Texas Cave Conservancy Educational Show Cave

The Texas Cave Conservancy  (TCC) announces acqusition of Avery Ranch Cave, located near Round Rock, Texas.

On March 6, 2006 the Avery Ranch Homeowner's Association transferred ownership of this small, one room cave to the TCC.  The Conservancy will be developing this site as an educational show cave, available to cavers and members of the public at no charge.  It will become a valuable tool  in the TCC's cave related public education efforts.

Background
On May 2, 2001 contractors, excavating a one meter wide trench for a sewer line at Avery Ranch inWilliamson County, cut into the side of a small, highly decorated cave.  Caver Kimble White was
summoned to check out the cave.  He found a room twenty five to thirty feet in diameter, up to eighteen feet high and filled with formations.

The following is Kimble's account of what occurred next: "It was hit during trenching of a sewer line on May 2, 2001. I was the first to enter and explore it that evening. Hub Bechtol, Brad Sappington, and Kristin White returned with me the next morning and helped  map it. We took clean shoes into the cave with us and changed into them after making it past the muddy trench...we used a long piece of bamboo to place the end of the tape at various locations for our survey shots so as not to have to climb on the speleothems.  To their
credit the developer re-designed the sewer trench and the road it followed to avoid the cave. They gave up three lots on top to protect the cave and had the hatch installed on top to keep the speleothems from drying out. Others who entered the cave in that first week were Sylvia Pope and some others from COA, and  Heather Beatty from TCEQ.

Mike Warton came out later when I recommended him to the owners for installing the hatch.  An interesting anecdote: While Sue Hovorka (Edwards Aquifer expert with!  the UT Bureau of Economic Geology) was rewriting the TCEQ guidelines for conducting Geologic Assessments in the recharge zone, we took her to a
couple of our field sites to help her with some ground level input on the methods involved. We probably walked right over this cave in the process of inspecting several of the previously identified CEFs that
are nearby...no sign of it at the surface whatsoever.  It's also interesting to note that we are very lucky that the trench intersected the cave where it did. Had it done anything else but just knick the cave then it may not have been salvagable, not to mention the fact that the trencher could have taken a serious fall."

Since there was no observable cave life, Avery Ranch Cave became a potential site for an educational show cave.  While the TCC is purchasing three endangered species caves on the 4.25 acres at the TCC Headquarters site, this is the first cave to be owned outright by the conservation organization.  Over the next three months, the TCC will install an observation deck inside the cave and make additional improvements.  Your support with this effort and others is invited.

Cace day
Don't forget, Saturday, April 15, 2006, the Texas Cave Conservancy will host a public event, "CAVE DAY", in Cedar Park, Texas.  Come on out and help.  You will even get to see the latest TCC
cave acquisition.  For more information contact me.

Donna Mosesmann
TCC Director
713-777-7339
dogmos1@hotmail.com

SPELEOFEST 2006

SPELEOFEST 2006 

Hart County Fairground , 

May 25-29

Gates will be open Thursday from Noon till Midnight

$ 2.00 per person for early arrival camping for Thursday night

Gates will reopen Friday morning at 6:00AM and remain open till Noon on Sunday.

You can get more information and directions at the Louisville Grotto Web Site

Speleofest 2006 Chairperson
Shelly Wolf
NSS #44482
cavewolf@hotmail.com


Update:
Check out the photo gallery.

Save Planinsko Polje

Dear colleagues and friends,
Some of you might never have heard of Planinsko polje in Slovenia, some of you might have read about it and some of you might have seen it, even if only once. If you have heard of it, or seen it, you will know that, arguably, it is the best-preserved example of a large karst polje in the Dinaric Karst region of Europe. 

During the past year or so, an apparently highly aggressive international consortium has been pressing ahead with plans to erect a monstrosity of a building that will form a blot on the pristine landscape at the most environmentally sensitive point in the entire polje. 

This juggernaut venture is steaming forward as part of the seemingly innocent aspiration of providing a European Museum of Karst. Whereas provision of such a museum can only be seen as an exciting and worthwhile prospect, the potential effects on the polje's landscape and ecology really are unjustifiable, doubly so as a more environmentally acceptable and economically viable location for the planned complex could readily be found elsewhere within the Slovenian karst.

The Speleological Society of Ljubljana has launched a campaign that will attempt to gain statutory protection for Planinsko polje and its close neighbourhood, from this and from any future such initiatives. 

