Appalachian Cave Conservancy
May 6, 2006 Board of Directors meeting minutes
This meeting of the ACC Board convened at the Perkins
Cave Preserve field house at
The board approved the minutes of the last meeting and waived the reading.
Committee Reports
Executive Committee Report
John reported on the status of two contacts made by
cave owners to ACC since the last board meeting.
The first case involved Randy Boyd, a cave owner in
Keller Bend, west of
In the second case, an
Cave Management General
Daniel Boone Caverns
Bill reported that owner Milton Starnes has not
completed grading the drive to the cave. Bill has planned a trip to the cave
for ACC members and other interested parties for
Other Caves
Bill reported that some owners are confused by the
very technical sample ACC management agreement. He suggested that we use a
condensed or summary agreement. John suggested that we could present possible
cave owner partners with a simplified document and subsequently refine it as
necessary.
The Brickey caves: John requested the Brickey address
so that he can discuss cave management with the Brickeys. The Brickeys’ caves
are Winding Stair, Brickey Pit (locally known as Dungeon Cave),
Scott County Blowing Hole,
Finance Report
The current treasury balance is $1,311.65. All board members except for Don have renewed their memberships.
Membership Report
Terri has a membership roster that is current except for two new members: Greg Marshall and Skye Fisher.
At the meeting of
To that end, John and Robbie had agreed to find and evaluate freeware and open source membership databases. John had found the available programs wanting. Evaluation of a membership template for Microsoft Access is pending. An Access solution may permit modification of the database to meet new requirements as they develop.
Fundraising Report
Prior to the February 25 board meeting, John had
appealed to three NSS grottos for membership and survey participation: the Appalachian,
New River, and Blue Ridge Grottos, without success. Robbie had agreed to pursue
the Appalachian Grotto connection. He had no success. Likewise, we have not
gotten a response form
At the February meeting, the board had agreed to also
contact Pine Mountain Grotto. Gary Fielden had agreed to contact Jim West of
PMG but was not present to report on his progress.
Terri proposed to contact Smoky Mountain Grotto and
also to make a presentation to VDOT workers in
Old / Unfinished Business – none was raised.
New Business
On the NSS Convention in
The second
TM reported concern with the loss of personal privacy
caused by posting meeting minutes on the Internet. John made the point that
operational transparency is important to any tax exempt organization and is
even required by law. TM asked how we coped before the Internet. John replied
that the Internet simply made it possible to do a much better job of maintaining
transparency.
John pointed out that very sensitive issues could be
handled in secret executive session, but that in his own experience in other
nonprofit organizations secrecy caused divisiveness and animosity.
TM suggested using initials only in reporting the
minutes. The board informally agreed that any board member who wishes can opt
to be identified by initials only within the minutes.
Discussion ensued over whether the meeting minutes
are published before approval by the board. They are. Then it was suggested
that publication be delayed until after approval.
John suggested that we adopt the following procedure
for publishing the minutes: The secretary will send the minutes to the
chairman, who will then edit them as necessary and email them to all board
members for their approval. If board members do not respond with suggested
revisions within five days, approval is assumed and the minutes will be
published on the web site. Terri remarked that from her experience with CCV,
the Cave Conservancy of the
The board voted unanimously to adopt this procedure.
The board meeting adjourned at
The meeting convened at
Survey leader Paul Gaskins was not present. Robbie
reported that Bill, Don, and he had done some survey on April 1, descending to
the stream level from an area near the Pole Room.
Entrance
area modifications
Bill reported that the steps into the cave are
complete.
Bill raised the question of planting shrubs or trees
in the entrance area. He also suggested removing the fence around the cave to
make vehicle access easier. John agreed to leave both issues to Bill’s
discretion.
Entrance climb ladder report and cave gate improvement report
Tony McGee is overseeing both projects. In his
absence, John reported that the modification team had made progress but had been
stymied in their final efforts of Feb. 25 by exceptionally hard rock in the
headwall over the gate.
Conservation
marking report
John reported that the marking project is near
completion. The Forest Trail and an area near Second Discovery still need to be
marked.
Toothpaste
Crawl modification report
John reported that substantial progress has been made
to open up the crawl. Mud in the crawl is being transferred from crawl to caver
to otherwise clean rock for about 1000 feet on either side of the crawl. The
objective is to lower the floor enough to allow duck-walking or stooping
passage. John also raised the possibility of laying stepping stones into the
pool below First Discovery to make it easier to get across while staying dry
without placing muddy gloves on the walls.
On future
hosting of a VAR
The possibility of hosting a VAR at the
John said that three major issues must be resolved
before a VAR: road improvement, shelter, and cave protection. He reported that
a road builder had agreed to build a road with two switchbacks from highway to
field house. The timing will be of the builder’s choosing, but will be November
to December of 2006 at latest. The road will have a foundation of 12 inches of
shale overlaid with an inch of crusher run.
John also reported on tentative plans to build a new
house on the property, with a time horizon of two to four years.
Cave
activities today
John, Bill, and Don decided to work on the Toothpaste
Crawl. Terri, TM, and Robbie decided to continue the survey where Terri, TM,
and David Hall had left off in the DOM section on Feb. 25.
The meeting adjourned at