WHEREAS, the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists was held at the University of Montana, Missoula, on 16-20 June 2001 with fond memories of Phil Wright, Lee Metzgar, and the 1975 ASM meeting; and
WHEREAS, Jim Shaw and Tracy Carter met at the 1975 Montana meeting and have been happily bonded ever since; and
WHEREAS, the Society thought that it was a true touch of class to paint a big M for Mammalogy on the side of the mountain-we're not sure what the L was for, but we had one "L" of a great meeting; and
WHEREAS, "getting high" meant climbing to the top of the Mammalogy M; we're not sure why so many people climbed the mountain, but rumors had it that Kerry Foresman was holding a book signing at the top; and
WHEREAS, the signs were abundant and well prepared-but how many A's does "manmmology" have?; and
WHEREAS, the abundance of the fat, introduced fox squirrels on campus indicates that the graduate students are paid too well to be motivated to live off the land, and that the mammal collection is not adequately archiving the charismatic microfauna of Montana; and
WHEREAS, the bunk beds allowed detailed view of the ceiling tiles and doubled as a tanning salon when the overhead light was turned on; and
WHEREAS, the absence of ladders to the top bunk provided new personal perspectives on the arboreal origin of primates and left mammalogists longing for a prehensile tail; and
WHEREAS, the Society praises the commitment of the University of Montana to water conservation by the use of the "ant spit" nozzles on the showers and with the aim of the nozzles so perfectly designed to prohibit the wasteful behavior of washing more than one third of the body at any one time; and
WHEREAS, most mammalogists were unable to decide if the terry cloth artifact by the shower was a washcloth or a towel; and
WHEREAS, Thor Holmes performed the first topless auction and brought new visual perspectives to the grizzly "bare" subspecific epithet "horribilis"; and
WHEREAS, the fishing rod provided as a pointer during the slide presentations gave the ambiance of "A River Runs Through It" and served as a reminder that data analysis is often no more than a fishing expedition; and
WHEREAS, the poster sessions generated the greatest level of interaction and personal contact among mammalogists that has ever been achieved by the Society; and
WHEREAS, the Society learned at the Plenary Session that clear cutting a tropical forest changes the mammal fauna, that porcupines were ineffective at controlling pine engraver beetles, that Emmett Hooper was a good systematic biologist, that mammals living closest to the glaciers are most affected by the cold, that "hairy teeth" not only applies to your mouth when you first wake up after drinking all night at the Mammal Meetings, but also to Argentinean rodents living on salt flats, that the M on the mountain stood for mentor, and that dressing for success is more important than the quality of your science; and
WHEREAS, the good ol' girl system was alive and well in the student awards; and
WHEREAS, the Board was forced to approve a fifth issue of the Journal of Mammalogy in order to publish all the resolutions passed at the Members Meeting; and
WHEREAS, the Honorary Membership Committee has been renamed the Committee for Conspiracy based on a play starring Jim Patton, J. Mary Taylor, Patricia Woolley, and Alicia Linzey, with music provided by ASM Grammy Award winner Michael Mares; and
WHEREAS, the mother of all committees was made a standing committee; and
WHEREAS, President Kunz dressed appropriately for success and provided a virtual budget with the obvious purpose of entertaining Hugh Genoways; and
WHEREAS, President Kunz has rewritten Robert's Rules so that the process of making a motion, discussing the motion, and the vote on the motion occur in a random order; and
WHEREAS, Robert Sikes, Kerry Foresman, and his wife Deanna produced 5,000 labels, imported 50 cases of beer under another label, soaked the original labels off and created Karl Koopman Pale Ale. Karl would probably view this as a plot by AIBS; and
WHEREAS, we enjoyed a wonderful meeting in the Rockies, with distant snow covered mountain tops, mule deer traversing the adjacent slopes, chipmunks and tree squirrels in abundance, and an array of beautiful flowers in bloom; and
WHEREAS, we enjoyed a picnic of bison and Karl Koopman Pale Ale in perfect weather with a beautiful sunset; and
WHEREAS, Kerry Foresman and the Local Committee ran the most impressively organized meeting with excellent attention to detail, producing a memorable experience for all;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the American Society of Mammalogists expresses thanks to the University of Montana and to Kerry R. Foresman, Don Christian, Don Pletscher, Scott Mills, Dean Pearson, Colin Henderson, Chris Servheen, Gerald Shields, Kate Sullivan, and Lisa Gerloff for a wonderful and productive meeting in the best traditions of the Society.