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FOREWORD This document represents the second of the more recent proceedings summaries published by the Desert Fishes Council. Earlier summaries covered the first two symposia held in 1969-70. Work continues in preparing for publication a draft manuscript of summaries for the third through ninth symposia (1971 through 1977). We are hopeful that this material, which covers much of the early work and history relating to desert ecosystem preservation, will soon be available to interested workers. During the past decade we have learned that eternal vigilance is the price of preservation, and that for every threat successfully encountered and resolved, seemingly a dozen more arise to take its place. However, we have also learned that there are ways within "the system" to preserve the priceless biological treasures that we have identified and learned to appreciate early enough to be able to preserve them. Hopefully, we can continue to hold the line until society embraces these same values and recognizes that their preservation comprises not a threat to sound economic development, but actually a logical and necessary precedent to the preservation of the same systems that support man. Hopefully, the sound biological research and accompanying preservation programs fostered by the Council, and the successes engendered thereby, will serve as a beacon to those who might otherwise become discouraged as expanding populations in the southwest would appear destined to utilize every drop of desert water and every acre of level land. It is indeed paradoxical that man, although technologically capable of attaining virtually any goal he sets his mind to, somehow cannot achieve the degree of humility necessary to accept the profound truth expressed by the prophet Isaiah over 4,000 years ago: "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth." (Isaiah 5:8)• Perhaps our efforts will help man to understand this concept before he finds himself adrift in a lifeboat with all of his supplies gone.