Pennsylvania Cave Conservancy Meeting Minutes for October 12, 2008 This is a summary of the minutes of the meeting. The meeting was called to order 9:45 am by President Pat Minnick at Woodward Cave, Woodward, PA The following officers were present: President P. Minnick Vice President C. Catherman Secretary K. Bange Treasurer G. Dunmire Representation was as follows: Bald Eagle Grotto --- Baltimore Grotto --- Bucks County Grotto Pat Richard Buffalo Valley Grotto Eric Snyder Central New Jersey Grotto --- Commander Cody Caving Club --- Franklin County Grotto Pat Minnick Greater Allentown Grotto Mike Spencer Huntingdon Co. Cave Hunters --- Nittany Grotto Gary Dunmire Philadelphia Grotto Amos Mincin Pennsylvania Inner-Earth Grotto --- Pittsburgh Grotto --- Seven Valleys Grotto Gretchen Williams York Grotto --- There were other individuals present Secretary Report: The minutes from the May 2008 meeting were accepted as published in the August 2008 Breakdown. Treasurer Report: Gary Dunmire distributed a copy of the PCC financial summary. Web Page: Dave Fricke continues to maintain the PCC web page. PCC Breakfast: The Catherman’s did a wonderful job with the festive fall theme for the PCC breakfast. The Catherman’s announced that after 5 years of doing the PCC breakfasts they will no longer be coordinating the PCC breakfast. This led a discussion on the issue of maintenance and transporting of the grill to the MAR events. The Banges agreed to store the grill until the next MAR. Steve Shawver volunteered to look into design and cost of obtaining a stainless steel grill that can be easily transported. Steve will look into this and report back at the next PCC meeting. PCC Brochure: Anyone interested in brochures should contact George Bange. Mail: Karen Bange reported for Dean Snyder. PCC received a request from the Bristol Community Organization, Inc. in Bristol, Connecticut asking for support for their upcoming fundraiser. A vote was taken to honor this request, it did not pass. The National Geographic sent the PCC a request asking for their support on their expedition to Gabon, Africa. Since the date of the expedition had already passed, no action was taken. Karen Bange received an email request from an Eagle Scout/Scout Master asking to link his webpage from the PCC website. A vote was taken and did not pass. T-shirts: One design for the PCC 25th anniversary T-shirt is posted on the PCC website. Gary Dunmire volunteered to look into the costs of printing the T-shirts and report back at the next meeting. Everyone is encouraged to submit a design for the T-shirts. All submitted T-shirts designs will be available at the next meeting. Further discussion of T-shirts was tabled until the next meeting. PA Cave Database: Bill Herr continues to be the PA Cave Database Steward. Jim Kennedy was added to list of county stewards. Jim is the de facto steward for Fayette County and continues to work on the bulletin for this county. OLD BUSINESS: Project List: Baker Caverns: Franklin, County, PA - Pat Minnick reported no changes Dragon Cave: Berks County, PA – No changes Red Church Cave: Schuylkill County, PA - No changes Merkle Cave: Berks County, PA - No changes Cleversburg Cave: Cumberland County, PA - FCG continues to manage access into the cave under the lease agreement through MAKC. A new ladder was installed in the cave in January 2008. The kiosk at the cave entrance is in need of an update. Pat Minnick reported that Carnegie Cave has seen a lot of heavy traffic recently, including bus trips. These groups have been using the public restrooms at the truck stop after their cave trips and leaving the bathrooms muddy and dirty. Signs have been posted in the restrooms prohibiting the use of the bathrooms as a place to clean up after a cave trip. Schofer Cave: Berks County, PA - Mike Spencer reported the MAKC open house this summer was a success. A clean up was done at the event. The relationship between PCC and the game commission continues to be positive. Durham Cave: Bucks County, PA - No changes Corker Hill and Frustration Pit: Franklin County, PA - Franklin County Grotto took a group from WASHCO Homes into the cave this spring. There was since been an ongoing discussion about deeding off the land and the cave. Things continue to be positive and Ken Jones and Jon Peterson are still talking with WASHCO Homes. One request of WASHCO Homes is to have a survey of the cave matched to a ground survey. Karen Bange will be sending out Christmas cards to landowners soon. Contact Karen if you have a landowner you want added to the Christmas card list. NEW BUSINESS: Jim Kennedy of Bat Conservation International announced the International Congress of Speleology will be held in July in Kerrville, Texas. Jim asked if the PCC would be interested in doing a presentation on Pennsylvania cave surveys at the convention. The deadline for submitting the abstract is December 1st. Bill Herr will be contacted to see if he would be interested in attending. Art Rafferty, Northern New Jersey Grotto, is coordinating a grotto dinner in December/January. Art inquired if anyone from PCC would be interested giving a talk on cave conservation and/or exploration. Anyone interested can contact Art Rafferty at: ARTNJCAVE@aol.com Next meeting: The next meeting of the PCC will be on Saturday, February 28, 2009 following the MAR Business Meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 Respectfully submitted, Karen Bange, Recording Secretary