Meeting
Tuesday, August 5, 2003
9:00 am
Porterville, California

Minutes

I. Roll Call

Present:

Jim Kennedy Jim Goodbar Rane Curl Ron Kerbo Roger McClure Jim Miller   Absent: Dave Foster Gary C. Berdeaux Heather Garland Robert Currie

BCI BLM KWI NPS CRF USFS     ACCA NCA TNC USF&WS

Acceptance of proxy(ies)

Ron Kerbo for Bob Currie - USF&WS
Roger McClure for Gary Berdeaux - NCA

Recognition of Guests

Julia Germany - Texas Speleological Society
Douglas Marchant - NCKMS Webmaster
Hazel Medville - NSS Government Agency Liaison
Michael Poucher - NSS Cave Diving Section/2003 NCKMS Chairman
Pat Seiser - Underworlds Unlimited
Dave Shaver - NPS
Sandy Trout - 2001 NCKMS Co-Chair
Jerry Trout - USDA Forest Service
Michael Warner - Northeastern Cave Conservancy

Minutes of the June 2, 2002, meeting were unanimously approved.

Reports

Cheryl Jones: Chairman's report --

NCKMS Logo:
The Logo is being used on the NCKMS web site, and was included on the 2001 Proceedings.

Web site
Doug Marchant, NCKMS web master was introduced and thanked for his work. 1999 Proceedings are on the web site, and 2001 Proceedings will be uploaded soon. Rob Stitt has been contacted about sending the 1997 Proceedings files for the NCKMS web site. Earlier Proceedings will need to be scanned for use on the web site. A volunteer for this project will need to be found.

Financial Report
The electronic format of the National Speleological Foundation annual report to the NCKMS has not been received. Communication from Treasurer Dave Luckins is poor. An updated report will be completed and circulated as soon as the information is available from the Foundation.
This past fiscal year (through April 30, 2003) income was approximately $5,200, expenses $400, and balance with the NSF approximately $12,045. Distributions since April 30: $4,000 ( $2,000 seed money to 2003 NCKMS + $2,000 Scholarship funds to 2003 NCKMS).

Jerry Trout: 2001 NCKMS:

Concern was expressed about the low number of papers in the 2001 Proceedings, vs the number of abstracts. Perhaps in the future session chairs can be responsible for following up with speakers to obtain papers.
The final count was 202 attendees
The hard copies of all files were handed over to Mike Warner.
The finance report was distributed; Symposium surplus of $2,335.79 was returned to the NCKMS.

Mike Poucher/Steve Omeroid: 2003 NCKMS update.

The 2003 Symposium web site contains all the information.
Concern about low registrations: 4 registrations and 6 papers. At this lead time, 2001 NCKMS had 80 registrations. A publicity blitz and assistance from Steering Committee members are essential to increase registrations and success of the symposium.
Budget: With 100 attendees, the budget will be very tight, with a shortfall of $7,200 to be made up by co-sponsorships.
A registration option of paying at the door will be offered. The US Government staff cannot spend the next fiscal year budget until October 1, and are not likely to have pre-registered.
Program includes Monday and Wednesday field trips. Banquet program will be Wes Skiles and the film "Waters Journey."

2005 NCKMS bids:

Northeastern Cave Conservancy, Mike Warner/Emily Davis. Bid is attached.
Field Trip opportunities: Large variety of cave and karst managed properties in close proximity to Albany
Howe Caverns tour and evening reception
Dates: Likely first week in November. Do not want to conflict with the Bat research Symposium.
The symposium would be promoted strongly at the April 2004, Cave Conservancies Forum.

Ron Kerbo: Hawaii
No one in the NPS in Hawaii is willing to take the lead at this time for a symposium, so a bid is not being pursued.

George Huppert Scholarship Program Committee:

Commmittee Members: Bob Currie (Chairman),Jim Goodbar, Jim Kennedy, Jim Miller, Ron Kerbo
Report "schlorships" attached.
The "send" button for on-line application submissions that sends to all Scholarship Committee members simultaneously is a great benefit.

Mike Warner: 2004 Cave Conservancies Forum

April 17-19, 2004, in Lewisburg WV
West Virginia Cave Conservancy and the Northeastern Cave Conservancy are co-organizers.
This is the first event of this sort. All cave conservancies will be invited to participate, as will Land Trusts.
Topics for workshops will include: Management plans, How to be a board member, etc.
Support and sponsorship by the NCKMS Steering Committee would be appreciated.

