- > > There are five items in this issue > 1) Safety & Techniques Research - Close calls > 2) Should the Members Manual be made available online? > 3) Karst-O-Rama coming up. > 4) WNS Symposium in Little Rock - Report from Peter > Youngbaer > 5) Colorado BLM seeks public input for targeted closures. - > http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/crvfo/scoping.html > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>>>>> 1) Safety & Techniques > Research - Close calls > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Hello to any and all who visit caves: > > The National Speleological Society (NSS) Safety and > Techniques Committee is conducting a research project in > conjunction with the Oakland University Occupational Safety > and Health Program to determine the prevalence of close > calls in caving. For the purposes of this research, "close > call" will be defined as an event (planned or unplanned) in > a cave that could have resulted in injury or fatality, but > did not. > > Based on anonymous responses from participants, a database > of cave-related "close-call" events will be established in > order to identify the most prevalent likelihoods of > illnesses, injuries, and fatalities that may occur from > visiting caves. This information will be used in caver > education and cave exploration planning in order to help > cavers avoid conditions and acts that may lead to undesired > events. > > Below is a link to the consent form of this questionnaire. > If you chose to participate, please click the link and > review the consent form. > http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/407591/Safety-Close-Calls-in-Cave-Exploration-Cave-Science-and-Cave-Conservation > > Finally, please do forward this email and the above link to > anyone who visits caves, to caving-related email lists, and > to outdoor-related email lists, as you see fit. > > http://caves.org/safety/research.shtml > > thank you and best regards, > Aaron Bird - Chair NSS Safety and Techniques Committee > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >>>> 2) Should the Members Manual be made > available online? > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Discuss this topic in your IOs and be prepared to discuss > it at the COG meeting at Convention. Bill Putnam offers this > information to start the discussion. > > The information in the Members Manual is easily and safely > distributed via the NSS web site. Much of the content is > already present there (the organizational information, > personnel information, contact information for officers, > directors, committees, grottos, and IOs). The bulk of the > remaining information is member contact information, most of > which is accessible with the present member search > capability of the web site. The remainder (email addresses > and phone numbers) could easily be made available through a > more secure “members only” page on the web site. > > It would not be difficult or expensive to set up a secure > area on the web site where members could log in with a > personal id and password to access detailed information of > the types included in the MM. Unique individual user-ids can > easily be generated from NSS numbers, and an initial > password can be generated and emailed to each member at his > or her email address of record. Those who do not have an > email address can be sent the information by mail, and an > announcement in the News can tell members how to request > access if they do not receive either the electronic or paper > communication of their login information. > > Primary access to the MM directory information should be > through a searchable online directory, but it is also > possible to create a downloadable PDF version, as we do with > the Annual Report, and use features of Adobe Acrobat to > prevent unauthorized printing and distribution. > > Finally, paper copies of the members manual can still be > made available through the Bookstore to those who want to > order them using a print-on-demand service. Print copies > could be ordered through the bookstore web page, or by > contacting the bookstore or officer staff by phone, fax, > email, or regular mail. Pricing for the print copy should > reflect the print cost plus shipping and handling costs, > plus a small fee to cover the setup and support expenses for > the service, I estimate this total combined cost to be on > the order of $10, which is quite reasonable, in my opinion. > > All of this can be implemented at a very low - essential > nominal - cost. I know this is the case, because I have the > knowledge and skills to do it myself, and I know that our IT > volunteers also have that capability. One need only look at > the member support pages of other non-profits and > professional organizations to find many example > implementations that have been up and running successfully > for years. We are way behind the curve in this matter, > primarily due to the irrational fears of past Boards > regarding dissemination of member email, phone, and address > information. Those fears can easily be addressed, and the > associated risks are easily mitigated. > > Since we produce an annual corporate report, as well as the > MM, I feel we should also consider whether some of the > content of the MM would be better placed in (or is already > present in) the annual report. Both the MM and the annual > report can and should be published on the web site, with > distribution of the MM limited to members in good standing. > > Bill Putnam > ------------------------------------------------------- > >>>> 3) Karst-O-Rama coming up. > ------------------------------------------------------- > Karst-o-Rama is June 16-19 at the Great Saltpetre Cave > Preserve in Mt. Vernon, KY > Activities include: Cave Trips, Hikes, Vertical Contest, > Map Contest, Photo Contest, Educational Cave Tours, > Programs, Geocaching, Kids Activities, Live Music and more! > This year's theme is the 1980's and we will be having a > costume contest at the start of the Saturday night party. > Preregistration is open until June 1 at www.karstorama.com. > Discounts on admission are valid until this date. Contact > Brittany Fille at [email protected] > for more information. > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>>4) WNS Symposium in Little Rock - Report > from Peter Youngbaer > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Just returned from last week's WNS Symposium in Little > Rock. About 150 federal, state, academic, and NGO folks > working on WNS attended, including a few European guests. > FWIW, 14 attendees were NSS members, including a number of > state officials. > > The first day and a half was dedicated to research update > presentations. The two highlights here were: 1. 