| Website Updates
Alexis Lienhart
09/19/2011 Email: TCS
Spring Meeting Minutes, Added Below 9-28-2011
TCS Spring Presentation
Meeting 04/30/11
Director at
Large East TN, Jack Thomison, opened the meeting in Jerell’s place, and
got right down to business by calling on officers for reports.
Co-Chairman
East TN, Bruce Zerr, began with discussion of a lifetime membership option
that would be voted on in the fall. The cost for this membership would
be $100. Bruce also discussed caves on an Oak Ridge reservation, found
by a TVA archaeologist. Jack Thomison mentioned a masters student whose
thesis is on proactive cave management and may present to the Great Smoky
Mountains Park.
Co-Chairman
West TN, Gerald Moni, reported 114 new caves. He had been checking known
points for cave clusters and finding new caves in the process. Gerald urged
everyone to continue to send updated cave info and corrected errors to
him on cave report forms.
I reported
next with reading of the minutes and a treasury report. The 2011 TN Caver
was also made available.
No other officers
were present at the meeting for reports.
A card was
passed around for Jason Richards who was and still is serving overseas.
There was no
old business on the table, and there was no new business brought to the
table, so we went ahead with presentations by Mike Russell, Julie Schenck
Brown, Corey Holliday, Mike Rogers, Clinton Elmore, and Philip Rykwalder.
After presentations
ended, most everyone headed to Mi Casa for cerveza & burritos.
Secretary/Treasurer Address Added
on Who to Contact:
3-28-2011
Alexis Lienhart, 276 Dodson Chapel
Rd., Cookeville, TN 38506, lienhart.alexis@gmail.com
Meeting Schedule Updated 3-28-2011:
From Tag-Net Digest #5887: 2011 Tennessee Cave Survey Spring
Meeting
Officer List Updated - Who
to Contact3-28-2011
Map Links
on Meeting Schedule changed 3-28-2011
Alexis Leinhart Revision, Tennessee
Cave Survey Membership Application updated 3-28-2011
Meeting Schedule 2011 Update
10-18-2010
Alexis Lienhart
09/27/2010 Email Officer List Updated - Who
to Contact 10-18-2010
Alexis Lienhart
09/27/2010 Email Spring & Fall TCS Meeting Minutes Added Below
10-18-2010
Spring TCS
Meeting Notes May 1, 2010
After Jerell
called the meeting to order, our Co-Chairman West, Gerald Moni, reported
that we’re at over 9,500 caves and that he’d been ridgewalking a lot in
Overton & White counties.
Co-chairman
East, Jack Thomison, reported that not much was happening out his way.
Former Secretary/Treasurer,
Anne Elmore, read the minutes from the September 9, 2009 fall business
meeting and reminded everyone to keep up the coordinate checking.
Narrative Files
Director, Marion O Smith, said not much was happening with the narrative
files.
Director at
Large East TN, Chris Kerr, had nothing to report.
Director at
Large West TN, Ron Zawislak, Bibliography File Director, John Hoffelft,
& website specialist, Lynn Roebuck were not present to report.
Jack asked
for committee reports and Jason Richards gave a report from the nerd-hole
committee. He said 600 maps would be scanned by March 2011, in medium to
high resolution, and that presently he was working on Cumberland County
Grade I & II maps. …at least I think that’s what all of that translated
to.
Next, Ric Finch
announced the date for the Big Bone Cave gating – May 10. He thanked TCS
for our contributions collected at the last fall meeting and solicited
for labor for the project, which was a week away. Anne updated us with
plans for removal of the old gate. Kristen Bobo would begin the gate-building
the following Monday.
Jerell took
the floor and discussed a recent, tragic incident of a police officer falling
into Hilham pit, and the need for communication between search and rescue
and the caving community…and that there needs to be policy in place to
offer information to rescue efforts and officers of the law in an official
way. Jack thought this was a good idea. Gerald cautioned against organizations
wanting ALL of our cave data, but agreed that cavers should be contacted
to assist with these rescues. He reminded us that search & rescue teams
could be confused by the cave numbering system, and that even if they had
the info in hand, they’d probably need a knowledgeable caver to interpret
it…giving the list itself would do no good. Gerald and Jerell talked about
a few troubling rescues with tangled and rotten rope. Jack wrapped the
discussion up by just stating that search & rescue teams need cave
rescue training and everyone seemed to agree.