Business

Kennedy moved: The bid by the Northeastern Cave Conservancy to host the 2005 NCKMS is accepted.
Seconded: Curl
Vote: Unanimous
Passed

Kerbo moved: Jim Goodbar will explore opportunities and options for the NCKMS Steering Committee to support programs that will provide cave and karst management experience and training for potential future cave and karst managers. He will report to the Steering Committee at its October meeting.
Seconded: McClure
Vote: In favor: Kennedy, Curl, Miller, Kerbo, Kerbo for Currie, McClure, McClure for Berdeaux
Opposed: none
Abstain: Goodbar
Passed

Future Meetings

Tuesday, October 14, 2003
2003 NCKMS
Gainesville, Florida

VII. The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 am.

2005 NCKMS Bid

Northeastern Cave Conservancy

Dear NCKMS Steering Committee,

The Northeastern Cave Conservancy would like to invite you to meet in Albany, New York in October 2005. We have been working with the Albany Visitors Bureau and the Albany Quality Inn Hotel and they are both looking forward to hosting us. We have a proposal in hand.

The Albany Quality Inn is located less than 10 miles from the Albany International Airport and has a shuttle service from the airport, bus terminal and train station.

They have three main conference rooms available to us. These include a theater type room with built in power point. This first room is 25 x 45 and seats up to 70 class room style on tiered seats. The second room is 72 x 20 and would work well for displays and vendors. The major conference room is 70 x 51 and seats 200 classroom style. It can be divided into three equal size rooms if desired. The hall between the rooms is wide enough for coffee breaks.

The Hotel has a hospitality room just down the hall that could be used for speaker prep or for an evening hospitality suite.

The Hotel is a good caterer and can provide reasonable priced lunches and a banquet dinner. Our plan is to provide Tuesday and Thursday lunch on site to reduce waste time.

The Hotel has a total of 216 rooms with coffee makers in the rooms and a free breakfast buffet with the rooms. The room rates for us are estimated at $89 single or double with $99 for triple or quad. The guarantee they will not exceed the government per diem. They have ample free parking and are just off of a major interstate.

The hotel has offered us all space for free if we pay for 2 group luncheons, 1 reception, 1 banquet dinner and we rent over 60 rooms. If we only rent 40-60 rooms and our meal count drops below 150 we would pay a rental of $1500.

We have a commitment from Thatcher State Park for part of our field trip and Howe Caverns wants us to end our field day at their facility for trips though the cave and some sort of early evening festivities. We have numerous NSS and NCC preserves as well as private properties that use a wide variety of management systems that will be available for visits as well.

As you can see the prices are very fair and we think we can put on a well run and exciting event. Mike Warner has some very specific ideas of a meeting theme based on the new publication due out from Karst Waters Institute in conjunction with the National Park Service on Cave Management Guide lines. We would like to see the international management counterparts involved as well as those who developed these guidelines in the US. We would like to see an international flavor to the event.

Although we have not assigned specific tasks we have a wide range of experienced folks who have already offered to help with key jobs.

If you have any questions please let us know, We will be available at the NSS Convention for information and a presentation if you wish.

Emily Davis and Mike Warner
Northeastern Cave Conservancy office staff

TO: NCKMS Steering Committee

SUBJECT: 2003 NCKMS George Huppert Scholarship Committee Report

The Scholarship Subcommittee received four applications (copies attached) for scholarships to the 2003 Symposium by the submittal deadline. These applications were distributed to all Scholarship Committee members and the consensus of the Committee was to provide the requested scholarships to all four applicants. These applicants were notified (copies attached) of this decision by email on July 16, 2003. The successful scholarship applicants were:

William B Summer
260 Weymanda Cir.
Athens GA
706-208-1664
wbs5415@owl.forestry.uga.edu
Requested registration, lodging and transportation. Committee agreed to provide funds to cover lodging and registration only ($450).

Khaled A. Rashed
35 Elsing Close
Newcastle, NE5 4SW, UK
0044-191-2862880
K.A.RASHED@NCL.AC.UK
Requested registration and lodging. Committee agreed to provide the requested funds ($450).

Cheryl Jones
1865 Old Meadow Rd #202
McLean, VA 22102-1997
703-442-8499
jones.cheryl@verizon.net
Requested lodging. Committee agreed to provide the requested funds ($300).

Darcy Gibbons
7400 Jones Drive
Galveston, Texas
409-741-9991
dgibbons@tamu.edu
Requested assistance. Committee agreed to provide funds to cover lodging and registration ($450).

Total expenditures authorized by the Scholarship Committee are estimated to be $1650. These funds will be made available directly to the Symposium hosts, not to the scholarship recipients.

Two additional applications were received after the deadline. These were from:

William Keith
NRCS
383 Highland Drive, Suite 3
Lebanon, VA 24266
276-880-1035
bill.keith@va.usda.gov

Rolland Moore
177 Hamilton Valley Rd.
Cave City, Ky. 42127
(270) 791-3943
rollandmoore@hotmail.com

On July 16, 2003, I notified them by email that we appreciated their interest in the NCKMS Scholarship Program but that their applications were received after the deadline and we were unable to fulfil their requests. I also expressed our hope that they would be able to attend and participate in the Symposium even without receiving a scholarship. Copies of the notifications are attached.

Submitted by:

Robert R. Currie, Chairman
George N. Huppert NCKMS Scholarship Committee

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