Forty-Sixth Annual Meeting

Abstract

130ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING Eureka, California September 22-25, 1983 The 46th annual meeting of the Association, with the Department of Geography at Humboldt State University as host, convened at the Eureka Inn in Eureka, California, September 22-25, 1983. The decision by the APCG Executive Committee to return to a fall meeting schedule was welcomed by a majority of the membership, and despite the relative isolation of California's north coast as convention site attendance was higher than anticipated. Altogether, there were 161 paid registrations, of which a record 58 were students. Ry noon on Thursday, September 22, some of the faithful had arrived. Much to the Humboldters' chagrin it was the first wet day of the month. As registration proceeded during the afternoon and evening, Humboldt geographer Hal Jackson presented two slide programs that revealed the character of the Humboldt Bay region. A popular diversion was a wine-and-cheese social in die crowded Board room. It provided an opportunity before the formalities of Friday's schedule for the members, young and old, to renew acquaintances, to exchange strategies for coping with declining enrollments, and to regale one another with tales of last summer's research on cryptogram endemics in Ngorongoro Crater or night people in the wasteland of the South Bronx. Friday morning combined the initial paper sessions at the Inn with Hal Jackson's bus excursion to view architectural styles of Victorian Eureka. All of us gathered at the Inn shortly after lunch for bus-lift some 50 miles north on U.S. Coast Highway 101 to exquisite Prairie Creek State Park, an enclave within Redwood National Park. An open-air plenary session convened there in the amphitheater beneath the shady canopy of giant sequoias. Clearing skies in the morning had provided a fine sunny day. Entitled "Geography and Public Policy," in anticipation of the same theme for the 1984 AAG meetings in Washington, the session consisted of remarks by James A. Roberts, Director, Office of Resources, Energy, and Permit Assistance, State of California; Richard G. Rayburn, Director, Northern California District, Coastal Commission; and Douglas G. Warnock, Superintendent, Redwood National Park, moderated by Roberts. After a healthy question-and-answer period, an hour for strolling on park trails was welcomed by all before boarding the buses to return part of the way to Eureka, to Merryman's Reachhouse restaurant at scenic Moonstone Reach. The remainder of the day can be described simply as blissful dissipation— Sam Merryman's always-popular salmon bake, a sumptuous meal, was preceded by 90 minutes of cheery discourse and drink in the pleasant sundown air at surfside. Humboldt's student Geographic Society hosted visiting students wanting less expensive fare with a cookout and keg on the beach, no more than a stone's throw from the throng on the beachhouse porch. When dinnertime arrived 108 YEARBOOK · VOLUME 46 · 1984131 places were occupied, and by 10 p.m. (time for the bus ride back to the Eureka Inn) all participants were adequately filled with good food, libation, and insights of the day. Saturday was spent at the Inn, in paper sessions, including a special session late in the day entitled "Geographic Education and International Studies," and in business meetings. Hal Jackson once again opened the day for a select few who toured rural Ferndale. That evening the annual banquet culminated 1983 proceedings. A good buffet dinner at the Eureka Inn was followed by remarks from Alistair W. McCrone, president of Humboldt State University; announcements from Earl W. Kersten, President-elect of APCG; and a stimulating address by retiring President Larry Ford entitled "Architecture and Geography: Toward a Mutual Concern for Space and Place." An invitation from the geographers at Eastern Washington University, site of the 47th annual convention in September 1984, was offered the gathering of nearly 80 persons. The Program and Local Arrangements committeemen, under the direction of General Chair John Harper, were Lowell Bennion, John Coleman, Mohammad Hemmasi, Hal Jackson, Joe Leeper, Bob Plank, and Ryan Rudnicki. Paper sessions were chaired by James W. Scott, Gordon R. Lewthwaite, Robert E. Frenkel, Donald R. Floyd, Christopher L. Salter, Donald G. Holtgrieve, Al Fishman, Daniel R. Luten...