Thirty Seventh
Annual General Meeting and Banquet Reservation Form

Banquet Registration Form (pdf)
The Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee
Invites You to Join Us At Our
37th Annual Banquet and General Meeting
January 28, 2012

The DTPC’s Annual Meeting and Banquet will be held Saturday, January 28, 2012 at The Palmdale Hotel, 300 W. Palmdale Blvd., Palmdale, California 93551 (661-273-1200).  The afternoon Annual Meeting will feature a review of the Committee’s ongoing programs and activities and plans for 2012.  Speakers from a variety of agencies will give updates on important activities throughout southern California.  The Banquet will feature two presentations. Dr. Kristin Berry will give a program entitled Solving Mysteries to Name the New Desert tortoise. Freya Reder and Mary Kotschwar will present Observations of the Elusive Mohave Ground Squirrel at the DTRNA.

PROGRAM
· Annual Meeting                 2:00 to 5:00 P.M.
· Social Mixer                       5:00 to 6:00 P.M.
· Banquet Event                    6:00 to 9:00 P.M.

Dr. Kristin Berry shares the results of a multi-year research project to name and describe the new desert tortoise, Morafka's desert tortoise Gopherus morafkai. Formerly, the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) as we used to know it, was described as having a geographic range that extended from California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States south into the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico. We now know that the desert tortoise is not one species but a species complex composed of at least two and probably three or more species. The result is that the desert tortoise, as we used to know it in California, now has one-third of its former geographic range. Dr. Berry will take us through the numerous historic, genetic and other mysteries, to determine which species should receive a new name. The species-split was published in ZooKeys in June 2011, and was co-authored by Robert Murphy, Kristin Berry, Taylor Edwards, Alan Leviton, Amy Lathrop, and J. Daren Riedle.

Freya Reder will also share her experiences and photographs from the Committee’s efforts to document and observe the elusive Mohave ground squirrel at the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in 2011. Mary Kotschwar will provide a brief introduction to the species’ ecology and the context of these observations in a broader research program.

To RSVP or For Additional Information
Call (951) 683-3872 or Email: dtpc@pacbell.net
$              Dinner Reservation  $35.00
$              Optional tax-deductible donation
$              Total of my enclosed check
Name(s):                                             Phone Number:                
Address:                                             E-Mail:                        
City:                                    State:                   Zip:              
Organizational Affiliation (if any):                                                 
Make check payable to:  DTPC, 4067 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA  92501