Return to 2005 NCKMS General Information

Online Secure Registration 2005 NCKMS Registration as well as registration for Project Underground and Bat Conservation International Workshops. Mail-in Registration

The 2005 NCKMS Organizing Committee gives a special thanks to the following contributors for their generous donations allowing Elery Hamilton-Smith to join us at the 2005 NCKMS:

Tom Aley, Thom Engel, William Halliday, The NCKMS Steering Committee, Stan Sides, Gordon and Judy Smith, Speleobooks, Val and Jim Werker

Featured 2005 NCKMS Speaker Elery Hamilton-Smith and Pat Seiser from the National Cave and Karst Research Institute are traveling from Los Angeles to the Symposium in Albany, New York by car. Enroute, they are scheduled to visit institutions, organizations, parks and meetings for presentations and discussions by Hamilton-Smtih. Built around the idea of cave and karst management, education and information exchange this special journey has been jointly arranged by NCKRI and the 2005 NCKMS. NCKRI is funding the travel within the U.S. The 2005 NCKMS with the assistance of several special donors is sponsoring Hamilton-Smith at the Symposium and in his travels from Australia.

The tour culminates at the 2005 National Cave and Karst Management Symposium in Albany. We eagerly aniticipate Elery Hamilton-Smith delivering the banquet address Thursday evening, November 3.

Fun with Pat and Elery: Read The Blog Now, Updated 10/27/05

October 10 - 14 Travel Report: L:.A. to New Mexico Tech

October 14 - 21 Travel Report: New Mexico Tech to Texas A & M

October 21 -23 Travel Report: Ozark Underground to Diamond Caverns

October 23 - 28 Travel Report: Horse Cave to Albany, NY

Pat Seiser will report from the road to this website. A travel blog (digital travelog) including photographs will be created based on the experiences along the way. Included will be descriptions of meetings, informal discussions, and details of the planned and unplanned cave and karst encounters that occur enroute. If you want to contact the karst tour duo in advance or enroute email Pat Seiser <pseiser@nckri.org>

Themes From The Road: Several of the presentation and discussion that are planned for the tour.

Thinking about Karst and World Heritage

The World Heritage Committee is concerned to develop a framework for ensuring a credible and complete list of sites as a basis for considering future nomination. This paper is an attempt to create a typology of karst types which might help to inform this process. It is best seen as work in progress, so further comments and ideas will be welcome.

Reviewing Changes in Nature Conservation

This presentation opens with a history of nature conservation since the Neolithic. However, its key focus is upon the changes in thinking over the last 150 years and gives particular recognition to the current conceptual developments as they were formally recognised at the 2003 Durban World Parks Congress and in the resulting Durban Accord.

Karst and Caves of the Western Pacific

Opening with a summary of a current state-of-knowledge review of Pacific karst, this will then highlight the better-known karsts of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Australia Down Under

A slide show (with commentary along the way) which covers the diversity of caves and karst in Australia , including the ancient impounded karsts of the Eastern Highlands, the relatively recent syngenetic karsts of the Southwest and the Limestone Coast, lava tubes, the towerkarsts of Northern Australia, the remarkable exposed coral reefs of the Kimberlys and the great tunnels of the Nullarbor Plain.

Groundwater: Its travels and adventures

A \popular presentation on groundwater issues and their management.

Education and Research in Karst

Not a formal presentation, but a discussion and exchange of ideas on current patterns, issues and innovations in both education and research.

Friday October 14

My Friends
This past Monday began both of Elery's and My odyssey. I leave from Carlsbad, New Mexico, Elery departing Australia to meet up the next morning at the LA airport. Funny, Elery travel a significantly greater distance, but only on one flight. I ended up on four flights before arriving very late on Monday night.

Elery and I meet up at LAX, went out for breakfast and then jumped into the car from the start of our road trip, first stop in Tucson, Arizona. We evently escaped the clutches of cement city to drive out into wide open spaces. Elery commented at one point that the landscape was similiar to part of Australia - hence the photo "we're not in Australia any more". We eventually arrived safe and sound in Tucson.

Our first stop Wednesday was lunch with Jerry Trout, the national cave specialist for the US Forest Service. That was a pleasent reunion of old friends and generated some intersting discussions that were far ranging. Our next stop, and Elery's first lecture, was the University of Arizona, kindly arranged for us by Marti Murphey of the Arizona State Parks. We were joined by Marlo Buchmann, also of Arizona State Parks and Tom Strong, former NCKRI chief scientist. Following the presentation we went out for dinner at a local brewery Gentle Ben. Fine food, great beer and hours of amazing conversation - caves, education, interpretation, conservation, policy, international, national and local situtations and stories. Many thanks to Marti and Marlo for setting this up, to Rick Toomey for making the connections, and to Tom for joining us.

