NCKMS Update

[Cheryl Jones]

Several updates on the upcoming National Cave and Karst Management Symposium: http://www.nckms.org/2005/index.html

--A participants list has been added to the website. A few people listed on the confirmed participants list have yet to register.

--George N. Huppert Scholarship recipients will be announced soon. This will likely bring a few more names to the participation list.

--An extended list of abstracts has been updated to Sept. 22nd on the website. Several abstracts are still outstanding.

--A poster session has been announced. Interested persons may contact me for details.

If you're involved in any aspect of cave or karst management, you should plan to attend!

Thank You

Mike Warner
Chair 2005 NCKMS
mike (the at sign) speleobooks com


http://www.nckms.org

[Plethodon]

Recent NCKMS have been held in increasingly expensive venues.

This limits the number of both agency and non-subsidized attendees due to limited travel budgets. High fuel costs add to the current mix, and which has constricted travel budgets even more.

Since the value of NCKMS lies in networking opportunities,
this has been a source of acute disappointment to several regular attendees I know who have had to pass on attendance this year.

Perhaps the NSS representative to the NCKMS can keep this in mind when
advising groups on future events.

[Cheryl Jones]

Hey, believe me, I feel the pain! It keeps getting more and more expensive for all of us to be involved in this science/activity we love.

The National Cave and Karst Management Symposium runs up against inflation like we all do, and the cost of appropriate venues keeps increasing. The NCKMS does its best able to offer a top quality, professional-level event at reasonable price, and Mike Warner and the Northeastern Cave Conservancy have done a great job this year keeping the prices down while offering a great program.

The NCKMS Steering Committee realizes that some people would not be able to attend with out financial assistance, so created the George N. Huppert Scholarship program. http://www.nckms.org/scholar.html This is the third symposium for which we've offered grants for either registration or lodging, or both, and we received 15 applications. I don't know right off how many scholarships were awarded this year, however we had about $2600 to distribute.

In addition, students attend the symposium at a reduced price.

New this year and free to all via the Internet is the NCKMS Road Show -- so anyone can benefit from a part of the symposium. http://www.nckms.org/2005/travel.htm

The room price at the hotel where the sessions will be held is a few dollars more more per night than in FL in 2003, if I remember the figures correctly, but inexpensive for a quality downtown hotel in the capital of NY. We use the government per diem allowance as the upper limit of the cost of lodging.

This year several meals are included in the registration fee to save this additional cost for attendees -- all lunches are included as well as two dinners and of course the cookie- and-coffee breaks.

For those who would rather not stay in the host hotel, generally there are other motel options nearby, as there are this year, and sometimes camping areas aren't too far away. And then cavers often stay with cavers in the area.....as we do.

The cost of travel is out of our control, of course. However, like NSS Conventions, we move the Symposium around the country, so it will be in different "backyards." In 2007, the symposium will be in Missouri, and closer to completely different regions of cavers.

Thanks for writing and for your interest. I hope you'll be able to make it to Albany, but if not, make it MO in 2007.

Cheryl
Chairman
NCKMS Steering Committee

[Cheryl Jones]

The time for procrastination is OVER!

Register for the 2005 NCKMS! http://www.nckms.org/2005/index.html
Oct 31-Nov 4. Albany.

Be there or be a spelunker.

Cheryl
(Yes, please circulate anyone involved or interested in cave and karst management, and to cavers to should be...!)

[Cheryl Jones]

A final revised agenda for the 2005 NCKMS, the list of abstracts, as well as the list of participants as of today are now posted on the 2005 NCKMS Web site.

Only two weeks until we all meet in Albany. If you're planning on attending, even for a day, but haven't registered, please do so ASAP. http://www.nckms.org/2005/index.html

If you're not planning on attending, check out the agenda and abstracts to see what you're missing (and why you should plan to attend in 2007!) .....and plan to buy a copy of the symposium Proceedings when they are published.

Cheryl
NCKMS Steering Committee Chairman

[Cheryl Jones]

Heaps of thanks to Symposium Charmian Mike Warner, his team, and the Northeastern Cave Conservancy for hosting an outstanding Symposium. We had a great week!

The sessions, field trip to NSS and NCC cave preserves, keynote speakers, and facilities were terrific, as were the general good vibes and synergistic buzz thought the week. Even a Project Underground and a BCI Bat Workshop were included in the week's program.

Participating were noted speleologists; members from several cave conservancies, conservation, and speleo-related groups; federal and state agency and NCKRI folks; university profs; NSS committee chairmen; show cave owners; and plain ol' cavers.

If you're interested in the information presented, keep an eye out for the 2005 NCKMS Proceedings, which will be for sale through the NSS Bookstore and Speleobooks. They currently have copies of Proceedings from past symposia as well. (3 of the Symposium Proceedings are also on CD). See the tables of contents at http://www.nckms.org/proceed.html .

If you've read this far and weren't in Albany, and you have an interest in cave management, plan on attending the 2007 NCKMS in St. Louis.

Cheryl