Northeastern Cave Conservancy News
Volume 1, Number 3, September 1999
Photo by Joe Levinson, used by permission
The summer meeting of the NCC was held at the Fox Creek Nature Center in Gallupville, NY on 26-June-1999. Present were President Bob Addis, Vice President Peter Haberland, and Treasurer Joe Levinson. Trustees included Dana Atwood, Vince Kappler, Sue Loden, and Mike Warner. Bill Folsom proxied for Steve McLuckie and Lloyd "Pete" Johnson proxied for Kevin O'Classen. Tom Rider acted as Recording Secretary.
Of significance were:
1. Bob Addis appointed Chris Nicola as Secretary.
2. The membership annual dues period for current members will start at July 1, 1999.
3. The Office Committee and Website subcommittee will post the periodically updated NCC membership roster on the NCC website with limited, members only access.
4. Crossbones Cave on the Knox Cave Preserve will be gated by December 31, 1999. Up to $300.00 was allotted for materials.
5. Dan Werner of Rosendale, New York, was appointed as Legal Committee Chairperson.
6. The Legal Committee was asked to study the methods of owning and managing properties, corporations and/or subsidiaries outside of New York State. They will submit a preliminary report by the September 1999 meeting.
7. Any commercial group, included but not limited to summer camps and commercial ventures, making use of NCC properties shall provide insurance certificates naming the NCC as additional insured.
8. The Officers, Trustees, and Committee and Subcommittee Chairpersons shall be current members of the NCC. (UPDATE - This motion requires a bylaws change and as such requires a 20 day notice and a 2/3's majority vote of the membership at the earliest possible meeting).
9. A Two Second Pit ad hoc committee was formed with Chuck Porter as Chairman. The committee will investigate the possibility of acquiring this property and recommend management techniques by the September 1999 meeting.
10. The Executive Committee was authorized to accept on behalf of the Northeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. the Two Second Pit property. Up to $200 from the General Fund is authorized for transfer costs.
11. The Northeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. joined the Schoharie Land Trust as a regular member for $15.00. and the Albany County Land Conservancy as a regular member for up to $25.00.
12. $10.00 was allotted to the Web Site subcommittee to pay for a NSS web site address.
13. The NCC was asked to approach the Albany County Land Trust to take a conservation easement on Knox Cave.
14. The NCC was asked if they were willing to consider managing Thatcher State Park caves if they approach us.
15. An ad hoc committee was formed to investigate management of Brown's Depression, Schoharie County, NY. Bill Folsom and Chuck Porter are named as co-chairs.
16. Jennifer Esteva of Newburgh NY, was appointed chairman of the Fundraising Committee. (editor's note: Subsequently she declined, and Robin Strashun volunteered at the 9/25 meeting)
17. The 1999 interim budget presented at the meeting was approved.
The 14th National Cave and Karst Management Symposium will be held on October 19th through 22nd in Catttanooga, TN. The theme of this symposium is "Living with Caves and Karst" and will highlight impacts and threats to caves and karst in metropolitan areas, consider implications of caves and karst for land use planning and development, and examine strategies and techniques for conservation and management of caves and karst resources in that environment.
There will be pre and post-symposium field trips to nearby caves and karst areas. In addition, the symposium will off several optional field trips during the week that are designed to give participants opportunities to experience the region's cave and karst resources and to observe many examples of the issues highlighted in the presentations.
Registration is $150 and includes a reception, banquet, symposium program and proceedings, and attendance at all talks and exhibits. Field trips costs are not included. For more information on registration, check out http://www.caves.org/ncms99 or contact Jim Wilbanks at (706) 462-2316. Mike Warner will be heading down and has room for a couple of extra people if you would like to attend.
The Fall NCC meeting will be held at the A.J.Snyder Estate & Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, NY at 1PM on Saturday, September 25th, 1999.
On the agenda are an update of the 501(c)3 tax exempt status, a discussion of the investment of our funds in the National Speleological Foundation General Fund portfolio, and reports from the officer's and committee chairpersons.
Show up early with minimal cave gear (helmet, lights and boots suffice) for a trip into Pompey's Cave led by Bill Folsom. Pompey's is about 10 minutes away from the Snyder Estate, right off the road, and in a couple of hours before the meeting you can see a nice part of the cave. Other options include caving in Salamander Cave, Kingston, a visit to the Widow Jane Mine, swimming in the wild and secluded Rondout Creek, climbing or hiking the Shawangunks, or riding a nice railtrail.
After the meeting, there will be a BBQ on the Estate. Grill & coals, and homebrew beer will be supplied. Overnight camping on any night is available at the Snyder Estate.
On Sunday, September 26th, NCC members are welcome to the Met Grotto vertical workshop off the 140 foot hight railroad bridge here in Rosendale. Bring your vertical gear.
DIRECTIONS - To get to the A.J. Snyder Estate, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) south to exit 19 (Kingston). From the circle after the toll booth take the 1st exit to Rt. 28 west, then shortly exit to Rt. 209 south. Go south until the traffic light with the Davenport vegetable market on the left, make a left onto Cottekill Rd., pass the Ulster County Community College, cross straight at the Lucas Turnpike intersection, take the right fork, then make a left onto 213 at the Tee. The Snyder Estate is located on Route 213 between Rosendale and High Falls. Coming from Rosendale, you'll pass under the prominent landmark of the Wallkill Valley Railroad bridge, then look for our white sign on the right. Coming from High Falls, pass over the Rondout, pass the Snyder Little League field, spot the multi-colored brick house (jelly-bean) house on the left. We are the 2nd drive way on the left after that house. Directions from other locations can be found at http://widowjane.org.
Bill Folsom has the NCC website up and running. The website includes information about the conservancy, a membership form, the latest newsletter, a listing of the current officers, trustees, and chairs, a membership list (password protected) and links to other conservancies. You can check it out at http://www.caves.org/member/ncc.
As of August 1999 the NCC account had $2071.07. In addition, the National Speleological Foundation general fund is holding over $5500 for us.
Do you have grand visions for a logo that will represent the Northeastern Cave Conservancy? We'll sketch it out and bring it to the next NCC meeting. We have a couple of submittals so far. We may run them in the next newsletter or post them the website. For examples of other karst conservancy logos check out http://www.wvcc.net/sites.htm.
Gating of the Crossbones pit entrance is proceeding. At the June 1999 meeting, the board approved up to $300 for materials for this gating. Since then a sturdy plastic surplus culvert was supplied to the site by Thom Barton, and then placed vertically into the entrance sink by NCC members Mark Folsom, Bill Folsom and Jeff MacDonald. On August 21st, Thom and Tony Hopkins took measurement for a design of a hatch cover. The board thanks everyone who has helped at this project, as well as all the diggers who have discovered and explored this new cave.