Community Building at New River State Park in Ashe County, east of Jefferson, NC.
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Click here for lodging information
REGISTRATION will take place at the meeting Saturday morning ($5 members, $3 all students, $7 non-members). If you wish to renew membership for 2010, or join for the first time, you may do so at the meeting. Please complete a membership form, even if you are renewing (so that our Membership Directory information is current). Extra forms will be available. We don’t want to “lose” members who join at meetings but fail to turn in forms. If your address, phone number, area code, e-mail, or other membership information has changed, or if any information appeared incorrectly in the last Membership Directory or on your newsletter mailing address label, this would be a reasonable time to make such corrections.
REFRESHMENTS will be served at the meeting, as usual. Try to remember to BRING YOUR OWN REUSABLE CUP OR COFFEE MUG. NCHS continues to try to reduce disposable trash. There may be some extra cups on hand for those who forget. You might consider bringing a reusable cloth napkin also.
There should be jars at the registration table for contributions to the Society's various funds—Project Bog Turtle, Aubrey Shaw Memorial Stewardship Fund, Project Simus, etc. Contributions are tax-deductible.
HERP SHOP items for sale will include the usual assortment of T-shirts, books, posters, greeting cards, mugs, jewelry, and other items, including the long-awaited 2nd edition of Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. Do all your Mothers’ Day shopping in one spot! (Volunteers are needed to help staff the Herp Shop during the meeting. If you are available, please contact Sandy Durso.)
Volunteers are needed to help with the registration table in the morning. If you are willing to help, please contact Ed Corey or Jeff Hall.
AUCTION: Always one of the more entertaining features of our meetings, the auction will feature the usual (or unusual) assortment of herpetologically-oriented items. Bring money and a bidding attitude. If you have items to donate (literature, prints, photos, posters, artwork, cages, hooks, field equipment, decorative items, toys, clothing, jewelry, etc.), please bring them to the meeting (early), or get them to Jeff Beane before the meeting. No live herps or herp parts will be auctioned, but almost anything else goes (as long as it lies somewhere near the realm of legality). Items donated to the auction are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. All proceeds go to NCHS general fund, which helps support our grants program and other ongoing NCHS activities.
No special children’s activities are planned for this meeting. Quiet, well-behaved children are, of course, welcome to attend all portions of the meeting, and older children especially may find some or all of the presentations interesting.
RAFFLE: This meeting’s raffle item will again feature one or more items (a “reptile replica” and/or some pewter jewelry) made and donated by Joe Morgan. Raffle tickets will be available at the registration table for $1 each. You may buy as many as you want, and you need not be present to win. The drawing will be held at the end of the meeting.
LUNCH: An optional, reasonably priced lunch will be catered by Smokey Mountain Barbecue (members may choose to bring their own lunch instead), and the business session will be held immediately afterward.
A GROUP DINNER (probably either a “High Country boil” or catering by Brickhouse Pizza) and SOCIAL will be held on-site immediately following the meeting. Plan to stay for it if you can—our socials are always enjoyable, and an excellent way to get to know other members. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted in the park. If you sneak them in, Ed Corey will not be held irresponsible for confiscating and drinking your beverages.
As a special activity during the SOCIAL, we will assemble a PHOTOGRAPHY SLIDE SHOW (powerpoint) of images submitted by you. If you have herp photos that you wish to share with the group (can be native or exotic species, herpers in or out of action, old or new images, or anything else pertaining to herps and herping), send up to five photos in digital format to Ed Corey at ed.corey@ncdenr.gov by 23 April. Come prepared to briefly describe your images to the group (if you’re too shy for this, or if you can’t make the social but still want to share your images, you can include a descriptive sentence or two of text with each image). This is a great opportunity to share your thrilling experiences with the group. LIMIT 5 SLIDES PER MEMBER, PLEASE! See also notice on p. 6.
Froggy Bottom Boys? Well, now, if we knew everything, we’d be omniscient, wouldn’t we? And how much fun would that really be?
FIELD TRIPS: Weather permitting, Ed Corey will lead a Salamander BioBlitz (nocturnal salamander field trip) in the park on Friday night before the meeting (may be postponed until Saturday night after the social in the event of terrible weather on Friday evening). Meet at the Park Headquarters/Visitor Center at 6:00 p.m. (contact Ed Corey at ed.corey@ncdenr.gov for more details). Ed Corey and Jeff Beane will plan to lead at least one field trip on Sunday, and there may be others. Details have yet to be determined, but will be announced on Saturday.
Please contact Melissa Jones (melissa.jones@ncwildlife.org) if you would like to request (or lead) a particular field trip.
CAMPING
A group campsite in the park for up to 40 persons (tent camping) has been reserved for Friday (30 April) and Saturday (1 May) nights. If you plan to camp one or both nights, please contact Ed Corey (ed.corey@ncdenr.gov) ASAP to make reservations (NCHS will cover the campsite rental fee).
