The Kingston Rotary Club was the first of several Rotary Clubs to welcome five Australian forestry professionals to the United States. Under a worldwide Rotary program, the Australians form a Group Studies Exchange team. The foresters arrived in Kingston on March 23 and spent six days with Kingston Rotarians. All five foresters were from South Australia, an area that recently suffered disastrous wild fires.

Jerry Leech, of Mount Gambler, South Australia, led the GSE team. Leech, who holds a Ph.D. in forestry, is an active Rotarian in his hometown. Leech is a frequent traveler throughout Southeast Asia, often on consultancy missions for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. As required by the Rotary program, the four other members of the team were not Rotarians. They are all young professionals, who are active in forestry careers. Kingston Rotarians hosted Andrew Matheson, Shana Reid, Jane Charles, Tim Donnell, as well as Leech.

During a busy week, the Australians visited the Suquamish Reservation, Olympic Property Resources at Port Gamble, the Hoh River Unit of Olympic National Park, and Stillwaters Environmental Education Center where they watched a program by Arno Bergstrom of the Washington State Extension Service.

The Australians also had some time off for sightseeing in Seattle and then a consultation with associate dean Robert Edmonds of the University of Washington College of Forestry. By a remarkable coincidence, Dean Edmonds is an Australian who knew team leader Leech from university days.

At the end of the week, the team moved on to Olympia for the next of several week-long visits to other Rotary Clubs in Washington and at Vancouver Island, B.C.