Open House.
• UC proposes salary and parity raises in 1998-99.
• Natural resources meeting in August will focus on salmon issues.
• Names in the news: James MacDonald, Nancy Hudson, Seymour Van Gundy.
• On the move: Steve Mendivil, Fred Perry, Rachel Elkins.
• Tools you can use: Mejore su Espanol (Improve your Spanish), Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program issues progress report.