The next morning was a road trip to Soccoro, NM where we where to meet up with Penny Boston and the earth sciences grad students. I forgot that there was a change in time (it's all desert lands why would the time change) thus leaving a bit late and keeping Penny on tenter hooks until we arrived in plenty of time; well alright, fifteen minutes to spare. Penny asked for Elery to talk about World Heritage, the presentation was great, the students were "sucked in". I think that many of them were very unaware about how important their work might be to the protection of cave and karst resources, not only locally but on an international context. I just hope they finish their research before taking off to roam the world on a quest to search out caves and karst to protect :)

After the lecture and questions we adjourned to where else but the local brewery. Another evening of fine food, great beer and hours of great conversation. Tomorrow we meet up with Penny and her students before heading off to Carlsbad.

I will keep you posted as our odyssey continues.
Pat

Hello Friends (or as Elery would say Hallo)
The odyssey road trip continues…
Friday (Oct 14) morning we met with Penny Boston’s grad students. After a bit of teasing Kevin about his radical appearance change (long hair, laid back hippy to short hair red neck – okay so the teasing continues…) a discussion ensued that was far reaching covering local to international topics, environmental conservation to cave and karst research. It was fun just to sit and listen, as well as watch. I remember the excitement as a grad student when the doors where opened onto new and ever expanding ideas, philosophies and avenues of potential research topics

All too soon it was time to hit the road. Since we were passing through Capitan we just had to stop at the Smokey Bear Museum. Elery talked with me about fire fighting in Australia, very different from the nationwide system we have here. And, the Aussie’s do not have a mascot – oh the horrors, decades of young children deprived of fire safety messages from Smokey the Roo. Perhaps Elery will take the concept back to Australia. The road trip continued on and despite strong temptations we passed on visiting the Alien Museum and Research Center in Roswell. We arrived in Carlsbad in time to go out with Deanna Younger, the US Forest Service “rec-n-cave” specialist in the Guads. Well, okay that is not her exact title, but it sure sounds horrifying funny. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera so no photo model moments.

Saturday (Oct 15), after a leisurely morning, found us up at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We first visited with Dale Pate, one of the cave gods (oh alright cave specialist) for the Park. Dale took us on a tour of the Caverns, discussing the various conservation and restoration projects occurring at the Park. Topics ranging from lighting, trail development and usage, on to restoration of pools and cave floor features. The next stop was a presentation by Elery to the Park staff and visitors.

That evening we were able to spend some more time with Dale during dinner.

Sunday (Oct 16) morning we met with Lewis Land, the karst hydrologist with the New Mexico State Geology Board and associated with NCKRI. Lewis took us on a tour of the gypsum karst of the Bottom Lakes area near Roswell. Lewis is a fountain of information and can make geology come alive as he talks about the karst history of the region. And for Lewis the history includes the people of the region too. It was a wonderful day. Once again we resisted temptation of visiting the fine UFO research facility as we returned to Carlsbad.

I guess, despite the interest in caves on Mars, NCKRI will not be developing a formal relation with this rather interesting institute. That evening we joined Elery for dinner.

Monday (Oct 17) was another busy day in Carlsbad. We first met with Jim Goodbar, Cave Specialist Extraordinaire for the BLM and the ever fun Tom Bemis of the cave resources office at Carlsbad NP. Talk ranged once again from local to international topics. Tom was able to join us for lunch. That evening Elery gave a presentation to the community of Carlsbad. Once again I forgot the camera. I coined a new term that night – instead of technical difficulties I was having patical difficulties. Aarggg.
Tuesday saw us on the road again (hey that reminds me of a song…). After a long drive we landed in San Antonio. That evening we just kind of hung out. We were both trying to catch up on email, reports and the like. Unfortunately, neither one of us could get on the internet, and the hotel’s computer not only was very antiquated it also would not take attachments. The computer I’m using also decided to have a mental breakdown of sorts. After a few moments of panic, unkind words and thoughts, as well as many hours of frustrating fixing, installing, deleting and reorganizing, and a few sacrifices to the computer gods, I restored sanity to the computer. What a relief, I guess the laptop was tired of road trips (it had already been to Greece and Anchorage this year).

