A Montana ranch donated by an Iowa State University alumnus will be the home of a new conservation education camp for the university. The new Rod and Connie French Conservation Education Camp, nestled in the remote and rugged Bitterroot Mountains west of Missoula, Mont. was established through a $4.1 million donation by the late Rod French and his wife, Connie, of Des Moines, longtime Iowa State supporters. Beginning in summer 2017, the French Conservation Camp will be equipped to accommodate up to 60 ISU students and instructors for as many as three concurrent field courses in forestry, fisheries and wildlife.”We are so grateful to Rod and Connie French for this extraordinary gift and their legacy of philanthropy to benefit Iowa State,” ISU President Steven Leath said. The camp is a similar model to ISU’s geology field camp in Wyoming, which Iowa State has operated since 1957.