Call for Abstracts for Oral Presentations and Posters at the 2026 Chihuahuan Desert Conference – Deadline, June 1

The Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition and the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens are teaming up again to host a fourth Chihuahuan Desert Conference in El Paso on November 4-6, 2026.   The conference brings together researchers and conservation advocates from across the Chihuahuan Desert to help facilitate collaboration in the region and learn of new programs that have been completed or are underway.

The Conference Committee is now accepting abstracts for both oral presentations and posters on a wide variety of topics related to the bioregion including flora, fauna, geology, paleontology, archaeology and conservation.

Participants for both oral and written poster presentations can send their abstracts and bios to Rick LoBello at lobellorl@elpasotexas.gov. Abstracts should be 200 words or less. Bios should be 100 words or less. Please note if your submission is for a (a) 30-minute presentation (20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions), (b) 5-minute lighting talk (with 5 minutes for questions) or a poster. Posters will need to be 4′ wide x 3′ tall.  They can’t be too heavy since we can only use tape to hang them.

The conference will bring together researchers and conservation advocates from across the Chihuahuan Desert to help facilitate collaboration in the region and learn of new programs that have been completed or are underway.

The first Chihuahuan Desert Conference in El Paso was hosted by El Paso Water and the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition. The first conference at the Zoo in 2019 featured the Zoo’s new $16M Chihuahuan Desert exhibit that features the flora and fauna of this amazing region. The exhibit includes an arroyo and a flash flood feature that helps people better understand an important natural force helping to shape the desert landscape, plus common plants and animals including a number of endangered species.

Recognized globally as a hotspot for wildlife conservation, the Chihuahuan Desert surrounding El Paso is one of the most biologically diverse eco-regions in North America.  Chihuahuan Desert conservation programs at the Zoo underway include efforts to breed and release critically endangered Mexican wolves in the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona and both field and captive breeding conservation efforts to help save endangered Thick-billed Parrots, peninsular pronghorns and jaguars.