Wednesday (Oct 19)was a very busy day. Elery first presented to the Edward’s Aquifer Authority. We met up briefly with George Veni and Linda Patel (Texas Cave Management Association). Then it was a road trip to Austin to meet up with Jim Kennedy of BCI. That turned into a typical buffoon trip – missed exits, massive traffic jams, and the phone finally died within minutes of reaching Jim’s. Fortunately, Jim was able to find and rescue us (no this is not one for the American Caving Accidents). Jim took us around for a quick tour of some of the karst preserves of Austin. We talked about various management techniques, community awareness and caver involvement. It was a very interesting tour. Then it was off to the UT grotto meeting where Elery was a guest speaker. And then of course, we adjourned to the local watering establishment to talk, oh a sip a libation or two.

Today, Thursday we were off to Texas A&M dinner in College Station with some of Elery’s colleagues from various past lives. It was interesting learning about international cooperative studies and they were very interested in learning about NCKRI and cave and karst stewardship.

Today (Oct 21) we are off heading towards Missouri. We are both a bit road weary and welcome a day of driving with having to meet an arrival deadline. We will use the evening to relax and regenerate ourselves for the next half of the Elery Odysessy.
More to follow as the Elery odyssey continues!

Wicked Good Caving
Pat (Elery says Hallo)

Hello Friends
The Elery Odyssey continues…
Friday (Oct 21) saw Elery and I on the road to Missouri. By late afternoon it was clear that the whirlwind pace had caught up with us, so we opted for an early stop. With storm clouds on the horizon and small dark roads into unknown territory it seemed a reasonable thing to do.

Saturday (Oct 22) dawn bright and early, opps sunny. In contrast to yesterday’s clouds and darkness the day was going to be beautiful fall weather. Elery commented on the changing colors of the leaves. Apparently Australia lacks fall color, which seems like they don’t really have a fall. Oh yeah, they also don’t really celebrate Halloween either.

Anyway…. the road trip was interrupted briefly by a water trip. There is a fun ferry ride across a lake. The ferry is named “Toad Suck” after a nearby community. I have no idea why “Toad Suck”, an obvious example of how the meaning of words change over time.

So after that brief ferry ride, a bit more driving, we arrived at the Ozark’s Underground Laboratory home of Tom and Cathy Aley, assorted critters and Tumbling Rock Cave. Tom and Cathy gave us an excellent tour of their site, showing us their offices, surface laboratory, bat gate, surface karst features, land reclamation projects and topped off the day with a tour of the underground laboratory. They truly have an amazing site for education and research. We ended up the evening with a great dinner and wine filled conversation.

Although we could have stayed for a few more days, Sunday (Oct 23) saw us off on the road to Bowling Green. We did stop for a brief look at Big Springs resurgence at the Ozarks National River.

Apparently they had been warned about us as there were three law enforcement agencies to great us at the park for a safety check. They thought it pretty funny that a car with Nevada plates was been driven by someone from New Mexico, whose passenger was from Australia. Anyway… the resurgence was pretty cool to see. After a few photo moments we headed to Bowling Green.

We arrived in Bowling Green in time to have dinner with Gordon and Judy Smith and Gary Berdeaux of Diamond Caverns. After dinner they took us back for a tour of Diamond Caverns as well as a look at their new exhibits. The one they really wanted us to see was the Australian Show Cave Jenolan Cave. Elery had a wonderful time telling them the history of the people behind the items. Hopefully he will write that up for the Smith’s.

So ends another long but enjoyable day. Tomorrow begins with meeting up with Rick Toomey for two days of activities around Bowling Green and Mammoth Cave Region.

Keep Safe
Pat

Greetings Friends
My apologies for not writing sooner – the wonders of technology once again interfered. The last few days have been quite busy. Rick Toomey continued to arrange many great experiences for us for Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 24-25). We started Monday off at the American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA) and Hidden River Cave. Peggy Nims greeted us, telling us a bit about ACCA’s newest developments then she took us on a quick tour of Hidden River Cave. Elery had visited Hidden River Cave with Bill Austen in the early 1980’s. Peggy and Elery compared notes on changes and great improvements that had been made in the cave environment and community. The ACCA has and continues to accomplish a lot for the local community and in terms of environmental education.

From ACCA we did a quick fly by of Kentucky Down Under so that Elery could say “Hallo” to Judy Austin, a long time friend and fellow done under type person. Following that visit, we met up with Chris Groves (the Hoffman Institute at WKU) at the Pig for lunch.

The next stop was a visit to Mammoth Cave, where Steve Thomas gave us quite the tour discussing the various monitoring, conservation, and biological projects occurring at the cave. Steve introduced us to several of WKU students who are conducting a biological survey of cave beetles (I’d tell you the scientific name, but that would be assuming I could speak and write Latin). We saw some of the changes being introducing via new lighting in one section of the cave. Many thanks to the good people at Mammoth Cave.

