Next Meeting
Saturday, September 7th, 2002, 2PM
Five Rivers Environmental Center
Delmar, NY
Notes from the Last Meeting
1) Bob Addis, Bill Folsom, Joe Levinson, Christa Hay, Craig Cantello, Vince Kappler, Mike Warner, Paul Murphy, Steve McLuckie, Al Lehman, Tom Rider were in attendance. See photo at end of newsletter
2) Bob Simmons, our new Nominating Committee Chair, summarized the results of the election. Of the 105 ballots mailed out, there were 28 responses Ð a 27% response ratio. Vince Kappler, Al Lehman, and Mike Warner were elected for 3-year terms.
3) Bob Addis thanked the strong volunteer effort put forth by the NCC membership in the last few months.
4) Bill Folsom discussed the possibility of preserving Van FlietÕs and ANC Caves. Chuck Porter volunteered to go over and talk to the land owner.
5) Christa Hay updated everyone on the Spring NRO dinner, the new (and improved) NCC t-shirts, the Sellecks clean-up (see article in the last newsletter), updates to the display board and brochure in support of this past NSS Convention, and the status of our fund raising efforts. Christa also asked for ideas of a project to work on.
6) Joe Levinson reported that he has filed our income tax. Joe stated that we had over $10,600 in our account as of early June 2002.
7) Paul Murphy discussed organizing a cleanup of the sinks on his property.
8) Joe Armstrong reported that the owners of Westfall Spring Cave might be willing to donate the property to the NCC. Bob Addis and Chuck Porter volunteered to go over and talk to the land owner.
9) The Board discussed several by-law changes that will be voted on at the next meeting. See proposed changes below
For Sale at the NCC Store
We are currently sold out of the lanyards (more are being ordered) but we still have other promotional items for sale. NCC stickers are available for $2 ea. or free with a $50 donation and NCC t-shirts are available in tan or light blue for $12 ea (M to XL) and $14 ea (XXL and larger). Please send check payable to: The Northeastern Cave Conservancy, P.O. Box 254, Schoharie, N.Y. 12157.
Over 60 memberships expire in July and
August so check your expiration date (see your label) and renew your
memberships today!
Looking for Volunteers!
The following positions are currently open with the Northeastern Cave Conservancy. If you have the energy to spare, please consider donating your time to this worthy organization that benefits all current and future generations of cavers.
Currently these functions are being handled by existing board members as best
as they can, with everyone pitching in a little. But, having a point person to
head up each of these activities will allow the NCC to be more efficient and
timely and ultimately preserve more caves before landowners close them.
á Fundraising Chair
á Conservation Chair
á Membership Chair
Report on the Maine Convention
by Bob Addis
Exact financial details follow, but the Convention was good to the Northeastern Cave Conservancy. We had a central location in the school's hallway (see photo below) in the midst of the vendors, so traffic was good. Bill Folsom had rigged up the NCC Power Point presentation on his old Mac laptop and that was running. Christa Hay had printed some larger visual aids for the walls. Several Board members spent time at the table, and overall, it was one of the better conservancy booths.
We netted $713.35, mostly from the sale of lanyards, but in a large part due to the sale of show cave brochures. An old time caver had picked up an entire carton of various show cave brochures on his travels throughout the US in the 70's. Our sales method was to spread them out on a table and advertise them as free, but won't you make a donation? Cavers stirred through them continually, I kept adding new all week, and the spare change flowed into the NCC. We'll try it again at OTR since a few are left. Christa Hay had made several chocolate treats - free for the small bits, donation for a lollipop - and that attracted traffic. The last day as I was cleaning up, I was offering bits to the vendors and customers. One of the vendor's assistants wanted to buy the last box of bits. I said to make a donation to the NCC, and she did - $20! The 50-50 raffle was drawn by clumbsy Claw'd, The Lobster. He used a long ruler with a piece of gum on the end to pick the winning ticket - one of the leaders of the Mid-Atlantic Cave Conservancy!
