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What’s New:

Save the Date!

2025 Natural Communities Conference

San Joaquin Valley Chapter – The Wildlife Society

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Hodel’s Country Dining Restaurant
Liberty Hall Meeting Room
5917 Knudsen Dr., Bakersfield, CA

8:30AM – 5:00PM (Check-in starts at 8:15 AM)

Join us for an exciting in-person event, the Natural Communities Conference! Get ready for a day filled with knowledge-sharing, networking, and fun. This one-day conference is an opportunity for biologists conducting research, management, regulation, and conservation activities for natural communities and biota in the San Joaquin Valley Chapter area to network and exchange information, ideas, results, and progress of their work. The conference is set in a casual and informal environment. Anyone is welcome to attend!

Presenters will be giving 20-minute talks, 5-minute Quick-Talks, or displaying a poster. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are included with your registration.

This conference will take place at the Liberty Hall Meeting Room – Hodel’s. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect with fellow professionals in the industry and gain valuable insights. Come and be a part of this enriching experience!

Registration Information:

Member admission – $35
General admission – $40
Student admission – $20
Presenters – Free

Registration will open the week of 2/10/2025. An email will be distributed when registration is live.
For questions or to submit an abstract, send an email to tws.sjv.president@gmail.com
Abstract and Presentation Guidelines

The Natural Communities Conference provides 3 different ways to present your topic:

20-minute presentation – (includes time for questions)

5-minute Quick-Talk (Does not allot time for questions, but attendees can reach out to you during the breaks or lunch to discuss your presentation). 

Poster presentation – you will be able to discuss your poster with attendees during breaks and lunch. 

Presentations are on PowerPoint with two screens. E-mail your PowerPoint in advance to tws.sjv.president@gmail.com or bring it the morning of on a thumb drive.
 
Abstracts should be submitted by March 7, 2025, to tws.sjv.president@gmail.com

Indicate “NCC Abstract” in Subject title. Specify in your email whether you will be giving a 20-minute presentation, 5-minute Quick-Talk, or presenting a poster. Submissions should contain: a title, name(s) of the presenter(s) (and coauthors if applicable) and affiliation(s), email of the presenter(s), and a body ≤ 300 words

Abstract Submission Example:

IMPACT OF A SARCOPTIC MANGE EPIDEMIC ON A POPULATION OF ENDANGERED SAN JOAQUIN KIT FOXES

ERICA C. KELLY; California State University, StanislausBrian L. Cypher; California State University, StanislausTory L. Westall; California State University, StanislausNicole A. Deatherage; California State University, Stanislausekelly@esrp.org

A robust population of endangered San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica) occurs in…

Save The Date

Safe Rattlesnake Handling Workshop – March 8, 2025 – Register here!

The Bakersfield BLM Office – Bakersfield, CA

The San Joaquin Valley Chapter of The Wildlife Society in collaboration with Dr. Emily Taylor of Central Coast Snake Services presents the 2025 Safe Rattlesnake Handling Workshop located in Bakersfield, California. The workshop will consist of a half-day classroom session covering ecology, conservation, identification, and behavior of rattlesnakes and a half-day hands-on session, where individuals will take turns learning how to properly and safely handle a rattlesnake under the guidance of Dr. Emily Taylor. This session will begin right after lunch and end approximately around 3 pm. Registration will open the week of January 20, 2025. Click here for the flier. Click here to register.

Rattlesnakes of California

The San Joaquin Valley Chapter of the Wildlife Society is proud to present this apparel campaign celebrating the underappreciated and misunderstood rattlesnakes of California. Rattlesnakes are an amazing group of animals with complex social behaviors, parental care, and have important roles in California’s ecology. Help celebrate them and show a new face for these snakes!

Are you attending or have you attended one of our Safe Rattlesnake Handling Workshops? Commemorate your attendance and show it off with these fun shirts and sweaters! Or just order one to help support a great cause.

Profits from sales will go toward Central Coast Snake Services (CCSS) to help fund their free snake relocations offered to the community. Founded by Dr. Emily Taylor in 2019, CCSS has the goal of “helping people and snakes coexist.” Interested in finding out more about the group, their methods and their cause? Visit their website here: https://www.centralcoastsnakeservices.com/

The Chapter thanks artist Susie Garcia for her design. Kudos for the great art!


We have a subscription link for our mailing list! It’s a great way to stay in-touch with the Chapter.


Brian Cypher’s new book, The San Joaquin Kit Fox, will ship out on October 5th, 2024 – see flyer for a 30% discount!

logo_SJVTWS

An Introductory Guide to the Plants of the Southern San Joaquin Valley

We have a February 2024 newsletter available here.

Complete Volumes of the Western Section’s journal, Western Wildlife, are now available as a single publication: click here to access.

Jeff Davis and others have researched the history of the San Joaquin Valley Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Jeff consolidated his findings into a summary table, available here, dating back to 1966.

It’s time to renew your membership! Perhaps you renew through TWS (international) or with the Western Section. If not, you may use the Membership Form and send it to us with the ridiculously small $5 annual fee.

The Transactions of the Western Section of the Wildlife Society is available here (years 1966-2010). The Transactions has been renamed to Western Wildlife and is available here.

News from our members:

Petros Chrysafis helps Californians ‘like the wildlife they live with’ by taking a unique approach to deterring livestock killings. Click here for the story!


Events:

In 2025 we are forming committees to plan a BNLL workshop in the spring and perhaps a Temblor Legless Lizard workshop and/or a bumblebee workshop. Other workshops in the works include: Skull ID Workshop, CESA Workshop, Small Mammal Trapping Workshop, and Burrowing Owl workshop. If interesting in helping with these committees please send a message to the chapter!


Announcements:

eMammal Snapshot USA: Camera Study in the Sierra Nevada

During 2019 and 2020 Petros Chrysafis participated in eMammal’s Snapshot USA. Snapshot USA is a nationwide effort to obtain camera trap data from all 50 states and from a variety of habitats. Petros represented Central California by setting up camera traps in some of the most representative habitats present in the area. Linked here are published works as a result of the research efforts. He was a recipient of a chapter student research grant and we are excited to share his progress!