Attachment A
President's Report
AGI Outreach Liaison
Awards Committee
Board Arrangements
Committee
Bylaws Committee
Fund Raising Committee
Government Liaison
Committee
Grants Committee
International Secretary
Legal Committee
Logistics Committee
Membership Committee
National Cave and Karst
Management Symposium Coordinator
Nominating Committee
NSS/KWI Liaison
NSS/NCKRI
Liaison
NSS/TNC Liaison
Planning Committee
Public Relations Committee
Recording Secretary
Secretary to the Board
Show Caves Liaison
Committee
Spring Hill Cave Lawsuit Ad Hoc
Committee (Final Report)
NSS Library Infrastructure
Ad Hoc Committee
2009 International
Congress Bid Ad Hoc Committee
Scott Fee, (205) 437-9076, president@caves.org
There are 24 committees, commissions, publications, etc. in the Department of the President (PRES). In this report, I provide the name, phone number, and e-mail address of the chairman of each committee or organization, followed by their report. The committee and sub-committee chairmen have provided the information in this report, although I’ve made some spelling, formatting, and minor editorial adjustments.
For detailed address information of any committee chairman, please refer to the NSS Members Manual or the Current Personnel table on the Web
Alternatively, you may contact me directly and I will furnish you with the appropriate contact information.
Plans:
Continue to beat the bushes for a new Fund Raising Chairman
To establish a permanent residence in Birmingham and finally unpack.
Progress:
The $5,000 matching grant for Great-X that was offered by Gerry Forney and Irene Ludwig of Denver was the catalyst to propel the Great Expectations Cave pledge page (www.greatx.caves.org) up to $101,500. This is a significant increase from my last report of $71,000. The NSS News is running a monthly graphic depicting a caver crawling toward the end of the tunnel (paying off the debt). A licensed Wyoming surveyor completed the signed survey of the property. As we anticipated, the cave entrance was very close to the southern boundary. The NSS has executed our part of the Wyoming Boundary Adjustment and we expect the adjacent landowner to do the same by the end of February. The real estate attorney, upon receipt of the executed boundary adjustment, will then complete the legalities by filing the document with the county and obtaining a revised deed.
The PR Committee has developed a template web page and is working with the NSS IT Committee to achieve its vision.
In addition to the monthly meeting of the Birmingham Grotto, I have attended the following caver functions during this reporting period: TAG Fall Cave In.
Ad Hoc Committees:
This is the final report for the Spring Hill Cave Lawsuit Ad Hoc Committee.
There is a motion on the agenda to create a new permanent committee in the OVP Department. If passed, this would eliminate the need for the NSS Library Infrastructure Ad Hoc Committee.
The recommended site selection for the proposed 2009 International Bid is forthcoming and expected to be delivered to the Board no later than March 10th.
Problems:
The Internet postings for the Fund Raising Chairman have had no responses.
Lack of a current fiscal year end closing for FY02/03 has stymied the Grants Committee.
Very few members are "stepping forward" to run as a candidate for the upcoming Directors election.
Nothing more than what life throws at you! (In early February I was involved in car accident that totaled my Subaru the morning I was scheduled to fly out to the NSS EC Budget Meeting.) Since we could not fund a replacement vehicle (Just kidding here folks) and at the urging of the AVP, I replaced it with a bat sticker friendly Xterra.
Carol Zokiates (Liaison), 540-382-5437, zokaites@usit.net
Plans:
to stay in touch with the AGI group.
Progress:
Things just don't happen 3 times a year. We had a great success
with Earth Science Week and hope to continue with Earth Science
Week next year.
Problems:
none
Bill Tozer (Chairman), 765-778-3259, wtozer@aol.com
Committee Members:
Barbara am Ende, Gale Beach, Evelyn Bradshaw, Bill
Bussey, Donald G. Davis, Michael Dyas, Scott Fee, Dr. Daniel
Fong, Jeanne Hill, Dr. Cato O. Holler, Jr., Mike K. Hood, Roy
Jameson, Pat Kambesis, Charles V. Larson, Dr. Charles A.