Next stop - Old Timers. Come help at the NCC tent on Vendor's Row. It's fun!
Bob Addis and Robin
Strashun at the NCC exhibit booth, NSS Convention 2002 - Photo by Bill Folsom.
Tongass Cave Project
by Steve Lewis, Tongass Cave Project
P.O. Box 53
Tenakee Springs, AK 99841
Dear Advocate for Karst and Caves:
We at the Tongass Cave Project, a project of the NSS dedicated to the study, exploration, and protection of the caves and karst of Alaska, have drafted the attached document for submission to the Tongass National Forest. You can find a map of our submission recommendation at http://www.seacc.org/issues/karstwilderness.gif.
We are requesting that you, as experts on karst and caves, read our document, and, if you agree with it, sign it and indicate your title and organization.
Background:
Forest Service planners are developing a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that will evaluate Tongass National Forest roadless areas for recommendation as wilderness or for other forms of protection. For a summary of this Forest Service evaluation, see http://www.seacc.org/Issues.htm. The current Forest Service preference is to maintain the status quo, and not recommend protection for any additional areas.
We do not agree. We believe that it is time to correct a major omission, and include representative temperate rainforest karstlands within the National Wilderness System.
Please act today to protect Tongass karstlands:
We urge you to sign onto our document (Click here), and pass this along to colleagues and friends. We will be submitting the document to the Forest Service, along with all signatures we have collected, on August 14th, 2002, so please return your signatures as soon as possible. You can either mail the document back signed, or respond to this e-mail with your name, along with your title and organization. We'll collate all the names and submit them as a package with our document.
Whether you sign the document, or choose not to, we'd be very interested in hearing your reasons---a couple of sentences would be very useful to us in evaluating other experts' attitudes and perspectives toward protection of karstlands.
If you feel strongly on this issue, we urge you to also draft a short letter to the Forest Service and either submit it to the Forest Service via http://www.tongass-seis.net/comment.html or send it to the mailing address shown on the attached document. Feel free to e-mail us with questions or for advice on drafting your letter. Whether or not you write a separate letter, we'd still appreciate your signature on our document.
Thanks in advance for your help in protecting Tongass caves and karstlands.
Proposed Bylaws Changes
The following Bylaws changes were discussed at the June 7, 2002 meeting and
will be voted at the upcoming meeting in September. A Bylaws change requires 21-day
advance notice to the general membership and a 2/3 majority vote by the members
present at the next meeting.
1) Kappler moves to substitute for Article X:
X. Permanent Committees
A. Permanent committees shall be established by an act of the Board of Directors to accomplish the work of the NCC. The duties of each committee shall be to study, promote interest in and work toward the advancement of all matters pertaining to its field of activity. Any question of conflicting jurisdiction of committees shall be resolved by the President. For administrative purposes, the Board of Trustees may divide the permanent committees into groups and will designate an officer to supervise the activity of the committee(s) within the group.
B. The chairman of a committee shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees.
C. All committee chairman shall be current members of the NCC.
2) Folsom moves to add to Article X of the Bylaws:
Section 12 Conservation Committee. Add to the description section: The purpose of the Conservation Committee is the protection and preservation of the cave flora and fauna, clean up of caves and karst features, and related matters. This will be on the properties of the NCC and elsewhere.
3) Addis moves to add to Article V of the Bylaws:
Section 9 Proxies. Add the following: An Officer or Trustee may appoint a proxy to serve in their absence at any meeting. The Proxy must be a current member of the NCC, Inc. The appointment must be made to the Secretary in writing, electronic mail, or by telephone. In the SecretaryÕs planned absence, the President will receive the proxy designation. The proxy notification must specify if the proxy has limited or directed power to vote or if the proxy may vote unimpeded. Unannounced Board absences may be filled at the discretion and selection of the Board of Directors.
June 8th NCC Board
meeting, Schoharie Cabin - photo by Bill Folsom