Office of the Mayor

Proclamation

Lawrence, Kansas

WHEREAS:   The State of Kansas is home to more than 100 species of reptiles and amphibians, several of them threatened or endangered, all of which are an essential part of the ecology of Kansas, from lakes and rivers to forests and farmland, to urban centers; and

WHEREAS:   The University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute will welcome more than 400 international scientists and students of herpetology to Lawrence for the 58^th annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, July 29 – Aug 2; and

WHEREAS:   The University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute is home to the fifth largest collection of reptiles and amphibians in the United States with more than 340,000 specimens representing more than 5,000 species from 156 countries, including the largest collection of Kansas specimens in the State of Kansas; and

WHEREAS:   University of Kansas scientists have been studying reptiles and amphibians since 1915 and are celebrating a century of herpetological research in 2015.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the City of Lawrence, Kansas, does hereby proclaim the week of July 27 – August 2, 2015 as

“International Amphibians and Reptiles Week”

and urges all citizens to learn more about, and celebrate the ecological role of, amphibians and reptiles in Kansas.

                                                                   Jeremy Farmer, Mayor

July 28, 2015