Lundquist, William Mixon, G. Thomas Rea, Geary M. Schindel,
Gordon L. Smith, Jr, Linda Starr, Lee Stevens, Dr. George Veni
Progress:
The 2004 award nominations are in and look very good.
The award nominations have been submitted to the AC for
evaluation. The nominating material for OS and HM will be
distributed to the Board so that they may select these awards at
the spring meeting in March.
Plans:
The AC will provide recommendations for the 2004 awards
to the Board at the spring meeting. After the Board meeting, the
AC will begin preparing the Awards program for the 2004
Marquette, Michigan convention. All recipients will be notified
so that they may attend the convention and be recognized. Plans
are to have photos for all recipients so that they may be
displayed with a power point program.
Problems:
There are no problems at this point. The process is
moving along according to schedule.
Mike Hood (Chairman), mhood@caves.org
Plans:
I plan to continue to contact internal organizations via e-mail,
articles, and the Internet about hosting meetings. I also plan to
post more notices in the NSS News and keep the events
calendars in the News and website current by informing
the Editor and webmaster of updates. There is a bid in the works
for Texas to host the Spring 2005 Meeting.
Progress:
I updated the Arrangements for Board of Governors
Meetings document found on the NSS website. This is the
document Tom Pollock created when he was chairman and is a very
good planning tool for I/O’s. Updates were necessary due to
changes in personnel and minor administrative changes. I/O’s
have contacted me about hosting upcoming meetings and, at this
time, two are currently developing bids (most likely for the
Spring 2005 meeting). The Birmingham Grotto and the Cleveland
Grotto have each submitted a bid for the fall 2004 meeting and a
motion is on the agenda.
Problems:
Nothing major. I was unable to recruit someone to help
me out while I’m deployed to the Middle East. However, this
problem has been minor due to the availability of e-mail and the
Internet. I expect to be back home by the meeting date.
Tom Rea (Chairman), 765-653-4423, tomrea@caves.org
Progress:
I reviewed two suggested bylaws, discussed them with the
author, and reported on them to the Board.
Plans:
Respond when my cage is rattled.
Problems:
None.
Vacant
Progress:
The Great X Fund Raising Letter was mailed out and was
highlighted by the $5,000 matching grant offered by Gerry Forney
and Irene Ludwig of Denver. Since my last report, over $30,000
was raised bringing our fund-raising total in excess of $101,000.
When you consider interest, legal fees, and fund raising
premiums, we are a little shy of the midpoint. I feel the NSS can
be proud that we have made significant strides in this fund
raising campaign after only one year. Naturally, the next $75,000
will be hardest.
As I reported previously, NSS member Dave Hughes has donated 30 cellular phones in their original packaging to the NSS. He has stipulated that all the proceeds to the "NSS Library/Museum Building Trust Fund." Thanks to the effort of Kirk Holzaphel, we are selling the phones individually via ebay. We have sold 12 of these phones to date, which has raised over $2,000. The average selling price for the remaining 18 phones is expected to be around $200 per phone.
Plans:
Find a chairman.
Problems:
No responses to date to this vital
volunteer position.
Hazel Medville (Chairman), 703-860-0134, Hazelm@patriot.net
Progress:
Attended a conference held on November 17, 2003, to
discuss and expand the concept of creating a Karst Internship
Program. Conference attendees met in the Main Interior Building
in Washington DC, with several people participating by telephone.
In attendance were: Chris Groves, Andy Ernest, and Pat Kambesis
(Western Kentucky University), Hazel Medville (NSS), Carol
Zokaites (Virginia Division of Natural Heritage), Jim Goodbar
(BLM), Jim Miller (U.S. Forest Service), and Ron Kerbo, Judy
Geniac, and Lindsay McClelland (National Park Service).
