Attachment B

National Speleological Society, Inc.

Executive Vice President's Report

7/4/2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION / SUMMARY
(1) AMERICAN CAVING ACCIDENTS COMMITTEE
(2) AAAS REP- BIOLOGY
(3) AAAS REP-GEOLOGY & GEOGRAPHY
(4) AGI DELEGATE
(5) U.S. EXPLORATION COMMITTEE
(6) INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATION COMMITTEE
(7) RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE
(8) SPELEO DIGEST
(9) SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
(10) JOURNAL OF CAVE AND KARST STUDIES
(11) NSS NEWS
(12) MEMBERS MANUAL
(13) BIENNIAL REPORT
(14) PERMISSION TO REPRINT

ATTACHMENTS

B-1
B-2

INTRODUCTION / SUMMARY

There are thirteen committees, publications, etc, in the Department of the Executive Vice President (EVP). A fourteenth item has been added here to cover permissions to reprint from NSS publications.

Progress:
ACA is in the mail! The 2003 Members Manual will be right behind it. Gordon’s committee has made some major changes that should really enhance it. The NEWS and Journal continue to be published on time. ISI Thomson has accepted of the Journal into their database. This is significant to the science community. 2002 Speleodigest is on the markeet.

Taming of the Slough did not get published on time for the CDS meeting, but it was at the request of the editors for better pictures that had just become available. The CDS is keeping their end of the cost splitting agreement. They have since made some major changes, which may cause it to not make the convention in August. Cave Conservation and Restoration and On Caves and Cameras are still slugging away and may make it by the end of this year.

Plans:
The addition of the Grants page to the NSS web site has brought to the surface some inconsistencies in some of the grant processes. I intend to try to understand what is supposed to be done, what we are actually doing, and make the necessary corrections.

David McClurg will be stepping down from Special Pubs in the near future. We are currently crafting an accurate job description for advertising for a replacement. This is a very important position, which does require a certain amount of skill and experience.

Problems:
Time. The last few months have been exceptionally hectic. My boss quit, which left me with over twice my normal workload for the past several weeks, with much more travel than usual. Things are beginning to fall into place and should be back to normal within the next couple of months. My appologies to anyone who did not get a timely resonose to any requests.

Respectfully submitted,
Don Paquette speleo@reliable-net.net

(1) AMERICAN CAVING ACCIDENTS COMMITTEE

Bill Putnam (Chairman)
1865 Eagle Summit Ct
Lawrenceville GA 30043-6669
Phone: 770-822-0003
Fax: 770-682-5536
Cellular: 678-234-0566
Email: putnam@scci.org

Committee Members:
Diane Cousineau
Bill Cuddington
George Dasher
John Ganter
John Gookin
Kris Green
Buddy Lane
Ray Keeler
Jeff Parnell
Laura Putnam

Progress:
Printing of ACA 1999-2001 was completed on June 26. The issue was delivered to the U.S. Post office for mailing on July 2 and is being distributed to the membership this week. Contracted price for the job was $10,800, including postage, for 10,200 copies mailed and 300 delivered to Huntsville for the bookstore. I am awaiting the statement from EBSCO Media for the printing and mailing. I expect the final statement to be a little over $11,000, because the EBSCO postage estimate was for 9,800 copies mailed rather than the actual 10,200 (include General members). I am very pleased with EBSCO's work and service, and can recommend them for other NSS printing jobs.

Plans:
Publish 2002 on schedule.

Problems:
None

(2) AAAS REP- BIOLOGY

Kathleen Lavoie
101 Hudson Hall
Plattsburgh State University of New York
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(work) 518-564-3150
(home) 518-562-1154
(fax) 518-564-3152
lavoekh@plattsburgh.edu

Progress:
Continue to work on making the AAAS more visible on the NSS webpage; currently very difficult to find any information.

Plans:
Have drafted a short article on the AAAS to be done with Dan Chess for the NSS News on the NSS/AAAS affiliation. Bill Mixon provided some useful background information. Have collected all information from the NSS and AAAS websites.

