During the summer of 1980, the First International symposium on Arctic
and Alpine Mycology (ISAM-I) was held at the then extant Naval Arctic
Research Laboratory near Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A., well within the Arctic
Circle (Laursen and Ammirati, Arctic and Alpine Mycology. The First
International symposium on Arcto-Alpine Mycology. Univ. Wash. Press,
1982). The facility is currently owned and operated by the Utkeagvik
Inupiat community and is named the National Academic and Research
Laboratory, thus retaining its acronym NARL. Twenty-five scientists
participated in that historic first meeting. Their interests in the
fungi spanned a vast geographic area of cold dominated habitats in both
the northern and southern hemispheres that included four continents (N.
and S. America, Eurasia, and Antarctica), nine countries, and numerous
islands ranging from Greenland to Jan Mayen in the Svalbard group.
ISAM-I helped to develop ongoing interests and initiate others. This is
what ISAM-I founders hoped would happen. Asa result, the organizing
committee for ISAM-II was formed. Its mandate was to: involve a maximum
of one third new participants in future ISAM meetings: divide the
responsibility for organizing future meetings at sites located in areas
of interest to research thrusts in Arctic and alpine environments: keep
the number of participants small enough to ensure manageability, taking
full advantage of field collecting opportunities with minimal
complications and cost