Attended an NCKRI Visioning Workshop sponsored by the National Park Service, in partnership with New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico on October 5-6, 2003. The workshop was held at the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A diverse group of participants attended including representatives from Federal land management agencies, state parks and agencies, associations and NGOs, and academia. The purpose of the workshop was to share perspectives and to actively involve a broad segment of the caving community in considering the long-term vision, activities, organizational structure, and operating plan of the Institute.
Advised Jay Swofford of the KMCTF how to deal with the NPS and USFS in order to re-build trust so task force activists will be able in the future to perform volunteer services in the cave and nearby government owned caves.
NCKRI, in December, said that they plan to resume work on an MOU with the NSS.
Asked Ron Kerbo about the NPS request for the Guide to Responsible Caving and whether I needed to advance the issue on the NSS end. (January 2004)
Plans:
Continue to interface with government agencies and to
help NSS members deal with government agencies on an as need
basis.
Work with BLM and NCKRI on the MOUs with the NSS.
Problems:
None.
Donna Cobb, 205-987-0872, dndcobb@bellsouth.net, Interim Chairman
Committee Members: Jennifer Pinkley, Carol Childress, &
Eric Johnson.
New Members for 2004: Andy Messer, Kyle G. Crider, & Tom
Hagood.
Current developments:
We have requested multiple foundation, government
organization, and granting bodies applications and await the
2003/2004 NSS audited financial documentation and information
required in grant applications.
We are discussing the development of a marketing package folder and/or brochure to supplement the existing NSS literature in an effort to introduce and market the Society to foundations and granting organizations with Judi Lynch, a professional graphic designer.
The Grant Committee continues to grow with the addition of several experienced grant writers and interested cavers willing to give of their time.
As stated in our 2003 report, the viable funding opportunities are:
Goals:
To work with the various committees to develop
short-term (three to five years) and long-term (five years and
beyond) funding goals and objectives for:
To appear professional, innovative, and to stand out from the hundreds of applicants, the NSS Grant Committee needs clear and concise long and short- term goals for every grant application submission. In addition, we have not yet received the 2004 NSS audited financial statement required for submission of applications for funding.
Thanks to the teamwork and participation of various committees Chairpersons, we have a continually growing list of objectives, needs and goals for the future of the NSS. We are keeping records of the requests received and will address the needs of the various committees as soon as it possible to request funding on their behalf.
Progress:
Until we obtain an audited financial statement from the
NSS we are unable to submit any grant requests on behalf of the
NSS so no progress towards the submission of grant requests have
been made since our 2003 report.
Additional thoughts based on Grant Committee
discussions:
The Grant Committee is ready with our applications and
willing to work with the various offices to make our quest to
help the NSS a more efficient and viable process. We have
excellent funding resources and are ready to go once we have the
financial documentation necessary to submit for funding. These
financial data are long overdue and without them, we are helpless
to meet any of the NSS goals for funding. The reality is that we
are unable to do anything to meet the funding needs of the NSS
without these data.
John L. Moses (Secretary), 915-921-0535, johnmoses@excite.com
Eleanor Larson (Committee Member) Santa Barbara, CA
Tom Lera (Committee Member) Falls Church, VA
Plans:
The First Circular for the 14th International Congress
of Speleology, to be held in Athens, Greece, August 21 – 28,
2005, was issued by the two hosting organizations, the Hellenic
Speleological Society and the Hellenic Federation of Speleology.
The Circular and pre-registration information are available on the Congress web site at:
Early registration fees of 160 Euros (about $200 at current exchange rates) are in effect until June 30, 2004.
A request was received from the organizers of the 2005 Athens International Congress to furnish public display panels on caves and speleology for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The NSS Public Relations Committee (Jay Jordan, Chairman) agreed to prepare an exhibit by the May 2004 deadline.
