2001 Desert Fishes Council Meeting Information
Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas
November 15 - 18, 2001

(Complete meeting program now available)

The 33rd Annual Meeting of the DESERT FISHES COUNCIL (DFC) will be held 15-18 NOV (TH-SUN) 2001. The meeting will be hosted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Sul Ross State University (SRSU) and take place at University Center, SRSU, Alpine, Texas. Onsite registration begins Wednesday afternoon (14^th), with an informal cash bar mixer at the Holland Hotel, downtown Alpine, that evening. Area Reports will begin on Thursday morning (15^th) with oral contributed papers in the afternoon.  Dinner will be on your own Thursday night, with an after-dinner mixer at the Kokernot Lodge on the SRSU campus. Friday (16^th) morning will feature a Special Session of invited speakers, entitled “Aquatic Fauna of the Northern Chihuahuan Desert”. Friday afternoon will continue with oral presentations of contributed papers, followed by the DFC business meeting. The Friday evening banquet will be hosted by the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (this will be outside, so prepare for cool weather). Oral contributed papers will be presented all day Saturday. Attendees are encouraged to stay in Alpine Saturday night for the annual “Gallery Night”, a local downtown festival featuring local artists and free food and drinks.  There will be two options for Sunday (18th) field trips: half-day trip to San Solomon Spring complex (Balmorhea State Park); and a full-day tour to Big Bend National Park. Questions about the meeting may be addressed to Nathan Allan nathan_allan_at_fws.gov.

MOTELS – Blocks of rooms have been reserved at the Ramada Limited (915-837-1100, rates are $60/day + tax), 2800 W. Hwy 90, located several miles west of the SRSU campus and at the Best Western Alpine Classic Inn (915-837-1530, rates are $60/day + tax), 2401 E. Hwy 90, located about 1 mile east of campus.  Reservations must be made by October 15, 2001. Please indicate you are with DFC when making reservations. Other nearby hotels, in the $40-50 range, include Highland Inn (1404 E. Hwy 90, 915-837-5811), located directly across from SRSU campus, and Sunday House Motor Inn (800-510-3363), located about 1 mile east of campus.  IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU RESERVE A ROOM AT A LOCAL MOTEL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND AVOID CONFLICTING WITH THE GALLERY NIGHT TOURISTS.

TRAVEL TO/FROM ALPINE via airline then rental car is available through either El Paso (about 220-mile drive) or Midland (about 160-mile drive). Those interested in car pooling and/or room sharing should post requests or offers to the DFC bulletin board.  Anyone interested in riding on a chartered bus/van from the an airport (El Paso and/or Midland) to Alpine should contact Mike Robertson (mrobertson_at_bio-west.com) no later than September 15, 2001. We will only coordinate chartered travel if enough people are interested to cover costs.

A MEETING PRE-REGISTRATION FORM must be received by 3 September, 2001 to avoid a late registration fee. Refunds (less $5.00 processing fee) are possible. If you plan to present a paper, note that abstracts will not be accepted without submission by the presenter of both a 2001 membership form and a pre-registration form by the abstract submission deadline.

PRESENTATIONS of both oral papers and posters relevant to the mission of the Desert Fishes Council are solicited. No paper or poster will be accepted and scheduled without receipt of: 1. correctly formatted electronically submitted abstract, 2. pre-registration, and 3. payment of dues for calendar year 2001 on or before the 3 September, 2001 deadline. Space in the program is limited and order of receipt will determine acceptance. Presenters are encouraged to present their papers directly from PowerPoint using the computer and projection monitor that will be provided. Subsequently, if you wish, your PowerPoint file will be electronically published with your abstract in the online Proceedings. If you plan to use the computer for your presentation, please read the instructions.

ALL ABSTRACTS MUST BE SUBMITTED USING THE ELECTRONIC (BILINGUAL) FORM. Difficulties should be reported to Dean Hendrickson [voice: (512) 471-9774; webmaster at desertfishes dot org] or Peter Unmack (peter.unmack_at_asu.edu).

AREA REPORTS are coordinated by ecoregion and can be multi-authored; any group or individual may contribute. Contact the area coordinator for your region directly, or Nadine Kanim [(916)-842-5763; nadine_kanim_at_r1.fws.gov], who coordinates area reports. Area report abstracts should be submitted following instructions for contributed papers (above).

AWARDS are given every year for best student papers presented at meetings.

LIMITED TRAVEL GRANTS are available to present papers at Alpine (students and Mexican nationals have priority). The number of grants (and their amount) varies yearly. Generally, 4-5 ($200-$400 each) are awarded. Applications are available on the DFC website and must be completed and submitted by 3 August 2001. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions by 24 August.

RESOLUTIONS must be submitted exactly as abstracts (using the same form) and by the same deadline date.

Additional information about the meeting is added, as it becomes available, to this Web page and is also distributed via e-mail to subscribers of DFC-L. Subscribe now if you wish to receive these notices.