The California Christian Committee for Israel has launched a project in cooperation with the Jewish National Fund to plant a forest in Israel in memory of the late Dr. Walter C. Lowdermilk, an American soil conservationist and water resources expert who planned Israel’s national irrigation system. Dr. Lowdermilk worked in Israel for five years. In 1964, he and Mrs. Lowdermilk were guests of the Israeli government when the system was inaugurated, carrying water from the headwaters of the Jordan River to the arid regions of the Negev.
Dr. Lowdermilk, who died last year at the age of 86, also inaugurated the Lowdermilk School of Agricultural Engineering at the Haifa Technion, During World War II he wrote a book, “Palestine–Land of Promise.” in which he outlined means of reclaiming arid lands and suggested the creation of a Jordan Valley Authority and Irrigation Project to serve the entire region. Many of his ideas for the utilization of water resources were subsequently adopted by the Israeli government.
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