Progress:
A proposal for funding, through the International
Participation Grant program, of an undergraduate study program in
Italy was submitted by an NSS member. The International
Participation Grant Committee reviewed the request and decided
that the project did not meet the criteria for the grant.
As part of the effort to identify potential venues in the US for an International Congress in 2009, I evaluated the potential of two sites in far west Texas – the University of Texas El Paso campus and the El Paso Convention Center. A single evaluation for El Paso was submitted to the committee.
Correspondence relating to the participation grants, a past NSS project in Honduras, and an international contact list for the NSS was received and answered.
Problems:
None
Joel B. Stevenson (Chairman), 828-669-0126, cavelaw@jbs-law.com
Progress:
There have been no major legal issues. I have addressed
several inquires as follows:
November 18, 2003 - email to Scott Fee re: "liability question" that had been posed by the Board. The question was too broad to be readily answered.
December 12, 2003 - Respond to email from G. Bush concerning cave preserve use by commercial outfitter who charges for his services as a "cave guide" and potential for liability exposure. The preserve manager had correctly halted the use and it will not be allowed to resume.
December 15, 2003 -- Additional email discussions of preserve use problem with G Bush and preserve manager.
January 5, 2004 - Telephone conversation with NSS & NCRC member John Green regarding his concerns over insurance coverage for NCRC events and potential liability exposure for the Society. He may express those concerns to one or more members of the Board.
January 14, 2004 - Email response to questions concerning my 18 November email on "NSS liability," touching briefly on basic liability principles and on insurance.
Plans:
There are no pending problems, so there are no plans
other than to remain available to try to address any questions
that are directed to me.
Problems:
All is quiet on the legal front. No problems of which I
have been made aware.
Roswell Jones (Chairman), (H) 412-367-3522, wrj48221@attbi.com
Progress:
The voting machine was in Gainesville, as promised.
Plans:
The voting machine will be in Las Vegas as per schedule.
Pending:
I’m still holding the parts for the new voting
machine waiting for some plans. (See Secretary to the Board
Report)
Vacant
Plans:
The March agenda will have a motion to appoint a
committee chairman.
Progress:
None.
Problems:
Lack of activity in this vital department.
Cheryl Jones (Coordinator), 703-442-8499, cheryl.caver@verizon.net
Plans:
The NCKMS would like to publish the 2005 NCKMS
Proceedings before Convention.
I will chair the NCKMS Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday morning of the NSS Convention week.
Progress:
Hazel Medville attended a meeting on my behalf between
federal agency members of the Steering Committee to discuss
opportunities for Committee support of an internship program for
students in cave and karst management programs.
Staying in contact with Mike Warner, Chairman of the Cave Conservancies Workshop, scheduled for April in Albany, New York, and providing support and assistance. The NCKMS is sponsoring the workshop.
Plans for the 2005 Symposium in Albany NY are progressing.
Problems:
Difficulty in obtaining the NCKMS fiscal report for
FY02-03, which ended in May, and communicating effectively with
the Foundation Treasurer.
Montana Autumn Spencer (Chairman), 513-793-7789, Cavrbab@earthlink.net
Joseph D Marchese, 48495RE, Verification Teller
David D Seng, 24371RE, Committee Member
Plans:
Revamp 2004 election time line to coincide with new
bylaw notification standards.
Plan for 2004 Board Election:
Confirm eligibility of candidates with the NSS Office.
Complete ballot layout, composition, and proofing.
Submit ballot for printing and mailing. Ballots will be mailed out of Huntsville this year using the NSS bulk-mailing permit.
Travel to Huntsville on mailing day to hand stuff and affix postage to the foreign ballots. (This may be completed by the printing company.)
Receive and account for all valid ballots on tally sheets by the deadline.
Recheck count with supervision from the Verification Teller.
Notify NSS President and all candidates 40 days before the NSS Convention per the Bylaws.