MOTELS
There are a few motels in the area (within 20-45 min. drive). Here are some of the closer ones:
Alleghany Inn 341 North Main St., Sparta, NC 28675-8896 336-372-2501
Best Western Eldreth Inn 829 E Main St., Jefferson, NC 28640 1-800-221-8802
Doughton Park/Bluffs Lodge 45356 Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 241, Laurel Springs, NC 28644 336-372-4499
Highlander Inn 891 Old Hwy. 16 S, Jefferson, NC 28640 336-246-2383
High Meadows Inn Motel 10486 US Highway 21 S, Roaring Gap, NC 28668 1-800-585-6309
Holiday Inn Express of Boone 1943 Blowing Rock Rd., Boone, NC 28607 1-888-733-6867
Nation's Inn 107 Beaver Creek School Rd., West Jefferson, NC 28694 1-800-801-3441
Station’s Inn 14355 NC Highway 18 S, Laurel Springs, NC 28644 336-359-2888
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:00 p.m. until . . . Salamander BioBlitz at New River State Park. Ed Corey, North Carolina State Parks
Saturday, November 7th
8:00-9:00 a.m. Registration and Refreshments
Click here for speaker information and abstracts (PDF)
8:00-9:00 a.m. Arrival, Registration, Auction item drop-off, Breakfast
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:00-9:15 a.m. Welcome and Announcements
9:15-9:45 a.m. New River State Park: Introduction and History. Joe Shimel, New River State Park
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:45-10:15 a.m. Amphibians and Reptiles of New River State Park. Paul Bailey, New River State Park
10:15-10:45 a.m. Habitat Characteristics and Biometrics of the Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) in Three Western North Carolina Streams. Charles Lawson, Western Carolina University
10:45-11:00 a.m. Break
11:00-11:30 a.m. Footprints in the Sand: Independent Reduction of Toe Pads in Burrowing Geckos of the Namib and Kalahari. Trip Lamb, East Carolina University
11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Invasive Worms and Plethodon: Will the Salamander Get the Worm or the Worm Get the
Salamander? Jeremy Craft, Wilkes Community College
12:00-1:30 p.m. Lunch (catered) and Business Session
1:30-2:15 p.m. Auction
2:15-2:45 p.m. Environmental Correlates of Parental Care Behavior in a Neotropical Glassfrog. Jesse Delia, East Carolina University
2:45-3:15 p.m. The Big Picture on Tiny Salamanders: A Phylogenetic Survey of Dwarf Salamanders. Dave Beamer, East Carolina University
3:15-3:30 p.m. Break
3:30-4:00 p.m. Amphibian Species Discovery in Southeast Asia. Bryan Stuart, North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
4:00-4:30 p.m. Different Kinds of Habitat Complexity Alter Predator-Prey Interactions in Different Ways. Jon Davenport, East Carolina University
4:30-5:00 p.m. Distribution of the Amphibian Fungal Disease Chytridiomycosis in Peruvian Amphibians. Tiffany Kosch, East Carolina University
5:00-5:15 p.m. Raffle drawing, Closing announcements
6:00 p.m. until . . . Dinner and Social
Field Trips; details to be announced.
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Questions about the meeting? Contact Melissa Jones (755-232-6101 or 919-707-0202; melissa.jones@ncwildlife.org) or any officer.
New River State Park is located in both Ashe and Alleghany counties. The U.S. 221 Access Area is located at river mile 15 and is the location of the Visitor Center and Park Headquarters.
Traveling west on I-40 from eastern North Carolina: Take U.S. 421 N at Winston-Salem, stay on U.S. 421 N through Wilkesboro, turn north on U.S. 221 N at Deep Gap. After driving through Jefferson, turn onto U.S. 221/16 N. Travel north approximately 4.7 miles to Tom Fowler Rd. Turn right and go to the stop sign (1.3 miles). Turn left onto U.S. 221 and go 2.7 miles. Park entrance is on the right.
Traveling east on I-40 from western North Carolina: Take U.S. 221 N. After driving through Jefferson, turn on U.S. 221/16 N. Travel north approximately 4.7 miles to Tom Fowler Rd. Turn right and go to the stop sign (1.3) miles. Turn left onto U.S. 221 and go 2.7 miles. The entrance to the access is on the right before crossing the New River.
From I-77: Take U.S. 421 N. Turn north onto U.S. 221 at Deep Gap. Drive through Jefferson and turn onto US 221/16 N. Travel north approximately 4.7 miles to Tom Fowler Rd. Turn right and go to the stop sign (1.3) miles. Turn left onto U.S. 221 and go 2.7 miles. The entrance to the access is on the right before crossing the New River.
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