Problems:
None

(3) AAAS REP-GEOLOGY & GEOGRAPHY

Daniel L Chess
19 Tavano Road
Ossining, NY 10562
(home) 914-945-2479 tieline 862
(e-mail) DLCHESS@us.ibm.com

Progress:
I reviewed about 30 proposals for the 2004 AAAS Annual Meeting and Conference to be held in Seattle. Of the proposals I reviewed, there were a few geology sessions, many dealing with hazard prediction and forecasting and one on water diversion projects. There are a number of sessions on ecology, climate change, and weather related phenomena.

Plans:
The annual meeting will be held from February 12th to the 17th, 2004 in Seattle, Washington. The geology business meeting will be Friday, February 13th. I am planning to attend the meeting.

Problems:
None

(4) AGI DELEGATE

Harvey R. DuChene
7216 East Bentley Circle
Englewood CO 80112
(home) 303 694-3472
(work) 303 292-0949 ex 101
(fax) 303 292-3901
(e-mail) hduchene@earthlink.net

American Geological Institute Representative's Report

Progress:
I attended the meetings of the American Geological Institute held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Salt Lake City (May 11-14). During the member council meeting, I reported on the upcoming NSS Convention in California and on the acquisition by the Society of Great Expectations Cave in Wyoming. After the meeting, I was approached by John Keith of the US Geological Survey who asked if NSS wanted any more copies of “Living on Karst: A Fragile Foundation.” I suggested that he donate the copies to the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, which he agreed to do. 140 copies (two boxes) of the books were shipped to Louise Hose in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Plans:
During the Member Council Meeting, and again during the meeting of the Environmental Awareness Committee, it was mentioned that AGI would be receiving a Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop an environmental science textbook for high-school students over the next three years. (See attached press release). The new textbook, Environmental Science: Understanding our Changing Earth, will be written in collaboration with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and high-school teachers, and will focus on the relationship between humans and their geological surroundings.

This book is well beyond the planning stages; an outline and table of contents has been developed and writers are being sought to write the various chapters. I had a chance to briefly examine the table of contents. The problem with the book from the perspective of the NSS is that it does not even mention karst and caves!

It is probably not to late to get something included in the book about karst and caves, but someone strongly involved in K-12 education should contact Michael Smith at AGI (msmith@agiweb.org) immediately if changes are to be made. I have a good working relationship with several members of the AGI advisory group for this textbook and can lobby them on behalf of NSS, but we must go to AGI with a solid proposal for inclusion of material on karst, or our request won’t be accepted. If the BOG and Executive Committee know of someone who can fill this need, please have that person contact me so I can give them information and suggest the best people at AGI for them to contact. (This textbook has been in planning for several years, and I suspect that the content of the book was developed before AGI became focused on karst issues).

Problems:
I will not be able to attend the AGI meetings in Seattle, Washington (Nov 2-5, 2003), and will be seeking a cave and karst geologist to attend in my place. The proxy will be attending the meetings to collect information and take notes; there are no action items from AGI requiring a response from NSS at this time.

(5) U.S. EXPLORATION COMMITTEE

C. William (Bill) Steele, NSS 8072, Chairman
1716 Glen Valley Dr
Irving, TX 75061
(home) 972-785-2422
Oksteele@aol.com

Committee Members
Dave Black, NSS 15419, Indiana
Don Broussard, NSS 9514, Texas
Jim Chester, NSS 6946, Montana
Scott Davis, NSS 15937, Arizona
Tom Shifflett. NSS 14207, Virginia
Jim Smith, NSS 14529, Georgia

Progress:
One $250 Sara Corrie Grant Awarded to Joshua Reece, University of Central Florida, for Anoxia in Florida Caves investigation.

Contributed write-up about Sara Corrie Fund for NSS Grants page.

Plans:
Continue as have been. Perhaps add another committee member.

Problems:
None

(6) INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATION COMMITTEE

Joel Despain
HCR 89 Box 211
Three Rivers, CA 93271
(day) 559-565-3717
(evening) 559-561-4972
joel_despain@hotmail.com

Committee members:
Carol Vesely
Kevin Downey
Cyndie Walck
Rebercca Jones

Progress:
Informal discussions to define grant criteria have begun among some committee members. We will meet during convention to further refine ideas. A grant of $350 was given to the Atacama Desert Cave Survey Project working in halite caves in Northern Chile. Shane Fryer received the grant.

