Foresters, like other professionals, are using computers more and more frequently in their daily decision-making routine. Modern computers are lighter, more powerful and offer more tailor-made means to solve forestry-related problems than they did only a few years ago. When Drs. Atanasoff and Berry invented the first electronic digital computer here at Iowa State University in 1939, they probably had no idea of the sweeping impact this tool would have on mankind. For sure, they did not envision "dirt foresters" or "timber beasts" using computers to process inventory data, or project the growth and development of mixed hardwood stands, or determine the cutting budget for a one million acre National Forest for the next ten years or more.