Report of the Seventy-Fourth Annual Meeting: San Francisco, California September 28-October 1, 2011

The 74^th annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers was held at the Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California, from September 28 to October 1, 2011. The event, hosted by the Department of Geography at San Francisco State University, drew participants from across the United States, Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom—in total, nearly 300 people. In addition to San Francisco State University, the University of Arizona, University of Nevada Reno, University of Oregon, Sonoma State University, and Cal State Universities at Chico, Long Beach, and Northridge were particularly well represented.

The conference opened with a plenary panel titled "San Francisco: Green Possibilities," an engaging conversation between author Rebecca Solnit (The Infinite City), Dick Walker (UC Berkeley) and Ruth Askevold (Historical Ecology, San Francisco Estuary Institute) and moderated by Jason Henderson (San Francisco State University). A reception in the hotel mezzanine following the plenary provided a lively opportunity to renew acquaintances and forge new connections.

Thursday offered participants a choice of six field trips: a tour exploring coastal hazards in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, a walking tour of Chinatown with a dim sum lunch, environmental restoration and environmental history tours of San Francisco's Presidio, a bicycle tour of downtown, and a walk through contested public spaces in the Port of San Francisco. More than ninety participants went on field trips, while others explored The City and its surroundings by themselves or in small groups. The day's program ended with passed hors d'oeuvres and drinks at The Old Firehouse in historic Fort Mason Center on the Bay shore, and many participants enjoyed a brisk walk back to the conference hotel along San Francisco's famous waterfront.

Paper sessions began at 8 a.m. Friday, followed by a Department Chair's Lunch and two afternoon sessions. Two Saturday morning sessions followed; after the traditional Women's Network Lunch, there were two afternoon sessions. In total, the program offered twenty-seven paper and panel sessions, as well as a large poster session with twenty entries. The President's Plenary, early Friday evening, brought panelists from several universities together to discuss the recent NRC report on the geographical sciences titled Understanding the Changing Planet.

Paper sessions and panels explored a wide variety of topics. Friday offered sessions on GIS mapping technologies, hydrology, stream morphology and restoration, media representation and images, and spaces of struggle as well as three organized sessions focusing on collaborative art-science projects. One panel included authors of a forthcoming book, The Fight to Stay Put; another examined the under-representation of women in undergraduate geography programs. Saturday's sessions also demonstrated the wide range of interests in geography, with sessions ranging from GIS and mapping technologies to geographic education, parks and historic preservation, drug geographies, radical spaces, global perspectives, and food and energy.

The annual banquet, hosted by APCG Vice President James Keese (Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo), ended the Conference. Thanks to a very generous donation from William and Marilyn Bowen, a record number of students were able to participate. Greg Bohr (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) presented awards for outstanding student papers. Dan Arreola (Arizona State University), Kate Berry (University of Nevada, Reno), and Sam Omolayo (CSU Fresno) announced travel awards for Mexican-American, Native American, and African-American students, and Vicki Drake (Santa Monica City College) presented the Women's Network student travel awards. Paul Starrs (University of Nevada, Reno) honored winners of the Cultural Geography Fieldwork Scholarships, and Dan Arreola (Arizona State University) announced the winner of the Larry Ford Cultural Geography Fieldwork Scholarship. Jenny Zorn (CSU San Bernardino) presented the APCG Distinguished Service Award to James Allen (CSU Northridge), and Bill Crowley (Sonoma State University) read the annual "Resolutions" roasting the conference organizers. Martha Henderson (The Evergreen State University) delivered an inspired Presidential Address titled "Cats, Caps, and Creeds," exploring human-environmental relationships at varied historical and geographic scales.

The faculty, staff, and students of San Francisco State University's Department of Geography hope that everyone...