Folks,
Thought I would forward this announcement from TAGNET regarding the first
annual public meeting of the Tennessee Cave and Karst Working Group which will
be held this Saturday. While it is a short travel notice (I was going through
my old TAGNET posts), I think this is an excellent example of public outreach
regarding caves and karst. Maybe having a state wide education meeting for the
general public and caves is something that a Texas caving organization should
do.
Geary Schindel
Administrative Vice President
National Speleological Society
Note the post from Joe Douglas below.
1) RE: Tennessee Cave and Karst Working Group Public meeting
By: Joe Douglas (Gallatin, Tennessee)
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
Public Meeting - Tennessee Cave and Karst Working Group
The Inn at Fall Creek Falls State Park
January 22, 2011
Please accept this invitation to attend the first annual public meeting of the
Tennessee Cave and Karst Working Group. The meeting will take place on
Saturday, January 22, 2011 at the inn at Fall Creek Falls State Park.
The Tennessee Cave and Karst Working Group mission is to increase awareness,
understanding, and cooperation relating to cave and karst resources in
Tennessee. Although TN has world class cave and karst resources, the experts,
enthusiasts, and managers of those resources rarely have a forum to share their
projects, experiences, or expertise with others. Not only can that sometimes
lead to poor stewardship, but it also excludes the partnerships that can be
gained by working together.
This first public meeting will comprise of numerous presentations relating to
Tennessee's cave and karst resources. While the topics are varied, the overall
themes relate to conservation, archaeology, historical human use, biology,
white nose syndrome, photography, and geology/hydrology.
If you have any interest in caves or karst resources in TN, there will be
something of interest for you at this meeting. We encourage you to come and
spend a day learning and sharing with us. This is a newly formed group and we
hope you will come and participate. There will be time for questions and
discussion after each presentation.
Preliminary Agenda
9:00-9:30 - Morning Social
9:30-9:35 - Cory Holliday - Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:35-9:45 - Gerald Moni - The Tennessee Cave Survey
9:45-10:05 - Maureen Handler - Sera Karst Task Force
10:05 - 10:30 - Jason and Chrissy Richards - Cave Diving Project Update
10:30-10:50 - Dr. Sidney Jones - The State of Karst Hydrology in the Volunteer
State
10:50-11:00 - Break
11:00-11:25 -David Withers - Karst Dependent Organisms in TN
11:25-11:50 - Kirk Zigler - Cave Invertebrate Project Updates
11:50-12:50 - Lunch (The Inn at FCFSP has a full restaurant and worthwhile
buffet)
12:50-12:55 - Stuart Carroll - Introduction to the afternoon session
12:55-1:25 - Dr. Joseph Douglas - History in TN Caves: Themes, Resources, and
Conservation
1:25-1:55 - Annie Blankenship - Archaeological Resources Within TN Caves
1:55-2:25 - Dr. Jan Simek and Alan Cressler - Caves, Karst, and the
Soul: How Karst Features Reflected the Prehistoric Native American Cosmos
2:25-2:35 - Break
2:35-3:00 - John Hoffelt - Implementation of the USFWS National White Nose
Syndrome Plan
3:00-3:25 - Richie Wyckoff - White Nose Syndrome in Tennessee
3:25-4:00 - Stephen Alvarez - Bat Genocide: Pictures from December's National
Geographic WNS story
