Bill, you're right that I only included a few bits of the NSS as it related to the T-Organizations. The NSS internal structure was beyond the scope of my article, and would be a great follow-up article for you to write!
I do know more of the details of the NSS (but apparently not as much as you...hint hint). However, my article's focus was just the "T-Organizations" (TSA, TSS, TCMA, TCC, TCR) and a few facts that people seem to have confused, like Spring Convention is hosted by the TSA, not the TCMA despite the TCMA auction also being at Spring Convention. I even read the link you mentioned while researching my article. Yes, the NSS recognizes the TCMA and TCC as cave conservancies (keyword recognizes) and the TSS is an NSS project, but they are independent of the NSS. The NSS' website even specifically states on that link that the organizations are "independent organizations" and "operate with autonomy from the Society leadership" (exact quotes). In contrast, the other organizations mentioned in my article _are_ dependent on the NSS. Thus, the NSS can (and does) mandate that all Grotto officers must be current NSS members, but it cannot mandate that, say, all TCMA Directors must be NSS members because the TCMA was formed completely outside the scope of the NSS and afterwards recognized as a cave conservancy--a loose affiliation but not a part of the NSS. I didn't touch on affiliations like that because my focus was the actual hierarchy, not the spaghetti of loose affiliations. So I think my article was spot-on, but if anyone has specific errors, let me know! Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to reading an article on the internal workings of the NSS. There's still plenty that I can learn about that. --Bennett -----Original Message----- From: Texascavers [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mixon Bill via Texascavers Sent: Monday, April 27, 2015 1:56 PM To: Cavers Texas Subject: [Texascavers] Texas cave organizations Thanks to Bennett Lee for the article in the new Texas Caver summarizing Texas caving organizations. However, the TSS, TCMA, and TCC are no more independent of the NSS than grottos and regions are. The organization of the NSS is confusing, in that there are "Internal Organizations" and there are "Activities." See http://caves.org/info/nss-orgs.shtml. IOs are grottos (chapters), regions, sections, surveys, and a mysterious entity called an affinity group. Activities are projects, cave conservancies, expeditions, and conservation task forces. To add to the confusion, a number of actual surveys are NSS projects (Activities), not NSS surveys (Internal Organizations). This all badly needs to be rationalized, and Bennett can easily be excused for not knowing the details. The new NSS members manual for 2015 contains lists of projects and CTFs but not other Activities, for some reason. Neither IOs nor Activities get NSS funding automatically, but of course they can apply for various grants. Activities are, however, a bit more closely related to the NSS than IOs are, in that the NSS office can accept donations earmarked for Activities on their behalf. This means that donations to Activities that do not have their own tax-deductible status can be run though the NSS's books, in case the IRS questions them. You'd have to dig pretty deeply into the members' area on the NSS web site to discover this. Anyway, the Texas Speleological Survey is a project of the NSS (as is the Association for Mexican Cave Studies in Austin), and both the Texas Cave Conservancy and the Texas Cave Management Association are conservancies of the NSS. -- Bill Mixon ---------------------------------------- The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. ---------------------------------------- You may "reply" to the address this message (unless it's a TexasCavers list post) came from, but for long-term use, save: Personal: [email protected] AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected] _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com [email protected] | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com [email protected] | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
