The 35th Annual Meeting of the DESERT FISHES COUNCIL (DFC) will occur 20 to 23 NOV (TH-SUN) 2003 and will be hosted by U.S. National Park Service at Furnace Creek Visitor Center, in Death Valley National Park, California (see the Park's website for maps and other details). On-site registration begins WED afternoon (Nov. 19th), and an informal cash bar mixer will be held in the hotel pub that evening. Area (EcoRegion) reports and contributed papers will be TH&FR (20&21st), with the DFC business meeting and barbeque (see below) scheduled for afternoon/evening of the 21st. A symposium in honor of two founding fathers of  DFC, W. L. Minckley and J. E. Deacon, is being organized by Walter Courtenay and Tom Dowling, and will take place all day SA (22nd) (see below). The SUN field trip (23rd) will visit Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, and perhaps Cottonball Marsh.

REGISTRATION - In order to participate in the meeting, a MEETING REGISTRATION FORM and payment must be received by 5 September, 2003 to avoid a late registration fee. Refunds (less $5.00 processing fee) are possible.

TRAVEL to/from Death Valley via airline and rental car may be disrupted by the huge COMDEX Fall 2003 computer convention in Las Vegas, Nevada (16-20 November). Las Vegas is the major airport nearest to Death Valley, and it will be very busy with this conference, so airline and particularly car reservations must be scheduled far in advance. An option is to fly into Ontario, California and rent a car, however, this adds 100 road miles. Those interested in car pooling and/or room sharing should post requests or offers to the DFC bulletin board.

LIMITED TRAVEL GRANTS are available to present papers at DFC meetings. See the Travel Grants page for applications, instructions and deadlines.

HOTEL - Rates at Furnace Creek Ranch are $90.00/day (single or double occupancy; motel or cabin), plus tax and $2.50 surcharge. Reservations must be at least 30 days in advance and, to insure refund, cancellations must be within 48 hours of anticipated arrival. Contact Furnace Creek Ranch [(760)-786-2345; Fax 786-2307]. To receive the above discounted room rate, you must indicate you are with DFC when making reservations. The DFC booking number is 4445. Furnace Creek is holding a block of rooms for us until 1 October. Camping is also available. Please call NPS early to reserve (800-365-CAMP). Those interested in car-pooling and/or room sharing should post requests or offers to the DFC bulletin board.

PRESENTATIONS of both oral papers and posters relevant to the mission of the Desert Fishes Council are solicited, as are resolutions for consideration at the business meeting. Only members of the Council may present papers and posters and submit resolutions. Space is limited; order of receipt will determine acceptance of papers. Oral presentations are 15 minutes (including questions). Each speaker is limited to one oral presentation (to include Symposium); poster presentations are encouraged.

• 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 2003 on or before the 5 September, 2003 deadline (22 August for the special symposium). Space in the program is limited and order of receipt will determine acceptance.
   
• ALL ABSTRACTS AND RESOLUTIONS 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). Abstracts and resolutions must be RECEIVED electronically on or before 5 September (FR) for the general program, and by 22 August for the Symposium.
   
• AREA REPORTS are coordinated by ecoregion and can be multi-authored; any group can contribute. Contact either Nadine Kanim [(530)-842-5763; nadine_kanim_at_fws.gov], or area coordinators directly. Area report abstracts should be submitted as per instructions for all abstracts (above).
   
• AWARDS are given every year for best student papers presented at meetings. Those who wish to compete for awards should first review the awards page to determine whether their papers qualify, and must indicate that they wish to compete when submitting the abstract.
   
• FTP instructions - all PowerPoint presentation files must be electronically deposited on the FTP site by November 7.

THE SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM HONORING W. L. MINCKLEY and J. E. DEACON will consist of 15-minute talks that present current information on ecology, life history, conservation or systematics of desert fishes. To qualify for participation, author(s) must include specific information (e.g., interactions, publications, etc.) that demonstrate the manner in which Drs. Deacon and/or Minckley influenced the research to be presented. Titles and abstracts must be submitted (as above) by 22 August 2003, and also copied independently to Walter Courtenay <courtenw_at_fau.edu>. Failure to submit as above (i.e., to DFC and Courtenay, and by the earlier due date) could invalidate participation. Please note that all submittals may not qualify for the symposium. Those remaining after the symposium has been finalized will be forwarded to the contributed paper session for potential inclusion there. Questions should be sent by e-mail to Walt (e-mail above) and/or Tom <thomas.dowling_at_asu.edu>.

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

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This page last modified:  25 April 2005