Phil, I hope your inbox is blowing out today with wishes of good cheer and a great day.
It seemed an appropriate time to ensure that members of the Council are aware of an important oral history project being conducted with Phil bythe Regional Oral History Office in the Bancroft Library at the University of California - Berkeley. Oral histories are conducted in interview fashion by trained oral historians. The interview is taped, transcribed, edited, and eventually published. Copies will be available to the subject of the history and his/her family as well as to libraries around the country. Over the years, the Berkeley office has conducted histories of such luminaries as Ansel Adams, Horace Albright, Pat Brown, Earnest Gallo, Clark Kerr, William Penn Mott, Robert Gordon Sproul, Earl Warren, and the Karl Pister, Phil's brother, to name a few. Of note is that donations from 50 private individuals and organizations easily raised over $15,000 to pay for the project. The Desert Fishes Council was proud to be one of many who contributed funds for the effort. And in case, by chance, you don't know Phil, here's a bit of his background. Edwin P. (Phil) Pister studied wildlife conservation and zoology under A. Starker Leopold at the University of California, Berkeley. He spent virtually his entire career as a fishery biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game supervising aquatic management and research within an area encompassing approximately 1,000 lakes, streams, and desert springs lying within 10 million acres of the eastern Sierra/desert regions of California. He serves as executive secretary of the Desert Fishes Council (and has since DFC's birth 40 years ago!) and continues to be heavily involved in desert ecosystem preservation throughout the American Southwest and adjoining areas of Mexico. He holds special interest in the fields of conservation biology and environmental ethics and has served on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and of the Society for Conservation Biology. He also serves on the Advisory Committee of the University's White Mountain Research Station. He teaches regularly at the National Conservation Training Center (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service) in West Virginia, has lectured at more than 70 universities in North America and the United Kingdom and has authored 74 published papers and book chapters. Not to mention he's a pretty good guy. Good day to all, Nathan