18 American > bats were inoculated with the European Geomyces destructans; > 18 American bats with the U.S. version; and 18 control bats > were left uninoculated. Both sets of inoculated bats > developed WNS. This result gives strong support to the > hypothesis of introduction from Europe. 2. Hazel Barton > reported research from Kevin Keel that shows that 50 degree > Celcius water (122F) for 15 minutes kills Geomyces > destructans. This is hotter than typical wash water, but > less than boiling. It provides a non-chemical alternative > for decon. > > The next day and a half was dedicated to working on the WNS > National Plan > (http://www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome/pdf/051711_FinalReleaseNationalPlan.pdf), > which was announced and publicly released on the first day > of the meeting. Attendees broke in to working groups as per > the Plan, and began fleshing out implementation plans. > > Personally, I spent a half-day with the Disease Management > working group, then split my time between the Recovery and > Conservation Group/Species Recovery sub-group and a special > session for state agency personnel. With this latter group, > I was part of a panel presentation explaining the role of > the NSS and our members/grottos etc. helping with > hibernacula identification, public education, and caver > education. > > Lots of networking time, too, to catch up with folks we've > funded and worked with across the country. > > Some observations: > > 1. Most western state officials attending recognized that > the USFS Region 2 actions were not helpful, and didn't want > to duplicate them. NPS and BLM folks spoke positively about > the roles cavers have played and continue to play. They and > the state folks are skeptical about cave closures, but still > feeling pressure from the feds. I spent a couple hours > conversing with the Colorado Division of Wildlife Species > Coordinator, Tina Jackson, who had positive things to say > about the Convention organizers. She is a little [concerned] > about having so many cavers descend (ascend?)at once, but I > assured her we've done this before. Again, she seemed very > much pleased with the convention planning. > > 2. The Disease Management researchers and field managers > seemed to grow increasingly pessimistic about finding any > sort of cure, treatment, or magic managerial bullet for > stopping WNS. Further, there is a serious concern about a > shortage of bats for research, and it is likely that some > researchers will be denied access. > > 3. Management seems to be shifting to Conservation and > Recovery. How can species be preserved? What field > techniques can be applied to assist survivorship, such as > habitat manipulation? An example of this was described by > Tom Kunz, Boston University, for maternity colonies. Used to > be that we would see fairly large (500+ animals) roosts that > were able to generate a lot of heat, which is necessary for > successful birth, lactation, and juvenile growth. Now, with > maternity colonies so small, he's found that the addition of > wooden baffles in the ceilings of barns, sheds, etc. can > concentrate heat and help smaller maternity colonies be more > successful. > > 4. There is still a lot of talk about artificial > hibernacula, as well as captive breeding colonies. Re the > former, Cory Holliday's Tennessee underground project is on > its way to being built, with more than half the funds > raised. Re the captive colonies, my suspicion is that lack > of funding will limit and experiments in that regard. > > 5. Regarding funding, it was announced that $1.9 million of > USFWS funding was being made available from this year's base > appropriation. This is NOT congressional action, but simply > USFWS taking money away from other things within its reduced > budget. Next year's budget is clearly looking worse, but > that's what we've been working on in DC. This $1.9 million > will be spread out to the states in an as-yet-to-be > announced format. However, spread among 27 states, this is > about $70,000 per state - which won't really do much more > than pay for some staff time for monitoring and > surveillance. Funding realities will be the biggest damper > on national Plan activities, and severely limit research. > > 6. Species listing: there were two impromptu sessions on > species listing, one for the Northeast, where states are in > various stages of listing certain species, and a second > where one USFWS official (T.J.Miller) was leading an effort > to have national listing of all hibernating bat species. > That was the subject of serious debate, with many people > opposing that approach. Reasons given ranged from not enough > information on various bat species, to unnecessarily riling > up opponents, such as the western timber industry, to taking > attention away from the importance of regional or national > listing of the Little Brown Bat, which is arguably the most > seriously affected and the one species for which the case > could be made. > > 7. Another state is about to announce WNS, but the > information is embargoed until the official press release. > > Lots more details, of course, but I thought I'd give you > this brief summary. > > Peter Youngbaer NSS WNS Liaison > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > Keith > -- > Keith D. Wheeland, NSS 2878 > NSS Board Member and Chair of NSS IO Committee > 2191 Mt. View Ave. > State College, PA 16801-7214 > 814-238-2057 > [email protected] > (Use this forwarding address in your address book) > IO Website - www.caves.org/committee/i-o/ > Annual Report& Updates- www.nssio.org > >
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