WIFDWC
Western International Forest Disease Work Conference

Conference Information

***Registration info below***

 

Please join us on June 5 - 9, 2023 in Rohnert Park (Sonoma County), CA for the 68th Western International Forest Disease Work Conference (WIFDWC) ! The following email includes previously shared information in addition to the newly updated registration website and highlighted reminders about deadlines (the first deadline is April 6th for the hotel)! As always, you can also visit www.wifdwc.org for more information.

 

Registration 

Register online by April 17th at:

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/westerninternationalforestdiseaseworkconferencewifdwc

$325 regular registration*

$125 student registration*

$125 retiree registration*

$40 guest on field trip (transportation and food on Wednesday)

Note: Registration will be open until May 15th, but will include a late fee of $75 after April 17th.

* Includes Wednesday’s field trip (transportation and food). As per usual, this does not include Monday’s optional field trip, committee meeting breakfasts or lunches, dinners on your own, or the banquet meal. These additional costs will be charged when registering. 

 

Location

Sonoma County encompasses both sea (the wet coastal strip) and sun (the drier, hotter, higher Mayacamas Mountains). The county features a wide variety of vegetation types, from coastal pines, redwoods, and Douglas-fir-tanoak forests to the oak woodlands and grasslands of the interior–and of course this entails a corresponding array of both native and non-native forest pathogens, including Phytophthora ramorum (cause of sudden oak death) , P. cinnamomi , Fusarium circinatum (the cause of pine pitch canker), Viscum album (European mistletoe), and many, many more. 

 

Lodging & Conference Location (same venue!)

DoubleTree by Hilton Sonoma

1 Doubletree, Rohnert Park, CA 94928 

(707) 584-5466

**Reserve your rooms before April 6th and ask for the ‘WIFDWC hotel block’ to get the Federal Government Rate ($157/night) **

 

Travel Options

Airports serving Sonoma County include the following:

  • San Francisco International Airport (SFO), 62 miles south of the conference location, hosts all major American and many international airlines. 
  • Oakland International Airport (OAK), is also 62 miles south of the conference location–just on the other side of the bay.
  • The Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS) is located 14 miles north of the conference location.
  • The San Francisco Airport Express offers shuttles from the conference location to each of the above airports–every hour for SFO and STS, every two hours for OAK. Find the schedule here.
  • For those that wish to rent a car, ride-share from the airport can be coordinated using the form provided when you register.
  • Other potential airports that could be convenient for arriving visitors include the San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC), 93 miles south, and the Sacramento International Airport (SMF), 96 miles to the east.

Additionally, public train transportation serves the San Francisco area through Bay Area Rapid Transit ( BART ) and the North Bay via Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit . The SMART Train station is located at 900 Enterprise Drive in Rohnert Park, 2.2 miles away from the Doubletree conference location. Other public transportation options in Rohnert Park (bus service) are presented by  Sonoma County Transit .

 

USFS Registration Specifics

  • WIFDWC is listed on the annual Conference Plan.
  • USFS employees should express interest in attending to Supervisors and ROs.
  • Sarah Navarro ( sarah.navarro@usda.gov ) has collected USFS employee information for the Attendance Cost Spreadsheet; if your role has changed from attendee to presenter please go into the Box File and change your role.

 

Agenda (still evolving)

  • Monday, June 5: Afternoon pre-meeting hike/field trip, registration, and welcome social.
  • Tuesday, June 6: Registration, graduate student Flash-n-Dash, three panels, two committee meetings, and an evening poster session / ice cream social / silent auction. 
  • Wednesday, June 7: All-day field trip, one committee meeting, and an evening banquet with the Outstanding Achievement Award and presentations from previous recipients.
  • Thursday, June 8: Three committees, three panels, and special paper sessions.
  • Friday, June 9: One committee, one panel, business meeting, and adjourn by 11:30 am.

 

Papers (contributed and special)

  • Note :  “ Contributed papers ” are those panel organizers invite speakers to present. “ Special papers ” are those given by people requesting a non-panel time slot.
  • Please contact Brennan Ferguson ( brennan.ferguson@usda.gov ) if you would like to present a special paper on a forest pathology subject matter. Send a title and brief description of your proposed paper by March 24th .
  • If more requests are received than we have time for, we will review the date of receipt and titles, in order to select papers for presentation. Authors will be notified before closing of early registration.
  • As an alternative, remember that brief presentations (as arranged with the committee chair) may be given during committee meetings.