Notify the NSS Board of Governors at the NSS Convention. Have on hand all ballots and final tally sheets for inspection by the candidates. Submit same to the NSS Archivist.
Notify the membership of election results via an NSS News, August issue article.
Progress on the 2004 NSS Election:
Announcement was published in the December NSS News advising prospective candidates of contact information and submission deadlines, etc. at least 45 days prior to the deadline for nominating petitions per the Bylaws.
Continue solicitation of candidates for the 2004 election. 65 members have been contacted and 24 of those declined the nomination. Only a few have stated they would like future consideration. I am still making phone solicitations and asking for recommendations as I go.
Detailed guidelines for submission of election material have been provided to the five confirmed candidates and a handful of others who requested info by e-mail. Most of the other cavers called, said they would consider running and would get back with me, but have either not responded back or are not responding to my call backs. I am very concerned about this year's slate by comparison to last year's and about being able to meet Bylaw time frames.
I have already contacted Stephanie regarding our current membership numbers for ballot printing and mailing quotes since we have lost our caver contact at last year's printer and are no longer privy to the generous discount that was passed along. I am trying to utilize another Huntsville printer and am still waiting to hear back on a quote and lead time.
Problems associated with the 2004 NSS Election:
Layout of the ballot will echo what I have used the last couple of years. Completion of the composition of the 2004 NSS Board Election Ballot and mailing is way behind schedule to due lack of candidates and therefore no content to insert and proof.
All ballot quotes I've obtained here in Cincinnati are about $2,000 higher than last year's cost. This presents a budget concern. Hopefully one of my southeastern leads will be reasonable.
Kelly Norwood (Chairman), 770-723-9040;
e-mail kelly_norwood@dnr.state.ga.us
Plans:
KWI will be holding their annual meeting on March 27,
2004, at Howe Caverns, New York. The meeting will include an
awards ceremony where Dr. Arthur N. Palmer will receive the
KWI’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his many contributions
to karst science and to the KWI. Future KWI sponsored events will
be on the table for discussion during the meeting and Dr. Palmer
will present a talk "Searching in the Dark." The
meeting begins at 5:00 P.M.,
and the public is welcome with registration and a fee of $35.00.
Checks should be sent to Emily Davis (she is in the NSS Members
Manual).
The KWI has also made a formal announcement of the NCKRI sponsored session at the Geological Society of America 2004 National Meeting. This will likely be discussed further in the NSS-NCKRI Liaison report, so I won’t go into the details here. Dr. Hose, Director of NCKRI, has already made this announcement to Caver’s Digest, a popular national email list. I will likely distribute this announcement along with a general announcement regarding the KWI meeting on my list of web boards/lists etc. in the next few days if I do not see it pop up on any of these before hand via the new proposed NSS-NCKRI Liaison.
As last time, my plans are to continue to forward all KWI information out to the NSS membership, and to promote open communication between NSS scientists (of which KWI persons are included) about their science projects. I also want to promote environmental research by getting KWI sponsored conferences and workshops posted on EPA conference, session, and continuing education web boards/lists.
Progress:
In October, KWI hosted the Interdisciplinary
Workshop on Epikarst. I was unable to attend this
conference; however, according to Dr. Carol Wicks, KWI-NSS
liaison, the conference was a success with many international
attendees and presenters. New Zealand, Ukraine, and Canada, were
among the other countries represented at the conference. The
focus was to gain a generally acceptable concept to define
"epikarst" and what scientific disciplines would be
involved with epikarst studies.
I have researched other caving email groups and web discussion boards for posting conference information. As a result I have a list of names and email addresses of folks that wish me to forward KWI announcements personally. Many of these folks have offered to pass on this information to their own private caving groups or other interested parties.
Problems:
None.
Vacant
Plans:
The March agenda will have a motion to appoint a
committee chairman.
Progress:
None.
Rane L. Curl (Liaison), 734-995-2678, ranecurl@umich.edu
Rob Robbins (Committee Member)
Progress:
No new developments to report.
