Once again, NANFA is providing the utmost in travel opportunities! Come
learn about and see some of Arkansas' 200-plus native fishes, meet other
native fish enthusiasts, and help support your NANFA. If you have never
attended a NANFA convention before, now is the time to start. This June you
can count on:
Diverse Field Trips
Arkansas has five major ecoregions, each with its own characteristic
habitats and fauna. We're planning trips to the Ozarks, Ouachitas, Gulf
Coastal Plain, Mississippi Delta, and the Arkansas River Valley. If you're
up for it, we may even make a foray to Crowleyıs Ridge, an island of
typically Ozarkian species surrounded by the Delta. Pull on your boots;
grab your nets & buckets; and COME ON DOWN!
1. Ozarks: This trip will go to the eastern Ozarks, including the very
diverse Strawberry River system. Expect to see many species, such as Ozark
chub, whitetail shiner, wedgespot shiner, bleeding shiner, Ozark madtom,
shadow bass, Arkansas saddled darter, and many others one site recently
yielded 50 species!
2. Ouachitas: This trip will be primarily on the Ouachita National Forest
and led by a Forest Service biologist. Possible species include rosyface
shiner, redfin shiner, steelcolor shiner, freckled madtom, creole darter,
orangebelly darter, redspotted darter, and many others!
3. Delta: This trip will visit the lowland habitats of southeast Arkansas,
and include a bonus visit to the Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature
Center. On this trip you might see tadpole madtom, bowfin, gar, ironcolor
shiner, pirate perch, flier, redspotted sunfish, banded pygmy sunfish,
slough darter, cypress darter, and many others!
4. Coastal Plain: This trip will focus on the Saline River drainage of
south-central Arkansas, sampling a small number of sites, so you probably
don't want to go Oh, did I mention that one of the sites recently yielded
70 species, including 21 different darters? Some personal favorites you
might see on this trip are pugnose minnow, blacktail shiner, mountain
madtom, brindled madtom, dollar sunfish, redspotted sunfish, banded sunfish,
scaly sand darter, mud darter, creole darter, harlequin darter, speckled
darter, saddleback darter, dusky darter, and stargazing darter.
5. Arkansas River Valley: Probably the first trip to get their boots wet,
this one will venture northwest up the Arkansas River Valley. Be aware that
the mainstream of the Arkansas River has zebra mussels make sure your gear
does not spread them to the tributaries. On this trip you might see
brindled madtom, freckled madtom, golden topminnow, banded pygmy sunfish,
orangespotted sunfish, dollar sunfish, bantam sunfish, redfin darter,
cypress darter, channel darter, dusky darter, blackside darter, and many
others!
Licensing
To assure that there are no permit questions on the field trips, each will
be co-lead by an employee of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. If you
are only collecting on the NANFA-led field trips, you are collecting under
the authority of the AGFC biologist accompanying that trip and DO NOT NEED
TO BUY A LICENSE! (To collect on your own, licenses are available online at
https://www.ark.org/agfc/license/ or-in-local sporting goods departments.)
Presentations Saturday, June 11, 2005
8:30 Welcome
8:40 Paddlefish Culture Steve Mims, Kentucky State University
9:20 Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center Wayne Heaton, Texas Parks &
Wildlife
10:00 Break
10:10 USFWS Native Fish Restoration Efforts Ricky Campbell, US Fish &
Wildlife Service
10:50 Common Diseases of Native Fish Andy Goodwin, University of
Arkansas-in-Pine Bluff
11:30 Lunch
1:00 Bayou Bartholomew Restoration Bill Layher, Layher Biologics RTEC,
Inc.
1:40 Cavefishes Mike Slay, The Nature Conservancy
2:20 Native Fish of Puerto Rico Wes Neal, University of Arkansas at
Pine Bluff
3:00 Break
3:10 Lamprey Relationships Nick Lang, St. Louis University
3:50 Grotto Sculpin Ginny Adams, University of Central Arkansas
4:30 Program Ends
Fun Banquet 6:00 Saturday, June 11, 2005
What better place to have a banquet than a brewery? We plan to be tucked in
among the boiling pots, fermenters, and aging tanks of the Diamond Bear
Brewing Company home of 2 medal-winning beers-in-last year's World Beer
Cup! The taps will be flowing for the evening with beer and root beer
enough for all. They say we have to provide food, so I guess we'll eat,
too! In fact, we'll be frying up some good olı southern catfish with all
the fixin's! And while we're-in-it, let's add a great speaker Dr. Bill
Roston, renowned underwater photographer, will share some of his underwater
world with us!
Auction to Raise Funds for NANFA after the Banquet!
That's right, grab another beer and get ready to bid generously on some
great stuff, and help NANFA out in the process. By the way, this is our
auction, so if you can come up with items to donate, contact Joe Johnson
(email address below) and let him know to expect your generous contribution!
We have donations from several sources already, including some NANFA members
and Pet Industry Manufacturers. Loucas Raptis gave 2 sets of limited ed.
prints (view-in-
http://www3.telus.net/public/benrap/LimitedEditionPrints.html).
Fin City Pet Supplies donated a 29 Gallon Combo (tank, lid, light, stand)
and two framed editions of "Fishing Facts" circa Nov 72 & Sep 73 with Cover
art By Wiley Miller. Wayne Heaton is donating several items from the Texas
Freshwater Fisheries Center (Tickets and Passes). More donations are in the
works come see and bid!
Spouse / Non-fishy Activities
Information will be available-in-the meeting Clinton Presidential Library,
IMAX theater, Antique Malls, museums, etc..
Luxurious Accommodations
Fine facilities are awaiting you-in-the Little Rock Airport Holiday Inn and
Holiday Inn Express. Rooms-in-the Holiday Inn, where our meeting activities
will be based, are available for $72.00/night-in-(501) 490-1000. Rooms at
the Holiday Inn Express, an easy walk across the parking lot, are available
for $58.00/night-in-(501) 490-4000. Either way, tell them you're with
NANFA. Be sure to come by the Hospitality Suite to sign in or just visit
throughout the convention we get the use of this suite free IF our members
rent enough rooms-in-these hotels!
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