NCC About

Officers

To complete an email address, append necaveconservancy.org after the @ sign.

President	Bob Addis	518-237-1165	president@
	Started caving in 1961(Gage) and caver & active digger in all possible of the 48 contiguous states, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, Germany, S. Africa. Favorite caves: McFails & Scott Hollow. Mapped 3 miles of virgin cave in Scott Hollow over 5 years with the PAG. Re- activated/re-energized 3 Grottos: Mohawk-Hudson, Southern Cal, Parkersburg Area. NSS Board Director 19 years. Tri-founder of the NCC in 1978 and President since. Authored & published MBA thesis on landowner liability and the management of Knox Cave. On the lighter side, I co-founded Bob & Bob; invented the caving tee shirt, am the worldest's champion stalagmite sitter, the founder & Grand Marshall of the Old Timers Reunion Doo Dah Parade! As my career path takes yet another turn, I'm currently a manager for Housing Initiatives of the NYS Office of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities. Favorite saying: "If it isn't fun, it isn't worth doing!"

Vice President	Vince Kappler	973-579-2116	vicepresident@
	NCC Trustee since 1999, Membership Chairman Greater Allentown Grotto, and Secretary to the Board of Governors of the NSS. Vince started caving with the Northern New Jersey Grotto in the early '60's. At that time the grotto was very active with "project caving" such as digging and trenching in Schoharie Caverns to lower or bypass the siphon, lowering the water level in the Lost Passage or digging to gain access to the suspected "big cave just around the corner" in Gage Caverns. The NE is still Vince's primary caving area and his interests have evolved from tough in cave projects (a byproduct of getting older!), to conservation issues. Vince is a retired NJ high school principal and lives in Sussex County, NJ.

Treasurer	Bill Folsom	845-626-4220	treasurer@
	VP of the NCC 2000-2006, Chairman of Met Grotto 1998-1999, Treasurer of Met Grotto 1996-1997, Organizer of the Spring 1998 and 2003 NROs, member of the Rockeaters forever, actively involved in exploration and conservation of caves and karst of the Northeast. When not underground, Bill can be found in front of a computer screen, having worked at various times in book, magazine, online and game publishing.

Secretary	Christa Hay	518-237-1165	secretary@
	NCC Secretary since 2000, NCC committee chair (Publications,Newsletter Publisher, Publicity) since 1999, Treasurer of the Helderberg-Hudson Grotto 2002-present, organizer of several caving related activities (NROs,dinners, fundraising). Started caving in 1997 after being asked by a caving co-worker "so what are you doing this weekend?" I enjoy most areas related to caving; exploring caves, conserving caves, digging, and meeting land owners just to name a few. In my day job I am a Geographical Information Specialist working for C.T. Male Associates in Latham, NY.

Trustees

06/2012 (exp date)	Thom Engel		t.engel@
	I started caving in October 1969. My first wild cave was Clarksville though I had "dabbled" in some of the Thacher Park caves earily. I was co-editor of the Northeastern Caver with Doug Hauser for a few years starting in 1976 and then editor on my own in the late 1980s. I am preserve manager for Onesquethaw and for the NSS at Barton Hill. I am co-manager of Clarksville. I am past manager of McFails Cave. I have written many of the management plans for the NSS and NCC preserves in New York. My caving interests include management, surveying and cartography, and geology. Since 2003 I have been involved with exploring and surveying the Kipuka Kanohina Cave system on the Island of Hawai`i.

06/2012	Alan Hicks		a.hicks@
	Alan Hicks is a wildlife biologist that has been the bat specialist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for nearly 30 years. In addition to his role as advisor to the NCC on bat related issues, he serves as liaison between the NCC, and both bat researchers and state and federal resource agencies in their common interests to protect bats, the caves they live in, and the benefits that caves provide to the people of the Northeast.

06/2012	Alan Traino	973 427 2020	a.traino@
	Alan has been a member of the NSS since 2002 and chair of the NRO for the past five years. He has also served as NCC Fundraising Chair since 2004. A member of the Rockeaters, Alan is active in exploration and conservation of caves and karst. He also has a very active interest in astronomy: Board member of the Rocklnd Astronomy Club, Alan chairs the largest astronomy show in the world, owns a solar telescope company and an optical store.

06/2013	Mike Warner	518-295-7978	m.warner@
	Mike Warner has been an active caver since 1986 and is a Fellow of the National Speleological Society. He is currently chair of the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium Steering Committee, Vice President of the Cave Conservancy of Hawaii, Organizer of the upcoming International Cave and Karst Management Symposium to be held at the International Congress of Speleology, one of the organizers of the National Cave and Karst Conservancies Forum, and past board member of the Michigan Karst Conservancy and the Schoharie Land Trust. He is also actively working with the NSS White Nose Syndrome Liaison to facilitate projects. Mike has visited cave and karst management sites internationally as co-owner of Speleobooks.

06/2013	Kevin Dumont		k.dumont@
	Kevin Dumont has been caving since 1986, where he began exploring caves with the Rensselaer Outing Club. Like so many others, his first cave was Clarksville Cave. Kevin worked under Dr. John Mylroie for his MS in Geoscience where his thesis project involved the exploration, mapping, and description of the hydrogeology of Barrack Zourie Cave. He is currently living in Newburgh, NY where he is working toward his teaching certification in high school earth science.

06/2013	Paul Woodell		p.woodell@

06/2014	Morgan Ingalls		m.ingalls@
	I started caving in 2008 and soon after joined the NSS, VCA, and NCC. Since then I’ve led several caving trips for Marlboro College as well as one at the NSS convention in Vermont. I cave and dig primarily in western Massachusetts and southwestern Vermont. I’ve also helped with a number of bat counts in New York and Massachusetts. I graduated from Marlboro College in southern Vermont in May of 2010 with a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry. My research there focused on White Nose Syndrome and specifically how the fungus G. destructans affects the regulation of RNA and biological pathways in cultured mammalian cells. I am currently pursing my Masters of Science in Conservation Biology at Antioch University in Keene, New Hampshire where I am continuing to research White Nose Syndrome.

06/2014	Michael Chu		m.chu@
	Mike has been an NCC Trustee since 2005, Chair of the Rensselaer Outing Club Grotto from 2004-2008, and a fellow of the NSS. He is active in cave exploration and conservation of karst. Mike works as a design engineer for specialized machinery and enjoys welding, fabrication, engine rebuilding and other "hands on" tasks while not caving.

06/2014	Peter Youngbaer	802-454-7752	p.youngbaer@
	Peter Youngbaer has been a caver for over 40 years. He served on the NCC Board from 2004-2006, when he was elected NCC Vice-President. In 2011, he stepped down to take on the NCC Membership Committee Chair, and was re-appointed to the Board. Peter is also the Liaison on White Nose Syndrome for the National Speleological Society, and intimately involved in the efforts to conserve our cave bats in the context of overall cave conservation. He joined the NSS (16161) in 1974, thanks to inspiration from his wife, Jane (10227). Peter is Immediate Past President of the Vermont Cavers Association, Vice-President of the Northeastern Regional Organization of the NSS, and serves as the NCC’s agent in Vermont. In real life he is Director of the People’s Health & Wellness Clinic, serving the uninsured and underinsured of Central Vermont.