Plans:
To continue to seek funds to further endow the grant program. Sources may include remaining funding from the Gunung Buda Project, individual donors, and an appeal in the NSS News. To continue to work with committee members to define criteria for grants and their amount. To continue to give grants within the constraints of our budget.

Problems:
None

(7) RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Donald A. McFarlane
Associate Professor,
W. M. Keck Science Center, The Claremont Colleges
925 North Mills Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711-5916 USA
(phone) 909-607-2564
(fax) 909-621-8588
(e-mail) dmcfarla@jsd.claremont.edu
(web page) http://jsd.claremont.edu/faculty/mcfarlane/index.htm
Extinct Mammals of the West Indies Website:
http://jsd.claremont.edu/bio/extinct/extinctmammals/
National Speleological Society Research Advisory Committee:
http://jsd.claremont.edu/bio/nss/

Committee members:
Joyce Lundberg PhD
Joe Troester PhD
William White PhD
Donald Davis

Progress:
1] Ralph Stone Graduate Fellowship, 2003-04.
This year saw fewer applications (4) than in the past 2 years, but they were all considered by the RAC to be of high quality.  By unanimous decision, the award was made to Ms. Ann Scott of the University of Texas at Austin for her proposal:  Exploring Contemporary Xibalba:  Ethnoarchaeological Investigations of Cave Rituals in Guatemala.

2] Research Grants.
Research Grant applications have also been slow in 2002/2003.  We have funded 2 of three applications received;

A third application was recently received and is under review.

3] PROJECTS.

The NSS project records were in poor shape, and efforts were made to correct this.  Emails were sent to all known Projects, soliciting responses and annual reports (required under NSS rules).  Repeated follow-ups led to contact being made with most Projects, and revised copy was provided to the editors of the 2003 members manual. The information was also placed on a web page, but was apparently not carried over to the  “Grants” and “Project” pages on the newly designed NSS website.  Hopefully this will corrected shortly.  A list of Projects and their status is attached.

Plans:
Reactivate the Young investigator Award.

Problems:
None

(8) SPELEO DIGEST

Scott Fee
PO Box 7036
Greenwood, IN 46142

(home) 205-914-7487
(e-mail) scottfee@pipeline.com

2002 Digest

Mark & James Adler (Editors)

Progress:
The manuscript was printed and the 2002 Digest has been on sale for a number of months.

Plans:
We still have to get PDFs of all the layout to Scott and plan to do so by the end of August.

Problems:
None.

2001 Digest

Editorial Team

Mark & James Adler (Editors)
Tom Rea - Layout
Julie Morgan - Proofreader

(In Capital budget)

Plans:
We are hopeful to have all selection, scanning, and proofing done by the end of September. We will be feeding our layout person (Tom Rea) as we get material ready. Because we will be feeding our layout person (Tom Rea) as we get material ready, we are hopeful that the layout time will not by significant.

Progress:
After the 2001 Digest materials was reassigned and mailed to us, we made selections from all the materials that we have (see below in 'Problems section') and are now in the process of scanning.

Problems:
The most significant problem is that many of the newsletters seem to have been discarded by prior editors. This creates a large problem for selection. We are planning to make selections from the materials that we do have. We will get those selections scanned, proofed, and sent off to our layout person (Tom Rea). We will also be itemizing a list of the newsletters that we do NOT have and will attempt to solicit them from grottos.

(9) SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

David McClurg
104 Graves Ct
Vallejo CA 94591
(phone and fax) 707-642-5528

dmcclurg@planeteria.net or dmcclurg@value.net

Tom Rea (Committee Member) (tomrea@ccrtc.com)
Gale McCoy (Committee Member) ("gmccoy" tmathey@concentric.net)
Janet McClurg (Committee Member) ("jmcclurg" dmcclurg@planeteria.net )

BOOKS IN PROGRESS

The Taming of the Slough––
The Exploration of Peacock Springs

Sheck Exley

Edited and Expanded by Sandra Poucher

(In Capital budget)

Progress:
On March 16, a joint decision was made by the NSS executive committee and the NSS Cave Diving Section (CDS) to halt work on this book for 60 days to allow the editor to make more changes plus add some new material and photos to the book.