We would feel much stronger if we could demonstrate international concern about the issue, and attract the support of cavers, speleologists and all like-minded people who value and wish to preserve the natural environment. 

If you are interested in helping us, please, click http://emk.speleo.net and follow the instructions provided to register your support. 

Furthermore, it would be even more helpful if you can take the time to forward this message to any individuals or organizations that you suppose might be willing to add their support and encouragement to our cause. 

Thank you in advance! 

On behalf of the Speleological Society of Ljubljana, 

Yours sincerely, 

France Sustersic

Upcoming Cave Rescue Seminar in Colorado

April 22nd-23rd, the Colorado Cave Rescue Network will be presenting a seminar in basic cave rescue techniques. Details are available at: http://www.coloradocaverescue2006.org

As the number of participants is limited and we only have a few spots left, please e-mail me as soon as possible if you are interested in attending.

skiandcave@ureach.com

Hidden Earth 2006

The UK's National Caving Conference and Exhibition Hidden Earth 2006 is on 22-24 September at Leek High School, Staffordshire.

Leek is a market town about 12 miles south of the spa town of Buxton, which is at the heart of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire.

Information about the event will be posted at http://hidden-earth.org.uk/ in due course.

The Hidden Earth team apologises for the delay in fixing the date and location. A venue was, in fact, booked last autumn but due to unforeseen difficulties we had to find a new venue at short notice.

Call For Papers - PseudoKarst Symposium

Please submit your abstracts by May 1, 2006 for the Pseudokarst 2006 Symposium at the 2006 NSS Convention in Bellingham, Washington.

The abstract should be 250 words or less and contain the authors complete contact address.

Your current telephone number should also be included, but will not be published.

Electronic submission as a MS Word or PDF file as an email attachment is preferred, but paper submissions to the following address will also be accepted.

Steve Stokowski
NSS #14425FE
508-881-6364

mail to:
S. Stokowski
1058 Sodom Rd.
Westport, Mass. 02790

Safety and Techniques Committee Chair Needed

The Education Division, under the Department of the Administrative Vice-President, is looking for a motivated and effective chairperson for the Safety and Techniques Committee.

The new chair will organize a committee focused on educating the NSS membership on proper and safe caving practices and informing us of new techniques. The committee chair will also work with the Education Division Chief and other committee chairs on collaborative efforts within the Division. Recommendations on equipment and educational material are passed on to the NSS membership through the STC column in the NSS News and through workshops at the NSS Convention.

Please consider volunteering to work for the goals of the Education Division of the NSS. For more information on these committees or to apply, please send questions or a vision statement and resume to Amy Bern (amybern@juno.com), Education Division Chief.

Volunteers for Youth Groups Cave Projects

The NSS Youth Groups Liaison Committee (YGLC) (Education Division, Department of the Administrative Vice President) is seeking volunteers to fill several committee and sub-committee positions.  If you're interested in helping youth learn about the importance of caves and karst, please go to the NSS YGLC Website's index page from www.caves.org/youth/ and click on the "To Join the YGLC" button to learn about committee goals, positions, responsibilities, and application process.

Some positions require very few responsibilities and a small time-commitment, while others require high skill-levels in project management, writing, and communication, as well a considerable time-commitment.  All positions require people skills, Internet access, and a desire to improve access to information on topics concerning youth groups and caving for grottos, cavers, and youth groups.

No positions require working directly with youth, but all positions will have a major impact on meeting the conservation, safety, and education goals of the NSS.  Please check out the positions and see where your skills would fit in the structure of the YGL committee.

Subcontinent’s longest cave found in Meghalaya

An international team of experts has discovered the longest cave system of the subcontinent in Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills, surpassing the record of the previously known one by almost a km in the same district.

“The linking of the Krem Um Im-Liat Prah limestone cave system to Krem Labbit (Khaidong) to create a single cave system of 22 km in length is the longest cave known to date in the subcontinent,” the team members said at a news conference today.

This finding surpasses the previous record of the longest cave system in the subcontinent ? the Kotsati-Umlawam in Lumshnong measuring 21.56 km, said B.D. Kharpran Dally, a reputed speleologist in Meghalaya.

The 28-member team, comprising 17 members from the UK, two each from Switzerland and Denmark, one each from Austria and Ireland and five from India, spent three-and-a-half weeks in the district focussing on the cave areas of Shnongrim ridge near the Nongkhlieh area.

The experts explored 39 caves between February 7 and March 1, mapped and photographed them to discover 15,498 metres of new cave passages.