Report on the Fifty-Fourth Annual Meeting

APCG YEARBOOK • VOLUME 52 • 1990 229 REPORT ON THE FIFTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING Fairbanks, Alaska September 20-23,1989 Admittedly, therewere doubters. Wouldanyone attendthe 54thmeeting of the APCG? Itwas going to be held in Alaska in September! To many APCG members that meanthigh travel costs and snow. We arepleased to report to the membership that the attendance was very good. A total of 86 members registered and attended the conference. For satisfying stereotypes, our weatherwas perfect. Itsnowed on Wednesday, the first day of the conference. Fortunately, the weather was pleasant, if cool, for the remainder of the week. Professor Terrence Cole of the University of Alaska FairbanksHistory Departmentprovidedanatmospheric tourofdowntown forthose who arrived in time for the snow. Wednesday evening the conference formally opened with a keynote presenta­ tion by Don Lynch on the importance of the Soviet Siberian and Alaskan academic exchanges which haveblossomed in thepast year. Jack Mercer, a geographer with the U.S. Weather Service, explained the curiosities of Alaska’s 1989 weather, the year of the super freeze and the super high pressure. Dr. Vera Alexander, Dean of Alaska’s Institute of Marine Sciences, updated the conference attendees on the consequences of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The paper sessions were held all day on Thursday and on Friday morning. Fifty-eight papers were presented. The sessions were held in just two meeting rooms, so that members were able to attend a greater diversity of sessions than normal without racing from room to room. Thursday’s session opened with a discussion of Alaskan issues, mostly presented by non-Alaskans. The afternoon sessions includedpapers on Asia, Education, Geography andtheEnvironment, and Geography of Ethnic Groups. There was a special presentation on the Geographic Alliance in Alaska. On Thursday evening members were entertained at the Palace Saloon, where a local stage group presented a special version of their aesthetically successful and educational “true history” of Fairbanks. Friday morningbegan with a well-attended breakfastmeeting of theWomen’s Network. Papersessions thatfollowedwere onEconomic Geography,Views of the EnvironmentandCarl Sauer, andPhysical Geography. Friday afternoon was spent seeing the Greater Fairbanks area. Site visits included a gold placer operation, the PolarMiningCo., ledby DaveDziubinski, thetrans-Alaskapipeline, thepermafrost tunnel led by Dr. Nils Johansen, and a house collapsing from the effects of thawing 230 APCG YEARBOOK • VOLUME 52 • 1990 permafrost. A rest stop was taken at Raven Hall which is also the site of a local lumber operation. We owe a special thanks to Dr. Edwin “Rocky”Rhoads and the School of Mineral Industries for their assistance. Ninety-nine people attended the banquet on Friday evening. We would like to thank former geography students Ladd McBride and Fred Sacco for their Robert Service poetry reading and special slide presentation on the “Northern Lights.” President Steiner’s presentation, thoughtfully and appropriately, was ‘To Alaska By Train.” Saturday was devoted to a field trip to Delta, Alaska, the site of a major statesupported agricultural development project. The trip was led by FrankGeiger and “K” Kirk. After an unusually delightful stop at Rika’s Road House, we had tours of typical farming operations in the area, a briefing on the U.S. Army’s arctic and mountain training center at Fort Greeley, and lunch at Clearwater Lodge. The conference would not have succeeded without the help of a large number ofpeople andorganizations. Conferences andInstitutesatthe University guided us well and the staffof the Westmark Inn ofFairbanks kept the hotel open a few extra days just for the APCG. Our secretary, Laura Lee Potrikus, kept things well organized. We wereblessed with a strong and helpful membership of undergradu­ ates in Gamma Theta Upsilon who did everything from running slide projectors to transporting APCG memberstotheairport ThedeanoftheCollegeofLiberalArts, Anne Shinkwin, provided key support. Bill Loy, Rod Steiner, Dave Lantis, and Terrence Kramer all provided inspiration and leadership advice. I would like to thankallforcontributingtoanintellectually stimulatingenvironmentthatmarksthe high point of our twenty-five years of academic geography in Alaska. The conference brought togetherevery university geographerin Alaska. Four are in Fairbanks: Don Lynch, Roger Pearson, Ken Barrick, and Morris Morgan, who helped found geography in Alaska and is now retired. From Delta came “K” Kirk. From Anchorage came Ron Crawford. F. Patrick Fitzgerald came from Juneau. A futureKotzebue campus...