Tour Registration

Register for the following Scientific Tours and Field Trips on the Congress Registration Form.

Cancellation Policy

The organizers of the Congress reserve the right to cancel any tour due to inadequate registration, sickness, or other events beyond their control (in which case, full refund will be made).

The Tours

Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, San Francisco Bay, and Redwoods

Bus departure: In front of the Sacramento Convention Center 7:30 a.m., August 19, 1999
Return to Sacramento: 7:00 p.m., August 19, 1999

You will have an opportunity to see part of the Delta and visit the Pacific Coast on this one-day trip as we drive along the Sacramento River to San Francisco. In the Delta you will visit historic Locke, an important Chinese immigrant village built in 1912. San Francisco Bay conservation activities will be seen and discussed by local experts on the way. We will reach San Francisco at mid day where you will have lunch on your own at Fisherman's wharf. The tour will then take you over the Golden Gate Bridge (photo opportunity) and on to Muir Woods, a small but spectacular state park with giant redwood trees. The return trip will pass through wetlands and the bird sanctuary of San Pablo Bay.

Maximum: 40 · Minimum: 20 participants
Cost per participant: $60/ea - (Includes transportation - lunch not included.)

Environmentally Friendly Agriculture: BIOS (Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems) and LTRAS (Long-Term Research for Agricultural Systems)

Bus departure: In front of the Convention Center - 8:00 a.m. August 19, 1999
Return to Sacramento: 5:00 p.m. August 19, 1999

In the morning you will visit the organic walnut orchard of Russell Lester, a mentor grower of the BIOS Program, and the Hedgerow Farm, owned and operated by John and Marsha Anderson. The general theme of integrating wildlife habitat and biodiversity into modern intensive row crop farming and orchards has been used for decades by these farmers. John Anderson was awarded the Conservationist of the Year plaque by the Western Section of the Wildlife Society in 1997 and the BIOS program received the 1994 IPM Innovators Award. You will see a walnut orchard with seeded cover crops and hedgerow systems, roadside prairie corridors, riparian resoration along a natural slough, row crop and orchard tail water ponds, native prairie establishment on marginal soil dryland farm ground, and native grass seed production. Lunch will be provided at the Hedgerow Farm.

In the afternoon, we will visit UC Davis' Long Term Research on Agricultural Systems project (LTRAS) located on the western edge of the UC Davis campus. LTRAS is the "world's youngest 100-year experiment," which conducts research on the sustainability and environmental impact of conventional and alternative methods of agriculture. Dr. Dennis Bryant, project associate director, will present the program.

Maximum: 40 · Minimum: 20 Participants
Cost per participant: $30/ea - (Includes lunch)

City of Davis Wetlands Projects

Bus departure: In front of the Convention Center - 8:00 a.m. August 19, 1999
Return to Sacramento: 4:00 p.m. August 19, 1999

In the morning, we will tour the city of Davis (population 54,000) waste water treatment plant and wetlands restoration 400-acre site, which was previously farmland and is now being returned to a native California wetlands ecosystem. The tour will be led by Sid England, University of California, Davis Environmental Planner and member of the Yolo Audubon Society. Mike Connor, city wildlife resource specialist, will discuss various components of the site and the wetlands restoration process. After lunch on your own in downtown Davis, we will visit Northstar Ponds, a wetlands area constructed within a housing development. This is one of four such ponds in Davis. The tour will be lead by a member of the Yolo Audubon Society.

Maximum: 40 · Minimum: 20 Participants
Cost per participant: $15/ea

Yolo Basin Restoration Project

Bus departure: In front of the Convention Center - 8:00 a.m. August 19, 1999
Return to Sacramento: 12:00 p.m. August 19, 1999

The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area was declared to be a Globally Important Bird Area in November 1998. The plans for this 3700 acre area began in the late 1980s after a series of extensive efforts and meetings among scores of stakeholders. Federal, state and local partnerships with the local environmental and agricultural communities led to the preservation and restoration of wetlands in the bypass. Dave Feliz, manager of the wildlife area for the California Department of Fish and Game will lead the tour.

Maximum: 40 · Minimum: 20 Participants
Cost per participant: $15/ea

Clear Lake, Where a Superfund Site and Tourism Meet

Bus departure: In front of the Convention Center - 7:00 a.m. August 20, 1999
Return to Sacramento: 7:00 p.m. August 20, 1999

On the two-hour early morning bus ride along Cache Creek from Sacramento to Clear Lake, you will learn of the unusual geology, ecology and agriculture of the region. Once at the lake you will visit the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund Site with a large open-pit excavation (with pH 3 water) and a large (1,200 acre) wetland restoration site at Rodman Slough, which drains the majority of the watershed. In the city of Lakeport we will visit the UC Davis - Clear Lake Environmental Research Center (CLERC) housed in an historic 1918 Carnegie Library and board our research vessel, the Pandion, to observe abundant grebe nesting colonies and osprey nests. There will be a light snack on the bus, a deli lunch, and mid-afternoon refreshments at the CLERC. We will return to Sacramento at 7:00 pm.

Maximum : 38 · Minimum: 20 particpants
Cost per participant: $60/ea
(Includes transportation, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack.)

Vines, Wines, Wetlands, and Sustainable Agriculture

Bus departure: In front of the Sacramento Convention Center 8:00 a.m., August 20
Return to Sacramento: 6:00 p.m.
(Previously offered August 14 trip cancelled.)

This tour provides an opportunity for delegates to travel from Sacramento through the scenic Napa and Sonoma Valleys and the Santa Rosa Plain with stops at vineyards and wineries for discussion and wine-tasting. You will see research on sustainable grape production systems and water and soil conservation techniques. The trip takes you through the Petaluma area, one of the important dairying districts in the U.S. where water quality and animal waste management methods will be seen. Lunch will be held at a scenic winery and modern vineyard. The return trip will take you through the Marin County wetlands and wildlife reserves.

Maximum: 40 · Minimum: 20 participants
Cost per participant: $75/ea - (Includes lunch, and transportation.)

Monterey Bay Area/Aquarium Tour

CANCELLED

Understanding the San Francisco Bay/Delta:
Developing a Cooperative Action Plan for California Water Use

CANCELLED

Lake Tahoe, Science and Policy in Action for Environmental Health

CANCELLED