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The University of Idaho, Moscow was the site of this year's Western Division annual meeting. Even though it was only 8 months after the meeting in Alaska, 260 members trekked to Moscow to listen to all-day symposia on white sturgeon, Columbia River research, supplementation with endangered species, and a very popular, well attended session entitled Beyond Hankin and Reeves, which highlighted habitat sampling and monitoring techniques and technology. Several sessions of contributed papers, a great number of them presented by students, rounded out the 2 ½ -day program. For the Plenary Session, AFS Executive Director Gus Rassam, attending his first division meeting, spoke of his first impressions of AFS, his areas of emphasis, and management philosophy. Mr. Rassam was followed by three speakers presenting differing viewpoints on a proposal to remove four Upper Snake River dams and the possible effects the dam removal/non-removal would have on populations of endangered salmonids. The dam question is a very hot issue locally, and culminated at the business meeting with a spirited discussion and the eventual passage of a resolution prepared by the Idaho Chapter supporting the breaching of the four dams as the most likely approach to helping restore salmonid populations to the Upper Snake River.
Due to the short planning time between the Alaska meeting in 1998 and the Moscow meeting, this year's meeting did not enjoy the usual support of the local chapter or the local fish and game department. The meeting was successful due to the efforts of Cindy Deacon Williams, Idaho Chapter President, who WAS the entire Arrangements Committee and AFS Vice President Christine Moffitt and her super crew of student volunteers from the U of I. The Palouse Unit of the Idaho Chapter organized the Welcome Reception on Sunday night (free beer and a great pasta dinner), handled on-site registration throughout the meeting, set up and conducted the evaluations of best student paper and best professional paper (each paper at the meeting was evaluated by four or five judges), and handled all of the AV needs, room lights, and projectors. We couldn't have done it without the volunteers. An informal 4-mile fun run, a salmon (non-endangered) BBQ at the local Fair Grounds with the Nez Perce Tribe providing drumming and story telling, and an outside banquet on Tuesday evening, with a country-western band, provided a great small town, friendly atmosphere.
The award ($100) for the Best Student Paper went to Monica Hiner, University of Idaho, who presented a paper entitled "The Use of Environmental Variables as Predictors for Habitats with Increased Risk of Myxobolus cerebralis Infections. Second and third place went to Carol Seals, Oregon State University, and Dan Isaak, University of Wyoming, respectively. Best Professional Paper award (also $100) went to Gretchen Oosterhout, of Decision Matrix, for her paper "Analyzing Uncertainty: Risk Assessment, Sensitivity Analysis, and Model Validation".
Kirk Lohman and D. H. Bennett, both from the U of Idaho, presented the second and third best professional papers.
Other awards presented during the banquet included the Award of Excellence to Dave Buchanan and the Division's Award of Merit to Dirk Miller for his efforts in establishing the Division's new web page. The Borovicha Conservation Achievement Award went to the Roaring Springs Ranch in Catlow Valley , OR. The Division's two Riparian Challenge awards went to the BLM's Salmon Office, Lemhi District, and, to the U.S. Forest Service, the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Forest. Two Awards of Special Recognition were given this year, to Cindy Deacon-Williams and Christine Moffitt, for their special efforts in assisting with this year's meeting. The Alaska Chapter was recognized as the Chapter of the Year, narrowly beating out three other chapters.
President Bob Bilby announced election results at the meeting: Eric Knudsen will be the Division's new Vice President, Ed Cheslak, filling out Dave Drake's unexpired term as Secretary-Treasurer, was re-elected to a two-year term. Dan Schill will be the Division's National Nominating Representative.
The Division's 2000 Annual Meeting will be in Telluride, Colorado in the week of July 16.