The February meeting will be held on Saturday, February 9 at 10:00 am instead of 9:00 am at Ron & Betty's pond located in Phoenix . Their 20 ft x 10 ft. pond is an Aquascapes design with an EPDM liner covered by river rock. It will be one year old in April and has a rock waterfall and a bridge. Ron has 18 goldfish - comets and fancytails - and was still getting lily blooms in January!!!!! 

This month's guest speaker will be Scott from Centennial, Colorado. He is a board member and ambassador of the Goldfish Society of America. He is also a goldfish judge and travels to 8-10 shows per year. He is a member of 5 koi clubs and 2 goldfish clubs. His goal is to breed, raise and show a goldfish to win a grand championship at one of the big goldfish shows. He will be speaking about his favorite subject - goldfish! Bring all your goldfish questions and also your lawn chairs.
 

JANUARY MEETING REVIEW

It was great to see everyone again! The meeting was opened by welcoming new members and guests, introducing the new executive committee and then a treasurer's report from Ed. It was announced that our newsletter editor, Emily, needs help with the printing and mailing of the newsletters. Sylvia A. and Mary S. volunteered. THANKS!!

We then held a vote on the 15 different GPPS logos that had been submitted and narrowed the decision to two designs. We had a second run-off vote to decide the winner and it was a great design by Lydia D.  CONGRATULATIONS!!

David R. gave a short history of their pond and the meeting was turned over to Rob Bettaso, the Native Fish Program Manager for the Arizona Game & Fish Department. He informed us that there are 30-35 native Arizona fish and that half of those are threatened or endangered. The reason that so many are threatened is because of changes in their habitats and/or the introduction of non-native species in their habitats. At this time, the public is prohibited from having native fish. Rob explained that he would like to see ponds like ours approved for housing these fish to help repopulate the natural areas. He is hoping to pioneer a program to help change the laws regarding this. He mentioned that one of the worst cases of non-native species invading habitats all over Arizona is the crayfish. He said that they are out of control and ruining many, many habitats. His presentation was very interesting and he answered many questions from members.

After the meeting, we all enjoyed a delicious cake to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the first GPPS meeting!
 

WECOME NEW MEMBERS

Art & Dottie  - Glendale

Greg & Gwen - Tempe

Fred  - Phoenix
 

2002 MEMBERSHIP DUES

Dues for the year 2002 will remain at $25.00 per household. Please make your check out to The Greater Phoenix Pond Society and bring it to the February meeting or mail it to the treasurer.
 

POND TOUR

It is time to start thinking about our annual pond tour in June! We will need to decide on an organization to donate the proceeds to. We also need ponds for the tour. It doesn't have to be large or fancy. We love ALL ponds! Please call Dianne if you would like to show your pond in our tour.