Just a reminder...
(Note the date below in red) Happy New Year, y'all! We will be having our first exciting and riveting TSA Business meeting of 2011 at High Noon, Sunday, January 23rd at the TSS Offices on the UT campus. If you have questions or problems, please contact me at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> or 214-289-9181 or Ron Ralph at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> or 512-797-3817. Please let me and Ron know if you will be attending, so that James will have your name. A Pickle Research Campus map is at: http://www.utexas.edu/maps/prc/ Click on the "NW Area" to find TM-2 or building 18-A located on the main entrance road. It is a three-story brick affair with entrance on the west. Park to the south in the PETEX lot across the street (Read Granberry Trail) from building 18-A We can easily seat 12 or so folks easily and more if they want to sit away from the big table. Visitors will be welcome, just sign in with Ron or me so that James can secure access. Here's the agenda and minutes from the last meeting. Please read them, as there will be a test! 2011 Winter Business Meeting TSS Offices on the UT Campus, Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 Texas Speleological Association Agenda * Welcome and Introductions * Chairman's Report * Vice Chairman's Report * Secretary's Report - Minutes of TSA Fall Business Meeting at TCR Hidden Falls Adventure Park, Sunday, October 17th, 2010 * Treasurers Report * TSA Projects - Jim Kennedy * Gov't Canyon - Marvin Miller * Colorado Bend State Park - Crash * Longhorn Cavern Project - Mark Alman * Inner Space Caverns Project - Mark Alman * Hill Country State Natural Area & Devils River - Rob Bissett * Camp Wood Ranch and West Texas Leads- Arron Wertheim * Future Project Ideas * Standing Committee Reports * TSA Website - Butch Fralia * Membership Chair - TBA * Conservation Committee - Open and Jim Kennedy (WNS Update) * Safety and Techniques - David Ochel * Publications - Mark Alman * The TEXAS CAVER and status of online access to back issues. * TSA Store - Lee Jay Graves * Old Business * TSA Spring Convention - April 1st-3rd, 2011, Fort Clark Springs, Brackettville, TX * New TSA Bat Stickers and Die - Don Arburn and Lee Jay Graves * New Business * Announcements? * End of Meeting (Let's go home!) MINUTES OF FALL TSA BUSINESS MEETING 17 October, 2010 (Convened at TCR at Hidden Falls Adventure Park in Marble Falls) Submitted by Denise Prendergast Officers Present: Mark Alman, Chairman; Ellie Thoene, Vice-Chairman; Denise Prendergast, Secretary Officers Absent: Darla Bishop, Treasurer TSA Members and Cavers in Attendance: Don Arburn, Jim Kennedy, Linda Palit, Ann Scott, Ryan Monjaras, Marvin Miller, Michael Cicherski, Lyndon Tiu, Butch Fralia, Matt Turner, Bill Russell, Lee Jay Grimes, Christopher Francke, Leslie Bell, Kenny McGee, Ron Ralph, Mike Furrey, Chris Vreeland, Logan McNatt, Jon Cradit, Roger Moore Welcome and Introductions/Chairman's Report: (Alman). Alman convened meeting at 9:20 am. Thanked all for coming. Good TCR. Vice-Chairman's Report: (Thoene). Thoene discussed upcoming TSA spring convention April 1 -3 in Bracketville at Fort Clark Springs, the site of the 1994 convention. Secretary's Report: (Prendergast). o Minutes from the Spring Meeting were distributed. It was asked if any corrections were necessary, and no one said yes. A motion was made and carried to accept the minutes. o Between-meeting business. Alman stated that a deposit of $250 for the TSA spring convention had previously been approved. Treasurer's Report: (Alman). Bishop absent so Alman passed around copies of the Treasurer's Report. o Michael Cicherski will be the next Treasurer as he is running unopposed. Darla did a great job. o Through 10/08/2010, the TSA had assets of $7,017.01 ($3,342.56 in operating account and $3,674.45 in the savings account). o There are 174 current paid members with 52 receiving on line only versions of The Texas Caver. o Spring convention brought in income of $2,179.00 and had expenditures of $1,464.04, for a profit of $714.96. o The TSA store has brought in $905.62 so far this year, with no expenses. o Publishing The Texas Caver cost $664.65 in May and $735.97 in September. o In September, there was a website fee of $107.88. Standing Committee Reports TSA Projects-(Kennedy). Kennedy passed around a summary of TSA projects. It is attached to these minutes. Kennedy stated that Marvin needs help at Government Canyon. Kennedy stated that Rob Bissett is not here but is initiating caving projects at Hill Country State Natural Area and Devil's River. Joe Ranzau is the new park manager at Devil's River so this might open up some caving opportunities there. The Texascavers (i.e. Cavetex) email list is the best way to get this type of information. People should email Butch to put trips on TSA website. Matt Turner said he will put them on the UT Grotto website if people email him. Kennedy said Alman is working with Longhorn Caverns; they need help after flooding. Innerspace Caverns also would like some caver help. See report below: TSA Website-(Fralia). Fralia said he is happy to be back after health problems. The website is up to date. Signed up members can make calendar entries themselves. Visitation is 2500 per month. Membership Committee-Alman said we need a chairman, and Ryan Monjaras stepped up and volunteered. He is the secretary of the Bexar Grotto. Conservation Committee - (Tiu). Kennedy discussed WNS. The fungus has been found as far west as Woodward City, OK although