Based on this commitment, this committee—after talking with the printer—set a deadline of June 30 to ship final layouts to the printer. This deadline would assure that copies could be delivered via motor freight for arrival by August 1, in time for sale at the NSS convention in Porterville, California.

By two weeks after the end of this new-revisions period, one section (diving equipment) had still not been received (date of this report is June 30). All of the other requested changes have already been made by this committee and the corrected layouts have been sent to the editor for review. Reportedly, the equipment section is being completely rewritten. Also it will now have several photos (there were no photos in the original version). The new equipment section has now been promised for the week of June 30–July 4.

Because of this delay, this committee discussed a new deadline with the printer. Together we came up with a new drop-dead date of July 8. The printer feels they can ship 100 to 200 copies of the book by express air service to the convention for arrival on August 1—if they get ALL final materials by Monday, July 8. This new date was communicated to the editor, the NSS and the CDS.

Note that this express air shipment will increase cost of the book. Past estimates were all based on surface shipment. The remainder of the 3000 copies will be shipped as originally planned by motor freight—1,000 to the CDS bookstore in Florida, 2000 to the NSS bookstore in Huntsville.

Plans:
As stated, we have completed all changes received to date and have sent corrected layouts to the editor. We have not received the OK on the corrected layouts as of this date.

When the equipment chapter is received, we will plan to turn it around in 24 hours to get it back to the editor for checking.

But whether we will make the July 8 drop dead date is still problematical.

Problems:
If we miss the July 8 drop-dead date, we're looking at these possible consequences:

• Losing sales and revenues at the convention––the largest potential audience of the year–– if we can't deliver the book at all.
  
  
• Paying a premium for overtime to get the books to convention on time.

We will keep the executive committee posted on progress between now and convention.

Techniques of Cave Conservation and Restoration

Jim Werker and Val Hildreth-Werker, Editors

(In Capital budget)

Progress:
After discussions between the editors and this committee, it was decided to put a hold on final production until after the 2003 convention.

Plans:
We are expecting the last remaining chapters in mid August, just after the convention. We expect the book to be completed

Problems:
None.

NCRC Rescue Seminar Manual

Members of the NCRC

(Not In Capital budget)

Progress:
We understand that the project is at a temporary standstill and a new editor is being selected.

[Work continues on a replacement of the NCRC's Manual of U.S. Cave Rescue Techniques. A review panel has been established and technical review of chapters is underway. About half of the anticipated chapters have been received from the author (Jeff Parnell). From AVP report]

Plans:
It all depends on progress by the cave rescue folks.

Problems:
As stated earlier, we can’t establish a budget for this book––whether it’s to be printed conventionally or by Print-On-Demand––until we get an accurate character count and the number of illustrations.

BOOKS FOR POSSIBLE REPRINTING

Cumberland Caverns

Larry E. Matthews

(Not In Capital budget)

Background

The NSS bookstore is about to run out of copies of the book, Cumberland Caverns.

This book was originally printed in July 1989 in a quantity of 2,000. So it has taken 14 years to sell all 2,000 copies. After the initial sale of 500 to Cumberland Caverns in the first two years (see below), that’s about 125 copies per year.

Total cost including printing, shrink wrapping, shipping, and all other expenses was:

$ 6,996 or just under $7,000. (The estimate we submitted for this book was $ 7,267).

Cost per book: $3.50 (The author elected not to receive any royalties.)

Retail price $10.

Nearly all (possibly 98% have been sold to Cumberland Caverns for sale in their concession book store. In fact, getting the budget approved by the NSS Board was no easy task. Tom Rea was Executive VP at the time. He and Roy Davis (owner/manager of the cave) struck a deal whereby Davis committed to buying 500 copies at a 40% discount ($6). This guaranteed $3,000 (about 43%) of the $7,000 cost of the book. Without that agreement, the book’s budget probably would never have been approved.