Plans:
I will continue to try to obtain responses from TNC
Problems:
I have not been able to devote much time recently due to
personal situations.
David Luckins, (Chairman) deluckins@aol.com
Plans:
1. Facilitate the development of a formal stratigic
planning process.
2. Facilitate the development of the NSS Stratigic Plan.
Progress:
1. A primer broadly
outlining the strategic planning process has been prepared to
provide the Board with a common language.
2. An initial “first step” has been suggested and is
being developed.
Problems:
Same as ever; GM's insistence on work interfering with more
important volunteer work.
Jay Jorden (Chairman), 214-202-6611, jjorden@texoma.net
Committee Members: David McClurg, Matt Bowers, Jack Hissong, and Sandra Hissong.
Progress:
In the four months since the last report, the committee
has made progress in the areas of developing a public relations
component to the NSS Web site, updating draft background
materials for distribution through the site and keeping up with
requests for information from Society members and media
representatives.
Details:
The committee has worked with Melanie S. Peterson in
development of Public Relations Committee pages for the NSS Web
site. The pages are set up in draft presentation for formatting
purposes– not yet for content -- and will be augmented
before launching. One component will be a draft background sheet
that the PR Committee has updated. It will receive more NSS board
review before final posting. Examples of other material to be
posted include sample news releases, guidelines for dealing with
media representatives, contact information, etc.
The committee is also working with John Moses, NSS international secretary, regarding a request for speleological displays to be exhibited at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in advance of the 2005 International Congress of Speleology in Greece.
The committee has worked with a number of writers and publicists during the report period. Committee work also included help with distributing conservation news through the NSS News and other forums in liaison with the NSS Conservation and Management Division.
Committee contacts during the report period also included a newspaper reporter, a freelance writer and a book author.
Plans:
The committee’s objective calls for launching the
public relations component to the NSS Web site by the end of
February.
Problems:
As always, please let me know of any specific PR
concerns or needs either from the officers or the board.
Lee Stevens, stevenslee@adelphia.net.
Progress:
The draft minutes of the October 2003 Board of Governors
meeting have been circulated, corrected and posted on the web.
Plans:
To continue to produce the Board of Governors meeting
minutes in a timely way.
To further pursue development of a computer based method for recording the motions and votes during the Board meetings. An ad has been sent to various caving internet mailing lists and will also be placed in an upcoming NSS NEWS to seek volunteers interested in developing a new computer based method to record motions and votes during NSS Board Meetings. The Recording Secretary will be the point-of-contact for the ad. Selection of the best qualified volunteer will be made after consulting with cavers familiar with computer systems and the NSS President. The specs for the system have been written and implementation of this project will be a priority this year.
Problems:
None at the moment.
Vince Kappler, 973-579-2116, vkappler@nac.net
Progress:
My costs to produce manual updates increased
dramatically. In the fall of 2003, I contacted everyone who had
been receiving the Board of Governors Manual updates and
requested that they consider using the Web version of the manual
and forgo the expensive paper version I produced. Many agreed and
I am happy to report that the number of updates prepared and
mailed have been reduced by more than 50%.
I have determined that there is no benefit in pursuing efforts to develop a procedure to send manual updates via e-mail at this time.
Plans:
I am working to create a new manual section specifically
for NSS grants. Acts pertaining to grants are in several
different sections of the manual and present a challenge to
individuals as they search for information on grants. The new
section should be completed and posted to the web with the March
04 meeting updates.
The manual was originally created using WordPerfect and I continued to use that format when I assumed editorship in 1997. WP is not very popular today and I receive complaints when I send sections of the manual via e-mail because WP does not retain its original formatting when converted. I plan to redo the manual in the more popular MS Word format. I expect this to be a very large project that may take more than a year to complete.
Problems:
None at this time.
