Below is a copy of the letter sent by the NSS requesting the post office do just that. Your letters supporting this suggestion would be appreciated. Write to the address below, and use your own words and thoughts.
Thanks
Cheryl
NSS Director
(Permission granted to circulate this message in the caver community)
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August 12, 2005
Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development
U.S. Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Room 4474E
Washington, D.C. 202260-2437
Dear Sirs:
The United States enjoys an extensive and rich natural heritage in its many caverns and caves. Among the most famous caves in the U.S. are four that are also highly visited National Parks (NPS): Mammoth Cave (KY.), Carlsbad Caverns (NM), Wind and Jewel Caves (SD). While the USPS has long honored America's National Parks in well-regarded issuances over the years, some of our most prized parks have been overlooked. With the exception of Carlsbad Caverns, a postal card and reply card issuance, no NPS cave has been honored on a U.S. stamp.
Since 1940 the National Speleological Society (NSS) has been dedicated to the promotion and protection of caves. Our organization encourages Americans to learn more about caves, the importance of caves to our habitat, and the pleasure caves bring to countless visitors every year. NSS members are not only strong proponents for greater public awareness of National Park Caves, but also the National Speleological Society supports America's commercial caves of which the U.S. is blessed with many.
The NSS, through its Speleo-Philatelic Section, recommends that the Citizen's Advisory Committee honor our NPS caves with a stamp issuance in 2009. That summer, the United States will host the International Congress of Speleology (ICS) in Kerrville, Texas, an event held once every four years. The ICS brings together cave experts from all over the world and focuses on the entire range of cave-related sciences: geology, biology, hydrology, and archaeology to mention a few.
The 2005 International Congress of Speleology takes place in Athens, Greece. Brazil, China, Hungary, and Spain are among countries which have hosted the ICS in recent decades. The Congress was last held in the United States in 1981 (Bowling Green, Ky.) San Antonio, Texas, will be the site for the 2009 ICS.
Almost all other host countries have utilized the occasion of the ICS to honor their own caves through postal issuances. The United States did not issue any stamps at the time of the 1981 Congress; rather there was a special postal cancellation from the Mammoth Cave Post Office.
At the time, there may have been consideration whether the USPS could honor Stephen Bishop, a slave and early explorer of Mammoth Cave, in its Black Heritage series. To our knowledge the proposal was never formally presented to the CAC.
The NSS would not want the United States Postal Service to miss the upcoming opportunity of the ICS for a postal issuance honoring the best of America's caves. NSS members believe the time has come to acknowledge properly America's rightful place in the forefront of the world's caves, beginning with the longest cave in the world, Mammoth Cave.
Sincerely,
William Tozer
President, NSS
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