WHEREAS, the American Society of Mammologists has a long heritage of mutually beneficial participation in its scientific program and its business affairs by scientists of the U.S. Government, particularly the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, who serve or have served as members of the Board of Directors, Officers, Editors, and Chairmen and members of important committees, and who wish to conduct Society business and present papers based on U.S. Government research programs; and
WHEREAS, official participation of these scientists has been curtailed because of a low travel priority; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Government is most responsible for and deeply involved with research and management of mammal populations in the United States; and
WHEREAS, communication with government scientists at meetings provides a means of input from the scientific community to federal research and management policies; and
WHEREAS, meetings of professional and scientific societies promote an interchange of ideas that increases the quality of research and stimulates new approaches to solving problems, thus promoting greater efficiency in federal programs; and
WHEREAS, exchanges at meetings often lead to vastly increased cooperation between the private and public sectors of the research community that, in turn, can result in the avoidance of repetition, competition, and redundancy of effort by different parts of the research community; and
WHEREAS, the curtailment of attendance of U.S. Government scientists at meetings of professional and scientific societies will ultimately result in the impoverishment of the quality and quantity of research and management accomplished by the federal government,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the American Society of Mammalogists urges the U.S. Government to assign a high priority to scientific meeting attendance and participation, adopt a more enlightened view regarding their purpose, nature, and benefit, and permit and encourage attendance and active participation at such meetings by its scientists.