Gordon Smith (Chairman), 812-945-5721, glstis@aol.com
Progress:
I attended the NCA meeting in California last Fall and
have been at show caves from California to the Bahamas since the
last Board meeting.
Plans:
I will be visiting several show caves in the next few
months and will report on any problems.
Problems:
None to report.
Cheryl Jones (Chairman), 703-442-8499, cheryl.caver@verizon.net
Plans:
Take necessary action to close the NSS Spring Hill
Restricted Fund and transfer the money to the NSS Landowner
Assistance Restricted Fund, as per the Spring Hill Fund rules.
Dissolve the ad hoc committee.
This will be the final report of this ad hoc committee.
Progress:
Discussions with the cave owner's daughter Sharon Todd,
and with Ms Beckner have not bought us any closer to transferring
any support money to Ms Beckner. Ms Becker's personal lawyer is
not going to submit a bill, and her other legal fees were covered
by insurance. Ms Beckner said if she receives any money from the
NSS she would want to return it to the NSS for cave conservation.
I explained that the money in the Spring Hill Fund would be
transferred to the Landowner Assistance Restricted Fund, to help
cave owners in the future defend themselves against lawsuits
related to their caves. This pleased her. Where we stand: Ms
Beckner said she would call me if she received any bills or could
think of other expenses that could be covered by the Spring Hill
Fund. I have not had a return call. I believe that the NSS's
interest in supporting Ms Beckner has been made clear to Ms Todd
and Ms Beckner, and I have made a concerted effort in numerous
phone conversations to transfer some of the money to Ms Beckner,
with no success.
Problems:
None.
Paul Stevens (Chairman) (home) 703-724-7642
(e-mail) paulstevens@adelphia.net
See http://www.caves.org/committee/library/
Progress:
Continued to edit and augment the Index database. The
index contains general and specific terms from the title and body
of an article or book. This includes cave names, geographic
names, Latin names of organisms, names of cave formations and
minerals, caving-related activities and equipment, and authors.
Currently it covers the 1954-91 (sans 76 & 86) NSS News,
the 1996 -2002 Journal of Cave and Karst Studies,
the1940-84 NSS Bulletin, all (1956-02) Speleo Digests, Caving
Basics, Cave Minerals of the World II, On
Station, On Rope, Speleogenesis and The
Taming of the Slough. We now have an inventory of e-books
including the 98, 01, 03 Convention Guidebooks, On Rope,
Speleogenesis and The Taming of the Slough.
Plan:
Continue to build the index of NSS publications and
convert NSS publications to Adobe e-book format. Dave McClurg is
providing the pdf file for Cave Minerals of the World II.
Ask for Board approval of a $6,000 capital budget for Adobe
Content Server (http://www.adobe.com/epaper/ebooks/main.html)
so we can loan e-books to NSS members over the web. Longer term
build an inventory of cooperating-grotto publications for the
on-line library.
Problems:
None
George Veni and John Moses, Co-Chairmen
Plans:
The week of February 16th the committee will review the
evaluations for Carlsbad, El Paso, Highland Heights, and San
Antonio. The following week the committee will select one site to
recommend to the Board. Soon after, and no later than March 10th,
a CD will be sent to President Scott Fee that describes the
recommended site and the reasons for the recommendation.
Information on the other sites will also be available on the CD
should the Board wish to review it.
Progress:
Thirty cavers from 20 states were directly contacted and
asked to make evaluations of possible U.S. sites for an
International Congress of Speleology in 2009. The invitation for
evaluations was also posted on at least one caving list serve.
The evaluation forms were sent to eight respondents. Of those,
the following seven communities were evaluated:
Boulder, Colorado
Fort Collins, Colorado
Highland Heights, Kentucky
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Ruidoso, New Mexico
El Paso, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Three of the above sites were disqualified by the site evaluators prior to forwarding the information to the committee: Boulder and Fort Collins were not available during the proposed time period and Ruidoso had insufficient facilities.
Problems:
None
3/1/04