Caudata.org meeting suggestions?

[sharon]

You could pick three or four locations, create a poll and let the members vote.

When my mothers' board did this we chose our potential meeting cities based on air fares, travel costs and general hotel costs.

Las Vegas, wound up being the least expensive place to meet. It would suck for amphibs though!

That would leave places like San Diego, the Carolinas etc. (for amphib potentials)

You could create a first vote Europe, US or Japan (LOL) let the members chime in. And then narrow it down from there. East coast, west coast, etc.

And unfortunately because of newbies and guests and what not, I don't think it can be an anonymous poll here. That way you can weed out the 13 yr olds who are pretending to be adults.

HHHHMMMMM, I can't go but I have a friend who has a hunting cabin in canada on a lake near some streams....... you could plan your trip based on amphib hunting potentials? Then just let those who are nearby and want to arrange to meet.

Good Luck!! And unless ya'll pick Las Vegas by the end of this July or AZ at any time, I'll just be jealous! LOL!

Sharon

 

[david]

If I had my druthers, I guess I'd like to have a get togeather in Missouri (Isaiah and Nate's neck of the woods). Lot's of diversity in the caudates of the Ozarks and also a central U.S. location. If this interests others, maybe Nate Isaiah and I could start looking into the logistics.

 

[kaysie]

There's an idea. I have a friend who has confirmed hellbenders on his land. He's told me numerous times that I'm more than welcome to come looking.

 

[jennifer]

As Nate is too cash-strapped for travel, it might make sense to take Dave's suggestion. You know the saying, If you can't take Mohammed to the mountain, take the mountain to Mohammed.

If one considers US cities that are inexpensive to fly to, Baltimore tops the list. See you all next spring at IAD!!!

 

[jesse]

well regardless of were the meeting is if its in the US i whant to go!

 

[reinder]

hi john

well if your willing to drop by in the netherlands you would be very welcome,you could
come when the dutch urodela group holds there yearly newtday and i am sure you wouldn,t have to pay a hotel cause we have a room left here in my house

think of it.

gr reinder

 

[markus]

I briefly discussed this idea with Isaiah in the chat. Although undoubtedly we all would love to get out and see salamanders as well as the great outdoors, is this really a good idea? A large group of people moving through salamander habitat, lifting logs and rocks would undoubtedly do some damage. Perhaps the amphibian/herptile hunting should be left for individuals or smaller groups. Maybe a gathering should consist of just meeting at a convenient and interesting place.

 

[edward]

The amount of habitat destruction is dependent on how careful people are to replace the cover objects. If the cover objects are carefully replaced then damage is minimal.

Ed

 

[russ]

I have to concur with Ed. You can have a large field event and leave little to no trace. Its all in your field etiquette. I'm a hardass about replacing ground cover, and doing in correctly.

I'm up for an outing, though with my schedule it would be a <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> shoot if I can make it. I've been in six states in three weeks and I'm leaving for WA tomorrow.

As far as location CA would be my choice, but the weather there is too iffy and the best time to go is in Feb or Mar. I know a lot of people are in school then. The Ozarks in Sep could be good.

RUSS

 

[joseph]

Wow Mike! Excellent foresight! I guess that is plenty possible.

 

[sharon]

You know not everyone has to go along on the same hike.

You could meet at point A. Group 1 (3 members) heads to point B, group 2 heads to point C, each group packing containers for specimen collection, to share with the group when you return to point A. Then the groups could return the organisms later. That way the amount of traffic would be minimal. This of course does not work if a group should come across your local bear or alligator snapping turtle!!! ROTFL. If one group should find an area with several different animals then the whole group could return.

Besides, lol, I'm thinking at best you guys are only going to have 6 people max with the group on any given day. Not every is going to be able to be there on day 1 - day 5, you know what I mean? Some people will get there late, some will have to leave early.... Just look at the number of people in the US who have responded to this post who can actually meet up anywhere.

Sharon

 

[david]

I agree with Sharon. We can break down into groups to minimize doing damage to the ecology. And we can also have one team tag along with Nate, one team with Isaiah, and I'll take one team to a bar to wait for Nate and Isaiah's teams

. And if most of the suggested locations have been discussed, should we list them and do a formal vote?

(Message edited by dln on July 12, 2004)

 

[sharon]

Oh now you toss a BAR into it, I may just sell a kidney and go too! ROTFLMAO!!!

 

[david]

If you sell a kidney you may not get the same effect from the liquor, so you may just want to sell your soul. But if you can make it, I'll buy some drinks for the crew.

 

[peter]

Too bad Wisconsin isn't so great for salamanders; you could all camp on our land.

If the meet's on the East side of the US though, I think I'd like to try and make it, it'd be fun to herp with experts, it'd be a great learning experience for me.

 

[edward]

Hi Mike,
That is assuming that the group of people along don't recognize other sensitive species. If you get out this way I can take you to a location and show you curly grass fern and bog asphodel in the same location (as well as other cool plants) but the area is caudate poor (but you may find Hyla andersoni).

Unless you are really ripping the local habitat apart and replace cover objects then it is unlikely a group will harm the locality. I have had excellant luck working road cuts where the habitat is already disturbed as you can often find many local species this way fairly quickly.

Ed

 

[kaysie]

or we could have a bunch of 'mini-meets' instead of one big one.... midwesterners, southerners, new englanders (are they any here?), etc

 

[mark]

I am not from there, but isnt it true that the appalacians (smokey mtn nat'l park especially) is supposed to be the "salamander capital of the world" with 30+ species of caudates?

lack of ambystomids is dissappointing there however.

 

[edward]

I've been in that region and it is true the salamander diversity is pretty amazing but some points have to be kept in mind that many of these species are either restricted to specific altitude ranges, certain locals and/or be locally abundent.
In a section of North Carolina about ten years ago I was able to find 7 species (P. jordani, P. richmondi, P. cinereus, P. cylindraeus, D. fuscus, Pseudotriton ruber, E. cirrigera) in about 2.5 hours and but was only able to add three species (D. monticola, D. quadromaculatus and P. yonohlossee) to that total in another 24 hours in the field. All because the most species are found there does not mean that we will find all of those species. In my recent trip to the Poconos, I was only able to find a few E. bislineata despite knowing that they should have been very abundent.

It may be more important to have some locals along that know the terrain to find the salamanders in question.

Ed

 

[sharon]

What about the group renting a minivan or conversion van and doing a caudate tour? In that area it would be pretty easy to hit another state, locale, within a few hours. Maybe send out an email to certain universities looking for students who work with local caudates who can escort you to a "hunting" spot? Even if you only lined say... 2 or 3 escorts (HAHAHAHA!!) with a certain locale it would really pay off.

Or am I dreaming the big dreams again?

Sharon