no fatalities there. Cave managers are being careful as human transmission is suspected. All cavers should be extremely careful about using decontaminated, clean gear, especially if a person caves in multiple places. Safety and Techniques-(David Ochel absent). Kennedy said that the Laguna de Sanchez project got an NSS grant to buy a sked. People can borrow it. Will do some demonstrations soon on its proper use. Linda Palit said she too has a sked at her house available for loan. Publications-(Alman). Alman said we are in the black with publication of The Texas Caver. Helps to have on-line only members. Keeping it to 32 pages. Needs articles. Butch has done a great job of putting back issues on the website. Only members can read the last years' worth, but anyone can read the older ones. Alman stated that he is trying to get a CD together with all 58 years of The Texas Caver; however, there are major gaps between 1955 and 1974. Logan McNatt said he needs to get rid of old issues. Kennedy suggested putting an ad in the NSS News for a few months. TSA Store - (Graves). Graves said we have made about $300 this TCR. Stickers are the best movers. Arburn discussed producing more yellow Texas bat stickers. Materials are expensive. He and Lee Jay will look into this further. Old Business TSS/TSA Trailer Committee Report - Kennedy said the new trailer is stored at Gill's. It has made things much easier. Putting The Texas Caver Free On Line - Alman said that this has already been discussed. New Business TSA Spring Convention - Thoerne said this has already been discussed. There are caves in the area. It is a pretty location. Election Report - Ron Ralph said there have been 29 votes so far. Some have asked ballots to be mailed to them. Announcements Kennedy said he has a list on the Laguna de Sanchez website of common Spanish caving terms. Send him new ones or corrections. Set Next Meeting and Adjourn Alman said he would like to have it at CBSP during the January trip, but Kennedy said it makes things harder for him. No final decision on when and where. Alman made the motion to conclude meeting at approximately 10:30 am (forgot to note time). Seconded and motion carried. TSA PROJECTS COMMITTEE Report to the Texas Speleological Association Texas Cavers Reunion Hidden Falls Adventure Park, Marble Falls, Texas 17 October 2010 Jim Kennedy, TSA Projects Committee Chair 1. GOVERNMENT CANYON STATE NATURAL AREA - Marvin Miller Since the project was restarted in November of 2009 there have been 6 trips. The average attendance for each trip is 9 participants. These trips have contributed 521 total volunteer hours to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, for a Volunteer Value of $6746.95 in 2009 dollars ($12.95/hour). Once Marvin gives me the breakdown by year, I will be able to assign some of those hours to the higher 2010 rate ($13.14/hour). The recent Project emphasis has been on digging in sinks and surveying. Indian Cave and Little Rocks Cave have been surveyed. Survey in Lost Pothole has been continued. In-cave digs following blowing leads in Lost Pothole and Dancing Rattler Cave have been started. A breakthrough is close in both caves. Maps for Ixta's Cave and Goat Cave have been completed. The Canyon Ranch tract (~400 acres) was added to the park in 2005. At the time it was known that a geological assessment survey had located several caves on this tract. The park recently obtained the consultant's report relevant to this assessment and we have been working on verifying cave locations. There are 7 known caves, 4 of which have endangered species. Miller authored a management plan to allow one visit to each of the endangered species caves in order to confirm cave description and location. TPWD and USFWS still need to approve the plan. Eventually we would like to have access to these caves to completely explore and map them. We will survey the remaining 3 caves that do not have the endangered species restrictions. Indian Cave, mentioned earlier, is one of these. 2. COLORADO BEND STATE PARK - Jim Kennedy There have been regular monthly trips to CBSP, except during the hot summer months (June-September). Participation varies, but in general there are 15-20 participants each month. Last weekend was the first trip for the 2010-2011 season, and we had 29 participants. Caves continue to be discovered, sinkholes dug open, features GPSed, and caves mapped. Mark Gee has been working on reducing our backlog of surveyed caves that have no maps as yet. The Park continues their prescribed burning program, which clears areas and allows more caves to be found. Recent maps of Park caves include a resurvey of Lemons Ranch Cave. 3. KICKAPOO CAVERN SP - Allan Cobb Project is officially completed. Several TSA members assisted at the Park's grand opening this spring, when it opened to the public at last. Jerry Atkinson has been busy drafting up maps from the recent surveys to compile a "Caves of Kickapoo Cavern SP" publication. He hoped to have it for the grand opening, but life got in the way. Bat monitoring at Stuart Bat Cave continues. 4. NEWLY PROPOSED PROJECTS (not yet official) A. Devils River SNA - Rob Bissett B. Hill Country SNA - Rob Bissett B. Longhorn Cavern SP - Mark Alman C. Inner Space Cavern - Mark Alman If you have any comments, suggestions, additions to the agenda, or constructive criticism, please send it my way. As a special treat, the TSA Officers have agreed that pizza and soft drinks will be supplied to all who attend. Happy, happy, joy, joy! See you there! Mark