We ended the day with a party hosted by Rick and his wife Elizabeth Winkler. A fine and fun time was had by all.

Tuesday (Oct 25), Rick took us to meet up with Nick Crawford (The Center for Cave and Karst Studies, WKU) at Lost River Cave (notice a trend with rivers and caves?). Becky B. (a guide and trainer of other guides) and Nick gave us a boat ride through the cave. Then Nick showed us a map showing all the dye tracing and microgravity/resistivity studies for the area. Pretty amazing.

We then went off to Western Kentucky University were Elery was scheduled to give two presentations, first for the department lecture series and then for one of Nick’s classes. In between the two lectures the Hoffman instituted hosted a reception for Elery. All in all it was a great 2+ days in the Bowling Green/Mammoth Cave region.

Wednesday (Oct 26)morning found us on the road to Blacksburg, VA where Carol Zokites had made arrangements for our visit. That evening we met up with Carol and Joey Fagan (both of the Virginia Dept of Conservation & Recreation – karst protection section) for a quick bite and then off to the VPI grotto meeting for a presentation. Following the grotto meeting there was a small reception for Elery. It was a long and enjoyable day.

Thursday morning (Oct 27)we meet up with Carol, Joey and Walt Orndorf to talk about the projects they are working on. After an enjoyable lunch it was off to VPI where Elery gave a presentation to The International Conservation Division of the Conservation Management Institute. We managed to escape Blacksburg as the hordes descended for the football game. Tomorrow we will be at Grand Caverns where Elery will be giving a presentation.

It’s been a long day so I’m off to bed.
Until Later
Pat

Hallo Friends
Friday (october 28) was the last day of the Elery Odyssey. Carol Zokites had arranged for us to meet with various people from the Natural Heritage Department. We meet at Grand Caverns as that was a shorter distance for all who attended to drive. Elery’s presentation was well received and generated much discussion, ranging from international, to national, to local issues and concerns. Elery also had the opportunity to catch up with old friend and fellow stamp collector (okay so I can’t spell, much less pronounce the scientific term) Tom Lera. While we could have stayed much longer we had a long trip ahead. Late that evening we arrived safe and sound at Mike & Emily’s in Schoharie, NY.

The cross country odyssey was most excellent. Elery was a fascinating travel companion. We visited many wonderful cave and karst places along the way with Elery passing on his wisdom from many years and learning, observing and teaching. I know he left behind a great many people thinking and rethinking their views about conservation, protection and stewardship of our natural resources. I came a way with a whole new appreciation of the programs and people working in various parts of the country trying to education and protect caves and karst. Hopefully, one day we’ll be able to spread their programs across the country to form a true network of cave and karst programs appropriate for each region and type of speleogeneses.

I extend my thanks to the many people who arranged for presentations and meetings and who hosted us throughout our journey. My thanks to the Northeastern Cave Conservancy and the National Cave and Karst Research Institute for sponsoring this trip. I hope to see many of you at the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium being hosted in Albany, NY next week.
Wicked Good Caving
Pat

Scheduled Route and October Dates:

Pick Up Elery LAX 7:30

Tucson, AZ
Dinner w/Jerry Trout
USFS
12 Arizona State Parks

Marti Murphy Interpretive Ed Planner
Presentation
13
Socorro, NM
Penny Boston, NMT
(Voice) 505-835-5657
(Cell) 303-579-4775
4:00 Lecture
Earth & Env. Sciences.
Dinner w/NMT
14
Carlsbad, NM
Presentation Pending

15
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Viewing Changes in Nature Conservation
Open to general public
16
NCKRI
Bottomless Lakes Geological Tour
Lewis Land
17

7:00 NCKRI Lecture
Pecos River Con.
Room 4 Open to Public
Thinking About Karst and World Heritage Sites
18 Travel
San Antonio, TX
19
Edwards Aquifer Brown Bag Lecture (12:00)


Evening, Austin
Elery will be presenting his Australian caves and karst talk at the University of Texas Grotto meeting in Austin on Wednesday at 8pm. The meeting starts at 7:30 in room 2.48 Painter Hall on the UT campus in Austin. Public is welcome.

20 Travel
Texas A & M University Faculty Visits

21
Travel
22
Travel
Ozark Underground
Lecture Pending
23 Travel
Bowling Green, KY
24
Bowling Green or Mammoth Cave Area
25
Mammoth Cave Area or Bowling Green
26
Travel
Radford, VA
27
Carol Zokaites, Virginia Karst Board
Presentation
28Travel
Lecture(s) Pending
29 Travel
Schoharie, NY


30Travel
Albany NY
31 NCKMS Start

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