2021 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
9-12th October 2021
Boise, Idaho, USA
On behalf of The Peregrine Fund and our conference co-hosts Boise State University, Intermountain Bird Observatory, Golden Eagle Audubon, Birds of Prey National Conservation Area Partnership, and USGS Idaho, please join us in Boise, Idaho this October 8-14 for the 2021 Raptor Research Foundation joint Conference with the Neotropical Raptor Network!
We are incredibly excited to host you at what we are hoping will be the largest RRF Conference ever, and we are looking forward to sharing our beautiful city and state with you. Boise is the state capital of Idaho and is a small city nestled between the Boise foothills and the Snake River Plains. Our conference will be right in the heart of all the downtown action at the Boise Centre on the Grove.
Downtown Boise has many local restaurants, bars, brew-pubs, and boutiques and supports a vibrant nightlife. Main attractions within walking distance of the conference hotels include the Idaho State Capitol, the Boise Art Museum, the newly renovated Idaho State Museum, and Zoo Boise. Boise is often referred to as the “City of Trees,” and the name is particularly fitting for our Boise River Greenbelt – a 25-mile long park on either side of the Boise River. Rent bikes to take a ride along the trails flanking the river or bring your binoculars for an excellent bird-watching opportunity each morning.
Boise is also proud of our unique Basque cultural heritage. We’re home to one of the world’s largest and most involved Basque communities outside of Europe. We are looking forward to sharing this culture with you at our banquet-after-party that will be held at the Basque Center and feature Basque music and dancing.
We will also be hosting you at The World Center for Birds of Prey for The Peregrine Fund’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. This evening of food, fun and fellowship will feature our spectacular Fall Flights (weather permitting), cookout, and tours of our education facilities and Archives of Falconry.
Just outside of town is access to a national treasure – the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA). The 485,000-acre NCA is a hotspot for breeding raptors and home to the largest known concentration of nesting birds of prey in North America with some 800 pairs of hawks, owls, eagles, and falcons flocking to the area each spring. In October, you are likely to see some of our resident raptors as well as take in the views of the canyon with its spectacular cliffs towering 700 feet above the Snake River. If you’d like to check out the NCA, be sure to sign up for one of the post-conference field trips that will visit the area.
If you choose to explore Idaho before or after the conference, just a few hours outside of Boise, our state is home to incredible Rocky Mountain peaks, Bruneau Dunes State Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, and the gateway to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. With such an amazing variety of landscapes, your visit to Idaho will leave you wanting to return!
We are very excited to be hosting this year’s Raptor Research Foundation Conference and look forward to seeing you in Boise next October!