2025 Desert Fishes Council (DFC) - 57^th Annual Meeting, 19-23 November 2025

Cuatrociénegas, Coahuila, México

Second Announcement

Location and background:

The meeting will be held in the municipality of Cuatrociénegas de Carranza, in the state of Coahuila de Zaragoza, México. Situated in the Chihuahuan Desert, about 150 miles SSE of the tip of Big Bend National Park in Texas, Cuatrociénegas has a long and colorful history. Indigenous cultures long inhabited the valley, and the Spanish founded the town in 1800. It is the birthplace of Venustiano Carranza, México’s famous president during the revolution, 1915-1920. Then, Desert Fishes Council’s legacy of involvement in biodiversity research and conservation began in the 1960s and 70s, with the early explorations of the valley’s fauna by DFC founding members Drs. W.L. Minckley, Salvador Contreras, Robert Rush Miller and diverse students and colleagues. DFC eventually became a major player behind the 1994 declaration of the area as a federally protected biodiversity reserve, and held its annual meetings there in 2004 and 2008. Following the first meeting, DFC teamed with local collaborators to co-sponsor a Field Research Station in the town through 2014. Lots has happened since then, and our return is long overdue!

The now world-famous valley (recently demonstrated to be the most biodiverse freshwater aquatic habitat on the planet), with its extreme biodiversity and endemicity living in crystal-clear springs and ciénegas, with dramatic desert mountain vistas in all directions, has recently seen a dramatic transformation of its local economy to one now based primarily on ecotourism. Unfortunately, this transition comes as regional groundwater exploitation in two adjacent valleys known to supply the reserve’s groundwater, threatens not only the sustainability of the valley’s ancient aquatic biodiversity, but also continued tourism growth. But, the economic transition produced hotel-based foundations (Procuatrociénegas and Plan 2040) that recognize their dependence on sustainable water for both tourists and biodiversity, and so have conservation and public education mandates and have partnered with the Reserve and the original local conservation groups, as well as the municipality, to help sustain the wetlands and their biota (and to help host this meeting!). Coincidentally, the most recent science indicates that for at least 12,000 years, the valley’s wetland vegetation has repeatedly responded quickly (decadally) to changing climates and water level fluctuations, adding still more optimism that recovery and sustainability will be possible if current aquifer overdrafts can be controlled.

Thus, Cuatrociénegas is, in many ways, reminiscent of the Ash Meadows / Devil’s Hole Pupfish battle of the 1960s-70s that led to creation of the DFC, but with a new, and hopefully optimistic, twist that just might help assure the valley stays wet. We all need optimism these days, so please come to this meeting, for both old-time’s sake and to help spark new and diverse brainstorming and further collaborations toward sustainable conservation of the valley’s amazing aquatic ecosystems.

Accommodations and amenities:

 This is NOT the town DFC members who came to the 2004 and 2008 meetings fondly remember. The now-thriving tourism, initiated in large part by the nation’s Pueblo Mágico (Magic Town) program, has quickly transformed this town from a relatively sleepy little and relatively poor, village, into a busy, diverse, growing, and overall wealthier community.  There are now many new first-class, modern hotels (but still plenty of basic ones too). We will be exploring discounted rates with select hotels, and there are diverse Airbnb, HomeToGo, Vrbo, etc. options. For dining and drinking, many fine new establishments are available, but many of the old favorites remain, as do the historic wineries, museums, Casa de Cultura (site of the 2004 and 2008 meetings), etc. Many DFCers will enjoy sampling the brand new, endemic sotol, and a visit to the modern, first-class museum and molecular lab – Genesis, should not be missed. Out on the valley floor, not far from town are now many diverse tourism concessions with opportunities for glamping, carefully controlled swimming, gypsum dune explorations, and even an amazing travertine mine converted into an impressive, hi-tech theater / wedding / art and concert venue.

There will be organized visits for the group to select aquatic habitats, as well as links to help arrange more personalized and extensive tours.

Weather:

As many who came to the previous two DFC meetings here will recall, November can be very cold, but also quite nice. Check the summary data, but come prepared for diverse conditions.

Travel Security:

We are aware that many U.S. citizens are concerned about travel in Mexico. We’ll have updates closer to the meeting date, but want to point out early on that the U.S. Federal government now recognizes the security achievements of Coahuila by removing it from the restricted area list for México. Independently, for over a year, we’ve seen extensive documentation from both countries governments, and regional and national press coverage in México, that Coahuila is the second-safest Mexican state. Recently, the State of Texas, which complies with US Federal rules, approved requests to drive to Cuatrociéngas within a few days with no questions asked. The municipality of Cuatrociénegas is rightfully proud of it’s outstanding safety record, and has promised special support for all meeting-related events.

Driving:

Excellent highways, including a section of divided 4-lane toll road, from both Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas will get one from the border to Cuatrociénegas in 3.5 - 4.5 hours. Those driving that (or other any other) route from the US would have to purchase vehicle importation permits (available in any major border city) and Mexican auto insurance, and of course, a passport is required (if you don’t already have your US one, apply soon).

A Big Bend-based tour operator has been doing back country and river tours on both sides of the border out of Big Bend for many years, as offered to do some variation on his standard Big Bend National Park (crossing at Boquillas) to Cuatrociénegas trip via very interesting little-traveled roads for small groups that some coming to this meeting might find appealing.

Air + road:

There are no commercial flights to Cuatrociénegas, but the major airports in Monterrey (Nuevo León), Saltillo (Coahuila), and Torreón (Durango) are options, with inexpensive rental cars available. Drive times to Cuatrocienegas from those are (respectively) about 3.75, 3.2 and 2.5 hours (all on very good, safe highways on routes approved by US travel guidelines). Monterrey has more international flights than do the other two, with, for example, Viva airlines having 3 daily, very reasonably priced, 1hr 15-minute flights to and from the closest major US hub of San Antonio, Texas. Depending on interest, we may arrange ground shuttles from Monterrey.

Registration:

Rates have not yet been determined, but we are committed to making this meeting affordable for all interested. Watch for future announcements.

Schedule:

This depends largely on attendance, so stayed tuned for future announcements, but for preliminary planning we envision this being a “normal” DFC meeting, with Wednesday a travel day, paper, poster and business sessions Thursday- Saturday, and field trips Sunday.