Spencer Hoover
talked about his 30-year experience in emergency work, and that the local
fire departments seem to want to control cave rescue. He suggested giving
out caver contact #’s, as opposed to cave point locations, and just going
to local fire departments to talk about vertical cave rescues. Jack suggested
that cavers volunteer and join the rescue squad. Spencer then told us he
was running for Sheriff. ? …and suggested we compile a list of volunteers
for a call list to give to fire departments. Jack mentioned forming a committee
for this, but Jason Richards reminded us that we’re not a manpower organization.
Jack said that TARS (TN Assoc of Rescue Squads) should know to contact
cavers, and said it was time to move on.
New business:
Anne announced
that the Blue Spring Cave Book was available for purchase, and that Bill
Walters could still sign an autograph. Sale on the NSS website was mentioned,
and that at a book-signing in Sparta, over 100 people came and 35 books
were sold to non-cavers.
We were also
reminded that there were still a few copies of the Big Bone Cave book available.
Jerell said
it was time to begin presentations, and we certainly had a full morning
of information.
Jason Richards
started us out with a Google Maps interactive presentation on sump cave
diving.
Joe Douglas
was next with a presentation of Hubble Post Office Cave and the paleo-discoveries
therein.
John Smyre
presented on guidelines for submitting maps for TCS publication.
Chris Kerr
presented on the recognition of stratigraphic & structural controls
in recent cave surveys in Fentress County.
Lastly, Spencer
Hoover presented his deconstructed, interactive TCS cave list, and stated
that he was about 40% done.
Jerell brought
the meeting to a close and said it was time to eat! …and we all adjourned,
many of us straight to Mi Casa for cerveza & burritos!
TCS Fall Business Meeting September
25, 2010
Jerell opened the meeting by reminding
everyone about a benefit for Laurel Falls that he & Rosie would be
attending later, and got straight down to business, turning the floor to
Co-Chairman West, Jack Thomison.
Jack began with requesting officer
reports.
Co-Chairman East, Gerald Moni, was
first with a total cave count of 9,517, with 178 new caves, 2/3 of these
new caves being over 1 mile. Gerald stated that the data CD and mapbook
DVD had been updated with these new narrative files. Gerald asked that
if anyone ever needs a paper copy of narratives, or anything else from
now on, to please give him notice in advance of the meeting. Gerald
also discussed a file format: Topo_TCS.tpo …this can be used in the
National Geographic topo program. Gerald reminded everyone that he planned
to go to El Tapatio after the meeting and that everyone should come join
him! A campout at Blue Springs Cove was planned for tonight, mostly to
celebrate Marion O. Smith’s birthday. Gerald stated he’d been spending
a lot of time in the Cove, field-checking caves. Gerald also asked everyone
to be more descriptive with cave entrances and not to use trees as landmarks,
as sometimes the ID isn’t correct and it gets confusing.
Jack Thomison stated nothing to report.
Bibliography files director, John
Hoffelt, stated ongoing collection of stuff.
Narrative files director, Marion
O. Smith, said he was elected without being at the meeting last fall and
has done nothing and will continue do nothing, and really doesn’t want
to hold office.
Mapbooks director, John Smyre, states
1,500 maps are scanned to the updated DVD. He has touched up, re-scanned,
& corrected the rotation of over 600 maps and has invested around 1,500
hours of work into this. John said that copying and reduction accounts
for a lot of the poor quality of maps. John stated that all versions of
maps, whether computer-generated, colored, or hand-drawn, are retained
and preserved. John reviewed map submission guidelines and stated that
only about ¼ of maps submitted contain the appropriate items that
need to be on maps. John states the goal of this project is to improve
digital copies from scanned maps for preservation and future recovery.