As indicated, the book has never been reprinted. But in September 1998, the author wrote to me to ask if we might be interested in doing a revised version. He had just uncovered some new information about the cave’s history. I told him we had 400+ copies on hand. And at the rate of yearly sales, that was over three years of stock. (Actually it was more like four and one-half years.)

I told him that reprinting it at 1998 prices, would likely be prohibitive. Particularly if we worked from his revised version—which would be like doing the book all over again from scratch.

My final comment to him was as follows (and I quote):

As for reprinting Cumberland Caverns I kind of doubt that the NSS would be inclined to reprint it. Fact is our publishing budget is limited. And there are other caving stories out there that our membership deserves a chance to read—just as they’ve had the opportunity to read Cumberland Caverns these past years. So maybe you have a new story you’d like to tell about another cave or caver? You did it once. Maybe you’d like to do it again. Let us know. We’re always looking for new book ideas.

I was trying to let him down softly, before he spent a lot of time rewriting the book.

But I still think what I said in 1998 sums up my feeling about doing a reprint in 2003 now that the stock has finally been exhausted. No, let’s spend the money elsewhere on books with more sales potential.

As for a digital version of the book. I can’t find one. But I do know that the printer (McNaughton and Gunn) returned the lithographic negatives to the NSS Office in May 1993. They should be rolled up, probably something like three or four feet long. The McN&G job number was 316250, in case the outside of the roll might be marked that way instead of by the book’s title. Lithographic negatives are essentially indestructible, so the book could more than likely be reprinted from them—if they can be located. And on the remote chance that someone thinks it should be reprinted.

I believe someone said they were going to talk to Roy Davis on the reprint question. If so perhaps that information can be added here or somewhere else in this board report.

––David McClurg, Chair, Special Publications Committee

The following is from Norm Thompson:

On Caves and Cameras

John Van Swearingen IV and Norman Thompson (In Capital budget)

Status of layout:
David Anderson has laid out 30 of the 33 chapters of the book. I anticipate that the last three chapters will be laid out over the next few weeks (one is ready for layout, another needs some minor tweaks, the third is written and edited but needs photography picked out to illustrate it). Although I have been aiming to have the book available at the NSS Convention this summer, but that is clearly not going to happen. I will be at convention and will have a mockup of the book with me for people to see. The book is going to be approximately 350 pages long, 8 1/2 by 11, one-color printing except the color section (48 pages?) and covers.

Color section:
The major layout task left before us is the color section. Almost all of the photos for the color section have been picked out. It occurred to me recently that these are all photos that were submitted several years ago. I’m sure most have taken many more beautiful and dramatic photographs in the mean time. So, I would like to give all an opportunity to submit some new photos that can be considered alongside the ones I already have. I don’t want to let this get out of hand – after all, I already have lots of great shots and the book will be great using these shots, but if some shots are available they would be an asset to the book. I want to keep the photos fresh, so I am not interested in photos that have been widely seen by cavers, such as on the cover of the NSS News or on the cover of a cave book or some similar use.

Cover:
Choosing a photo for the cover has always been a bit of a problem. Originally, JV had some caver friends come to his house and do a blind judging of photography (i.e., they didn’t know who the photographers were). They selected photos for chapters, for the color section, and for the cover. They chose one of my photos for the cover. After JV’s death, I felt it would be nice to honor him with the cover photo. I collected the best photos I had of JV’s plus everyone else’s photos that were selected for the color section and did a judging by about 15 members of the Front Range Grotto here in Colorado. I tallied all their scores. Neither the photo that JV’s friends picked out of mine for the cover nor any of JV’s did particularly well in the judging. Which put me back at square 1. I got JV’s stepmother and some friends of JV in Alabama to go through some of JV’s photos and send me some additional photos. Several of these were excellent, but, frankly, to my mind there is no one photo of JV’s that stands out as a "wow" photo that I would choose as the cover shot. I think we need something dramatic that will catch people’s eye. So, here is what I would like to do. I am going to send out JPEGs of the highest-rated photos from the grotto judging to each contributor to judge. I will then tally the results and the highest-rated photo will go on the cover. To try to make this fair, I will try to provide images scanned at similar quality and resolution. Since, per the previous paragraph, I want to have all the best cave photography available to include, I will wait about a week to do this to give all a chance to send me additional photos. I will do a mini-judging of the new photos by just a few people and include those that get high marks in with those that got high marks at the grotto judging. I am not going to identify the photographer when I send out the photos. I probably won’t identify the title or cave name either. If one of JV’s photos does not get selected for the cover, I plan to use his top-rated photo on the back cover.