 

Posters

  • You are invited to submit a title and a brief description for the poster session. Posters may address any forest pathology-related topic.
  • Email abstracts to Patrick Bennett ( patrick.bennett@usda.gov ) by Friday May 5th to reserve a space for your poster.

 

Graduate Student Introductions (“Flash-n-Dash”)

  • All graduate student attendees are asked to give a brief introduction (five minutes) of you and your research program.
  • Students should contact Brad Lalande ( bradley.lalande@usda.gov ) by May 5th with their name, university, and project title.
  • Graduate students are also encouraged to present more details on their work in either the poster session (see below) or as a paper (see above).

Committee Meetings

The following committees are scheduled to meet. Please contact the moderator by May 5 th  if you wish to have time on the agenda for a short presentation.

 

Day/Time

Committee

Moderator(s)

Email

Tuesday, June 6

7:00-8:30 AM

Dwarf Mistletoes

Dave Shaw

dave.shaw@oregonstate.edu  

Tuesday, June 6

12:00-1:30 PM

Root Disease

Blakey Lockman

irene.lockman@usda.gov  

Wednesday, June 7

7:00-8:30 AM

Rust

Jane Stewart

jane.stewart@colostate.edu  

Thursday, June 8

7:00-8:30 AM

Foliage & Twig

Kelsey Sondreli

Adam Carson

kelsey.sondreli@oregonstate.edu  

adam.carson@oregonstate.edu

Thursday, June 8

12:00-1:30 PM

Nursery

Ann Leon

anna.leon@weyerhaeuser.com  

Thursday, June 8

7:00-9:00 PM

Climate Change

Susan Frankel, Alex Woods, Terry Shaw

susan.frankel@usda.gov  

Friday, June 9

7:00-8:30 AM

Hazard Tree

Kristen Chadwick

kristen.chadwick@usda.gov  

 

Silent Auction

The WIFDWC silent auction raises $1,000+ per year to support student travel. Betsy Goodrich ( anne.goodrich@usda.gov ) will be helping organize the auction. Start thinking about what you can donate and bring to the meeting for the auction. Ideas include: handmade items, books, rare journal articles, photos, jewelry, tree and fungi swag, or WIFDWC swag from years past!

Outstanding Achievement Award

  • Congratulations to Ned Klopfenstein (2020), Phil Cannon (2020), and Greg Filip (2019) for their recent Outstanding Achievement Awards!
  • Nominations for the 2023 WIFDWC Outstanding Achievement Award are now open and will remain open until March 24th . See the Call for Nominations webpage for details.
  • Questions should be directed to Jane Stewart ( jane.stewart@colostate.edu ).

 

Student Travel Awards

  • Travel awards are available for qualified graduate students to subsidize travel-related expenses. Interested graduate students should visit the ‘Graduate Student Travel Award’ web page at www.wifdwc.org for more information and the application form.
  • The application deadline is March 24th .
  • All graduate students that receive this award are expected to participate in the Graduate Student Introduction (Flash-n-Dash) and are also encouraged to present an oral or poster presentation.
  • Questions should be directed to Betsy Goodrich ( anne.goodrich@usda.gov ).

 

Pre-meeting Field Trip (Monday afternoon)

  • Arriving over the weekend or Monday morning? Join us for a hike (forest pathogens noted as encountered) on Monday from 1 pm to 5 pm (exact times may change).
  • Details on location, conditions (difficulty), and length will be forthcoming.
  • There is no registration fee, so:
    • Participants will need to bring their own food and water.
    • Carpooling from the DoubleTree will be required.
  • If interested, please contact Chris Lee ( christopher.lee@fire.ca.gov ).

 

Field Trip (Wednesday)

  • Join us on Wednesday from 9 am to 5 pm for a field tour focusing on forest pathology issues at a handful of local state parks.
  • Topics of interest will include: Phytophthora ramorum , P. cinnamomi , Mediterranean oak borer, Viscum album , pitch canker, Armillaria spp., Phaeolus schweinitzii , Onnia spp., a variety of stem decay fungi, and other native pests.
  • Transportation and lunch for this field trip is included in your registration costs.
  • Transportation will be via coach, not school buses, and bathroom stops are planned!

 

WIFDWC Planning Committee Contacts

 

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