56th Meeting Announcement
August 7, 2004
Dear Forest Entomologists and WFIWC members,
We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the Fifty-sixth Meeting of the Western Forest Insect Work Conference on March 28th through April 1st, 2005. The program committee is currently working on a very thought provoking, challenging and interesting series of workshops, plenary sessions and debates. We are hoping to "go back to the basics" with this work conference agenda while challenging the new technologies we possess and will try to stimulate discussion and future collaborations.
The 2005 meeting will be held at the Laurel Point Inn (http://www.laurelpoint.com/) located on Victoria's inner harbour. The Laurel Point Inn is a short 35 minute drive from the BC ferry terminal or International Airport and is just minutes away from the downtown area. The hotel is located within easy walking distance of the Legislative Building, Royal BC Museum, Beacon Hill Park, downtown shopping and entertainment venues. Victoria typically has warm, mild temperatures in late March and although I should say it is always sunny, sometimes an umbrella is a good companion.
The registration package will be mailed out in early September and will also be available on the web. The preliminary program is attached and looks very intriguing. We are planning on spending one afternoon session at the Pacific Forestry Centre Laboratory as well as offer some tours of Victoria and various research sites located in the area.
The organizing committee is planning a post-conference field trip to Manning Provincial Park to look at the mountain pine beetle infestation and discuss issues surrounding the outbreak. Numerous researchers working on fire, mountain pine beetle of forest ecology and succession will be participating. To get an indication of how many folks would be interested in this trip (there will be an extra cost) I will be asking for early registration. Full details about the field trip will be included in the registration package.
The 2005 meeting will start Monday night with evening registration and a mixer. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be full days of meetings and Friday will be a partial day winding up at noon. Wednesday afternoon we will head to the Pacific Forestry Centre Lab and from there have a choice of two or three short field trips followed by the banquet in the evening. There will be poster sessions, a student paper symposium, silent auction and other events. At the moment, the Thursday evening is "free" but if there is sufficient interest expressed it may be possible to include a fun run or some other activity. If you are interested in co-ordinating an event, presenting a paper in one of the workshops or just want to communicate some incredible idea, please contact Lorraine Maclauchlan at Lorraine.maclauchlan@gems3.gov.bc.ca or 250-828-4179 or Peter Hall at peter.hall@gems6.gov.bc.ca (phone 250-387-8742).
Please look over the attached draft program. We have tried to make this interesting and address many aspects of forest entomology in the west that will hopefully appeal to all. If you have any comments on the program or suggestions for changes/new topics please contact Lorraine or Peter. The program is tentative at this time. At the moment, the first part of Wednesday afternoon will be spent at the Pacific Forestry Centre in a panel discussion; the remainder of the afternoon may be spent in individual consultations at Pacific Forestry Centre or, depending on interest, in one of two short tours. Any and all comments are welcome. We will be contacting possible workshop/panel leaders in the near future and will clarify the intent and desired structure of the sessions, as well as suggest potential contributors.
Details of the meeting and registration will be mailed in early September and registration forms will be available at www.fsl.orst.edu/wfiwc/.
We are hoping that this will be an interesting conference in an exciting venue. We are looking forward to hosting work conference in 2005.
Come one, come all.
| Lorraine Maclauchlan | Peter Hall |
| Local Arrangements | Program Chair |
| Lorraine.maclauchlan@gems3.gov.bc.ca | peter.hall@gems6.gov.bc.ca |
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