Index:
The book needs an index. I am looking for a volunteer to help with this.

Originals of photos:
There are a few that only provided dupes when originally submitting photos to JV for inclusion in the book. At this point, I need the original slides for scanning. I will be contacting those that this applies to in separate emails that list the images I need.

Return of photography:
As soon as the book goes to press, I will return everyone’s photos.

(10) JOURNAL OF CAVE AND KARST STUDIES

Louise D. Hose (Editor)
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
1400 University Dr
Carlsbad NM 88220
(work) 505-234-5561
(home) 505-234-2972
(e-mail) LHose@cemrc.org

James A. Pisarowicz (Production Editor)
Wind Cave National Park SD 57747
(home) 605-673-5582
(work) 605-745-4600
E-Mail: pisarowi@gwtc.net

BOARD OF EDITORS
Steven Taylor (Life Sciences)
Julian Lewis (Conservation)
Vacant (Exploration)
Greg McDonald (Paleontology)
Ira D. Sasowsky (Earth Sciences/Journal Index)
Marion O. Smith (Social Sciences)
Patty Jo Watson (Anthropology)
Ernst Kastning (Book Reviews)

ADVISORY BOARD
Malcolm Field
John Ganter
Chris Groves
Dave Jagnow
Donald McFarlane
Diana Northup
Art Palmer
William White

Progress:
Volume 65, number 1 (April 2003) was completed and mailed on time. Although I had understood that we were running over budget for the last fiscal year (02-03), and reported so in the last EVP report, I now understand that we actually came in under budget.

The most exciting progress to report, however, is the ISI Thomson acceptance of the Journal into their database. While this event is a rather eccentric accomplishment to most members and Directors, it has immense value to the scientists in both the Society and our broader cave and karst science community. The Journal is the only cave/karst journal to achieve this acknowledgment of scientific value and can expect to see both the quality and quantity of submitted manuscripts increase in the future. The recognition will also significantly assist our contributors who strive towards academic promotion and tenure considerations.

Lastly, and a bit belatedly, I have asked Chris Groves and Dave Jagnow to join the Advisory Board for a 3-year term, and they have accepted. The third invitee has not responded yet.

Plans:
We have an abundance of recommended manuscripts for the August issue that just arrived this week (June 17^th) and I expect that we will to have a full and on-time second issue. We already rushed one article of the issue into pre-publication on our website because of the papers implications on potential threatened/endangered species in Pennsylvania.

Now that we have a decision from ISI Thomson, I am once again ready to find a replacement as Editor. When I took the job, I promised Fred Wefer that I would retire in 4-5 years. This year is my 8^th year, which otherwise saw 4 different professional positions! It’s definitely time for new blood in the editorship. I will continue through this volume (December) and work with Don Paquette to identify and transition a new editor.

Problems:
Andrea Futrell has asked to step down as Associate Editor for Exploration and we will need to find a replacement. She has offered to continue until a replacement is found.

(11) NSS NEWS

Dave Bunnell
PO Box 879
Angels Camp CA 95222
dbunnell@caltel.com

Committee members:

Conservation
Jim & Val Hildreth-Werker
PO Box 207
Hillsboro NM 88042-0207
505-895-5050
werks@att.net

In the Media
Bill Klimack
15B Wilson Road
West Point NY 10996
845-446-5336
BKlimack@aol.com

Technology Reviews
Michael Fraley
cheshire@prairienet.org

Newsletter Review
Jay Kennedy
3638 Fifth St Apt 214
Rapid City SD 57701
605-343-1855
caver_doc@hotmail.com

Spelean Spotlight
Bill Steele
oksteele@aol.com

Science of Speleology
Prof. Greg Springer
Department of Geological Sciences
316 Clippinger Labs
Ohio University
Athens OH 45701
laramide@bedrockstreams.org

Techniques & Safety
Dan McConnell
540-774-5342
threecavrs@aol.com

Progress:
We have a new committee member, Michael Fraley, who will take over the reviews for the Technology column. I’ve solicited a number of articles and have commitments for several large features. Though some articles arrive unsolicited, keeping a steady stream of feature articles definitely requires the editor to know who’s doing what and keep asking for them.