John stated he cleans all of the maps up with a software program, as opposed
to cleaning by hand and re-scanning. John solicited maps that are
not included on the DVD, or maps of better quality of maps already on the
DVD that can be donated or loaned for scanning. John thanked everyone for
their contributions thus far.
Director at Large East TN, Chris
Kerr, was not present to report.
Director at Large West TN, Ron Zawislak,
reported that an Espee Cave map may be finished within 2-3 years!
Jack asked for committee reports
and Jason Richards reported from the nerdhole committee. He states he continues
to scan Grades 1-3 & 5 maps, and is up to Davidson County, alphabetically…and
that anyone willing to can help. It would require picking up a county from
Gerald and returning it when finished.
Jack asked if there were any other
committees, and Secretary Alexis Lienhart had no others recorded, aside
from the nerdhole.
Jack moved to elections.
Co-Chairman East: Gerald Moni, was
re-elected, unopposed.
Co-Chairman West: Bruce Zerr was
nominated and was elected.
Meeting Director: Jerell Killian
was re-elected, unopposed.
Secretary/Treasurer: Alexis Lienhart
was re-elected, unopposed.
Narrative Files Director: Kristem
Bobo was nominated and elected.
Director at Large East: Jack Thomison
was nominated and elected.
Director at Large West: Ron Zawislak
was re-elected, unopposed.
Mapbook Director: John Smyre was
re-elected, unopposed.
Bibliography Director: John Hoffelt
was re-elected, unopposed.
Non-official positions were reviewed:
IT Specialist, Lynn Roebuck; Tennessee Caver Editor, Alexis Lienhart.
A short break was given before presentations
began.
Joe Douglass started us out with
a presentation on Cheeks Stand Cave, and its history and archaeology. Joe
also detailed the legend of Elijah Cheek. Because of Joe’s findings from
radiocarbon dating river cane in the cave, Cheeks Stand Cave is now 13th
on the Deep Cave Use List.
Jason Richards presented on his continuing
mapping of Cow Crap Cave and its new connection found to Military Spring
Cave, dropping Military Spring from the cave list, and detailed new findings
at Lichen Home Cave Spring and Jay Creek Cave.
Bruce Zerr presented on surveys at
Buffalo Cove, having added 1,300 more feet to Fern Camp Cave. He found
24 Saltpeter vats and a footprint atop a vat 11 “ long.
This ended the presentations and
Jack said it was time to go to El Tap, which Gerald quickly echoed and
we all filed out for this season’s round of cerveza & burritos.
Gerald Moni
9/14/2010 Email
2010 TCS Price
List - PDF
Alexis Lienhart
9/9/2010 Email
TTU Map Link
update
Meeting
Schedule
Chuck Sutherland
via Facebook 9-8-2010
Alexis Lienhart
added as Secretary/Treasurer replacing the former
TCS
Contacts
Jack Thomison
Thu 9-2-2010 Email
Jack Thomison's
Text for Replacement on default.html
The Tennessee
Cave Survey, Inc. (TCS) is an internal organization of the National Speleological
Society (NSS) in the state of Tennessee, USA dedicated to surveying and
mapping of Tennessee caves. The TCS is committed to the discovery, exploration,
survey and mapping of the caves of Tennessee and to systematically collect,
organize, maintain both information and cave maps of Tennessee caves.
TCS relies almost exclusively on the volunteer participation of its caver
members to generate these data and cave maps. Consequently, TCS will
only share this information with approved members.
The TCS, along
with its parent organization the NSS, strongly encourages and promotes
the protection of the caves of Tennessee from significant adverse environmental
impact. The TCS recognizes that this conservation should also be
consistent with reasonable cave access for exploration, cave mapping and
survey by cavers.
The TCS encourages
its member cavers to maintain good relationships with cave landowners,
both private and governmental to maintain access.
The TCS discourages
widespread dissemination of sensitive cave information, that may encourage
unprincipled or uneducated people to cause harm to the cave environment.
TCS considers more protection of caves may sometimes be the best way to
preserve the cave and its environment. TCS will not release sensitive
cave locations, cave maps, and TCS data en mass to any person, outdoors
group, government agencies, state agencies, private or non-profit organizations.
