Dear All, Please see the message below from Matteo Garbelotto. All the best, Tod Dear IUFRO colleagues, forest and plant pathologists and Phytophthora enthusiasts, We have extended the deadline to sign up for an "intent to participate" in the next IUFRO Phytophthora meeting in June 2022, until the end of August 2021 . I think that as of last week, we were shy of about ten, so I strongly encourage you to share your intent to participate with us if you are interested in attending and realistically think you will be able to travel to the USA. If you have already signed up, you do not need to do this again. See message below. It is with excitement and optimism that I am writing to you to announce that the 10th Meeting of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Working Party S07-02-09 "Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems " is currently scheduled to take place in June 2022 in California. The Meeting will start in San Francisco on Sunday morning June 19th 2022 at 830 am, and will end at noon, Saturday June 25th 2022, in Sacramento. As of yesterday, thanks to a massive vaccination program, California is extremely close to reaching herd immunity, and the State is going back to being fully open. Given the current epidemic data, there is no better and safer place than California to host an International Meeting. While the California news is promising, the world situation remains fluid, and absolute certainties remain elusive: much will depend on the surge of new variants and on the efficacy of the vaccines. However, several IUFRO meetings are scheduled for next year, and so we have decided to go ahead and plan for it. Keep in mind that without a one year advance planning, it would be impossible to organize the meeting. The current plan is to host the meeting in California from June 19th to June 25th 2022: whether the meeting will actually happen will depend on several factors including but not limited to: a) The worldwide pandemic situation, b) The California and USA situation and travel restriction to and from the USA, and, c) The number of attendants. While we have no control of points a) and b), above, we can work towards ensuring we have sufficient interest to have an in-person meeting. Our last meeting in Italy had 95 or so participants. Accordingly, we have set the minimum attendance to 50 people, meaning that if we have 50 or more people pre-registering, then the in-person meeting will go on, otherwise we will have three 5-hour Zoom sessions (8 am to 1 pm) , one in the am (Pacific Standard Time) of Tuesday June 21st 2022, one in the am of Wednesday June 22nd 2022, and one in the am of Thursday June 24th 2022. We do hope the in-person meeting will happen. In order for us to be able to go on with the meeting organization it is essential that all of you let us know if you are going to attend in person. The sooner we know, the more likely it will be that the meeting will actually happen. Because of Covid-19, organizing larger gatherings has become more difficult, more pricey , and registration deadlines will be sooner rather than later. Below, find some key deadlines: 1- Now until end of July: please fill in the form below to let us know if you intend to participate in the 10th IUFRO " Phytophthora in forests and natural ecosystems" meeting ,June 19th-25th 2022, in California. We need to have more than 50 positive responses to move forward! https://www.cognitoforms.com/UCB2/phytophthorainforestsandnaturalecosystems… 2-In October 2022, we will reach out again to you and provide you with approximate registration costs. Each participant will have until December 31st to preregister at the cost of USD $ 100 per person. That down payment will count towards the meeting registration costs. If the in-person meeting has to be canceled, that $ 100 fee will be the full registration cost to attend the meeting via Zoom on June 21st-24th, 2022 3- A final decision on the meeting (in person vs. zoom) will be made by February 28th, 2022 ( sooner if the pandemy allows) and promptly communicated to all pre-registered participants 4- Participants will have until April 30th, 2022 to complete their registration. If the meeting will be on zoom, registration cost will be $100 per person. The exact registration cost for the in-person meeting will be communicated by February 28th. Full payment will be required by April 30th 2022. Please be informed that due to current University of California regulations, participants must show proof of vaccination to participate, or produce evidence for an exemption (only exemptions for medical reasons are currently valid). This requirement may change, but it is currently strongly enforced. The meeting will be in some of the most beautiful locations in California and the world. While, due to the current situation, we have decided not to have an additional pre-meeting field trip, the meeting will have two field trips and will start in downtown San Francisco, offering attendees endless opportunities to organize their own activities. Whether driving along the famed Highway 1 on the majestic Big Sur coast line, touring the Monterey peninsula, visiting the awe-inspiring redwood groves on the coast, or tasting wine in the famous Sonoma and Napa Counties you are sure to have a blast. Or you may decide to stay in San Francisco, consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The meeting will end in Sacramento and we encourage participants to book their return flight from Sacramento International Airport, easily reachable from the meeting venue. However, participants may decide to spend a few days touring the nearby Gold Country and especially the rugged Sierra Nevada and Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is less than 2 hours away from Sacramento: in that case you may opt to book your return flight from Reno International Airport. I hope this email finds you well: I know the epidemic has hit some of us harder than others, and I wish all of you a speedy recovery and a return to normality. I wanted to conclude by reiterating that the meeting will happen (or not) depending on the response we get from you. Again, we need at least 50 participants (of course we hope for more) and we need to know your intentions/availability as soon as possible to allow us to go on with the planning of a group event in these dynamic and unprecedented complex times. Again, review the different phases and deadlines above, and fill in the questionnaire ASAP. I copy the link to the questionnaire once again below (please paste in your browser if link is not active) https://www.cognitoforms.com/UCB2/phytophthorainforestsandnaturalecosystems… Once again, I hope you are pleasantly surprised by the news, and as your host, I promise I will make this meeting unforgettable. People change their emails frequently and our lists are incomplete, so please forward this email to as many people as possible. Matteo -- Matteo Garbelotto Ph.D. Director U.C. Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory Statewide U.C. Forest Pathology Extension Specialist Adj. Full Professor, Department of ESPM, University of California at Berkeley www.matteolab.org<http://www.matteolab.org> -- Matteo Garbelotto Ph.D. Director U.C. Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory Statewide U.C. Forest Pathology Extension Specialist Adj. Full Professor, Department of ESPM, University of California at Berkeley www.matteolab.org<http://www.matteolab.org>