Plans:
Upcoming features include an issue on West Virginia’s Portal-Boar Hole connection, Coldwater Cave in Iowa, and on Puerto Rico’s Isla de Mona. In the pipeline are more on Cheve, California’s Black Chasm, and on Hawaii’s Kanohina system.

I intend to give the office all my back issues as electronic files on DVD now that I have acquired a DVD burner. I just need to find the time to go through and copy the two-dozen some CDs that they are archived on now.

Problems:
None that I know of. I sorted out with Dave Irving that the shortfall in advertising doesn’t actually reduce my operating budget, just where the money comes from.

(12) MEMBERS MANUAL

Gordon Birkhimer, NSS 42778
45372 Woodlawn Dr
California MD 20619
30- 862-4619
birkhimergl@navair.navy.mil

Committee Members:
Meredith Johnson - Proofreader
Bob Hoke - Database Manager
Melody Eady - Layout and Design
Keith Wheeland - I/O
Evelyn Bradshaw - I/O
Stephanie Searles - Members Listing
David Taylor - Survey Information
Phil Winkler - Database

Progress:
The digital information was sent on June 20^th to EBSCO MEDIA in Birmingham, Alabama. We are having 11,000 copies printed at a cost of no more than $13,500.00 with mailing/handling costs of $5,400.00 for a total of $18,900.00. A blueline proof was received on June 26^th, and it will be approved and returned for printing on June 30^th. The printing should be completed the first week in July and in the mail immediately. NSS members should have the Members Manual before Convention.

The Members Manual Committee is proud to present the following changes and improvements in the 2003 NSS Members Manual. Many of these items are brand new ideas appearing for the very first time. They are listed along with the person/s who brought these great ideas to life.

1) Messages were published in the NSS News, Regional Publications, and Grotto Newsletters asking, "Is Your Contact Information Current for the 2003 NSS Members Manual?" Gordon Birkhimer

2) First time printing of the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988. Tom Lera

3) First time printing of the Financial Statement. Paul Stevens

4) The Donor List was alphabetized and reformatted to provide members easy readability. Meredith Hall Johnson, Ted Kayes, Mel Eady

5) Special Caver Events were enhanced to list most major caving events. Gordon Birkhimer, Meredith Hall Johnson

6) NSS Projects, Study Groups and Surveys were grouped to create the concise 2003 Official NSS Projects. Don McFarlane

7) First time printing of the NSS Research Grants, 2002. Don McFarlane

8) First time printing of NSS Membership Statistics. Robert Hoke

9) First time printing of Cave Conservancy Organization Advertising on the inside back cover. Gordon Birkhimer

Plans:
Prepare for next year.

Problems:
None.

(13) BIENNIAL REPORT

Bert Ashbrook
107 Avonbrook Rd
Wallingford PA 19086-6001
610-627-2378
caveman@craftech.com

Progress:
The table below tracks the distribution of the 1999-2001 report.

Plans:
For the Biennial report, I am pulling together the Society's activities for the past two years with a goal of putting out a new report for fiscal years 2001-02 and 2002-03 in December 2003.

Here is a request for you: can you PLEASE try to get someone to take a photo of the Board and the new officers at convention for the annual report. It really helps to put a face on the Society for readers of the annual report (=donors). Bonus points if everyone has their shirts tucked in and (Egad!) don’t have caver clothing on. Hmm, maybe too much to ask.

Problems:
None

(14) PERMISSION TO REPRINT

Don Paquette
NSS EVP
3530 Moulton Rd
Martinsville IN 46151
(phone)765-349-0211
(fax) 765-349-0356
speleo@reliable-net.net

The following permissions/contacts/non-permissions were made for reprinting NSS copyrighted materials and release of NSS Member information:

7/25/03