However, on a case by case basis, TCS will consider releasing limited data
to responsible people or agencies that it considers necessary to help preserve
the cave and/or its environment.
Old Text Removed
from default.html
The Tennessee
Cave Survey, Inc. (TCS) is a private organization in the state of Tennessee,
USA dedicated to surveying and mapping of Tennessee caves. Cave Survey
members are volunteers who are committed to the discovery, exploration,
survey and mapping of the caves of Tennessee.
Tennessee Cave
Survey goals are to systematically collect, organize, maintain information
and cave maps about Tennessee caves. The TCS strongly encourages and promotes
the protection of the caves of Tennessee from significant adverse
environmental impact, consistent with reasonable cave access for exploration,
cave mapping and survey by cavers. The TCS discourages widespread dissemination
of sensitive cave information. Tennessee Cave Survey considers the effort
toward more protective legislation for caves a more desirable approach
to cave conservation than the release of sensitive cave locations, cave
maps, and TCS data en mass to any person, outdoors group, government agencies,
state agencies, private or non-profit organizations.
Our volunteers,
both Tennessee cavers and out-of-state cavers add to the knowledge of speleology
through their Tennessee cave mapping and cave surveying efforts. Since
Tennessee Cave Surveys' inception over 9,300 caves have been added to the
TCS Cave Files! This might explain why the Tennessee Cave Survey is often
referred to as the Southeastern Leader in cave survey. The significance
of the TCS Cave Files is related to the information that might be contributed
to the Tennessee Cave Survey files by cavers who record and choose to share
their cave survey, cave maps and information with the Tennessee Cave Survey.
Through exploration
cavers often are able to gain more knowledge and data concerning the Caves
of Tennessee.
Gerald Moni
8/26/2010 Email
Gerald Moni
email address updated
TCS
Contacts
Gerald Moni
9/2/2010 Email
2010 Fall Meeting
date updated
Announcements,
Meetings
The Meeting Minutes of the Tennessee
Cave Survey will be added to this web site as soon as they are received.
2009 Spring
TCS Meeting Minutes; April 4, 2009 Sewanee, TN
Jerell
Killiam opened the spring meeting. Gerald Moni announced 100 new
caves and he is still field checking the data and coordinates and making
any necessary changes to the TCS records. He had CD made for purchase
($10) that has the old TCS information on it including everything to date.
This allows those interested in electronics info as well as paper info
to purchase either. The fall meeting will have updates.
John
Smyre announced the availability of his book on Big Bone Cave being free
to TCS members.
Secretary
Anne Elmore read the minutes from the fall 2008 meeting; they were approved.
She suggested that renewals be for 2 or more years at a time. Dealing
with $6 fees is time consuming and she wanted more money than this.
John
Holfelt said he is unable to continue his Bibliography job in the future
and suggests that these need to be kept updated at each local level.
The
Committee to discuss the TCS information to be distributed to Tennessee
Parks & Greenways group be allowed. Cory Holliday of the Nature
Conservancy will use this info for # of caves and topo's to give to Developers.
He wants tto lisy cave density and # of caves on the topographic maps in
given areas. The motion was made by John Holfelt to allow The Nature
Conservancy to release the # of caves for topo overlay only; motion was
passed by the group.
Alexis
asked for caving articles to submitted to the TCS Newsletter and one will
be published for the fall 2009 meeting.
Joe
Douglas gave a presentation on Marble Hall in Hawkins County
Mabry
Harden had a powerpoint show of the Cave Diving Projects in Tennessee for
2008
Jody
Bailey gave his pumped up version of the upcoming SERA Cave Carnival, including
5K run, Win Your Weight in Beer, lots of beads & drinking will be involved.
Gerald
Moni announced that the highlight of the day will be lunch and it was decided
to meet at the usual Mexican Restaurant, even though there is a For Sale
sign. Someone suggested we warn them of our arrival. Meeting
adjourned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:
Minutes Received via email 8-30-2009 / Uploaded to Web 8-31-2009
Tennessee
Cave Survey Constitution and By-Laws
|
