15th International Congress of Speleology website

The 15th International Congress of Speleology will be held in Kerrville, Texas, USA on 19-26 July 2009. Since it is never too early to begin preparing for a great event, the website for the Congress is now available
with all of the latest information so you can start planning to attend. The goal of the website is to stay so up to date that if you don't find the information you need there, then it is likely that the information is not yet available (although you're always welcome to contact us and check).

The website is in English. Our summary leaflet is available as PDFs in French, German, and Spanish. The leaflet is currently being translated into Italian and will be posted as soon as it is ready. Later this summer,
print-quality versions of the leaflets will be available on the web too. By the end of September, the entire website will be available in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

We encourage you to visit the website and bookmark it for future reference: www.ics2009.us

If you want to be certain you receive all updates on the Congress or are interested in helping, contact us at secretary@ics2009.us

We look forward to seeing you in Kerrville in 2009!

George Veni
Chairman, 15th International Congress of Speleology
Adjunct Secretary, International Union of Speleology

International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems

The International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems (Karst 2007) will be held August 13-19, 2007 at Western Kentucky University. 

Sponsored by Western Kentucky University, the Patel Center for Global Solutions, the Karst Waters Institute, and the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, and hosted by the WKU Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, this conference is a joint meeting of the four major international karst research groups: 

1) the UNESCO International Geoscience Program (IGCP) Project 513: Global Study of Karst Aquifers and Water Resources; 

2) The International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Karst Commission; 

3) the International Geographical Union (IGU) Karst Commission, and 

4) the Union Internationale de Spéléologie Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis. 

This follows two successful similar meetings held at WKU in 1998 and 2003. We expect a more diverse turnout due to the increased international participation in these projects over the last few years--IGCP Project 513 alone now has over 300 members representing 56 countries. 

The conference website can be found at http://hoffman.wku.edu/karst2007/k2007.html, or easily accessed from the Hoffman Institute site. 

During the conference, in collaboration with the Patel Center for Global Solutions, the National Cave & Karst Research Institute, the University of South Florida Libraries, the University of New Mexico Libraries, and the University of South Florida Karst Research Group, there will be a plenary session to facilitate international evolution of the emerging Karst Information Portal Initiative.

Please note that limited funding will be made available from IGCP513 for financial conference support (i.e. registration costs, visa application fees, etc.), focusing on scientists from countries where travel funds are more difficult to obtain. We will also provide partial scholarships for students, in return for assisting conference organizers during the meeting. 

 
For additional information, or to be added to the conference email list, please contact IGCP513 Secretary Beth Medley at karst2007@gmail.com.

Group and Grotto Conservation Awards

Group and Grotto Conservation Awards are presented by the NSS Cave Conservation and Management Section.

These awards are given annually to an NSS group and an NSS grotto that do the most for cave conservation and management. Each award recipient gets a check for $100 and a certificate. Each award consists of a plaque with the names of all past recipients engraved on it.

As of today, 17 May 2005, no nominations have been received for the group award and one nomination for the grotto award. Award nominations often arrive near the deadline; however, the chances that your group could be recognized at the NSS convention this year may be good, provided that the group is nominated.

This notice and internet link should be published in cave publications and sent to all cave site web masters to be placed on their websites. Please help get the word out about the Group and the Grotto Cave Conservation Awards.

This link http://www.acave.us/ccms/index.html

goes to the Conservation Section Website. Once you are there, click on "Enter." The heading "Conservation Award" is listed in the blue navigation bar. It has eight pages of information about all aspects of these awards including a nomination form. 

Vulcanospeleology Symposium in Mexico

The Twelfth International Symposium on Vulcanospeleology will be held in Tepoztlán, Mexico, just south of Mexico City, July 3-8.

The Association for Mexican Cave Studies is helping sponsor this event; it will publish the proceedings as an AMCS Bulletin and provide copies to the registrants after the event (sometime this fall). Further information is at www.saudicaves.com/symp06.

I have just sent to the printer an AMCS Bulletin on lava tubes in the area of the symposium. The author is Ramón Espinasa, co-chairman of the symposium. The publication is a joint one with the Sociedad Mexicana de
Exploraciones Subterráneas and will be for sale at the symposium. If you are driving from the U.S. down to the symposium and can take a couple of boxes of books with you, please contact me and I'll have the printer ship some directly to you.

-- Bill Mixon, AMCS Editor
editor@amcs-pubs.org or bmixon@alumni.uchicago.edu