10:15 Call to order
Introduction of Officers and Directors:
Dr. Donald Webb - Illinois Natural History Survey
Eric Liebhaber - Recording Secretary
Dr. Russell Graham - Illinois State Museum
Jim Sherrell - Meramec Valley Grotto
Philip Moss - President and proxy for the Mississippi Karst Resource Planning Committee
Joel Laws - Vice-President
Dave Anderson - Windy City Grotto
Kevin Berdack - Stygian Grotto
Dave Mahon - Mark Twain Grotto
John Marquart - Near-Normal Grotto
Darrol Gasawski - Mid-Mississippi Valley Grotto
Little Egypt Grotto was not represented.

Minutes from the previous meeting read and accepted.

Old Business:

The ISS is incorporated.

Following discussion, the contract between the ISS, Inc. And the Illinois State Museum Society to store the ISS database was amended to have a fee of $200 per year paid to the ISMS stipulated. The contract approval motion was passed unanimously. The contract will take effect on the date signed. Dr. Graham said that the fee would be waived by the ISMS and that we would receive a letter to that effect with the signed contract.

NSS affiliation papers are being sent to Philip Moss by Evelyn Bradshaw. P. Moss points out that all the ISS directors will have to be NSS members, $25 per year dues, when we affiliate.

The list of mapped Illinois caves needs to be kept updated. Philip Moss now had data from Larry Cohen, Larry Peterson and map list additions from Adam Marty and Dave Anderson. Lang Brod had sent a considerable list of maps and cave location data to the ISS through John Marquart. Philip Moss will produce an updated list and it will be circulated.

New Business:

P. Moss asked the Directors to be the primary line of communication between the ISS and its cooperators. Many interested people are approaching him instead of talking to their Director.

General discussion of the database structure. Joel Laws will send a copy of the proposed Missouri Speleological Survey database structure to Russell Graham. The Cave Data Committee will meet informally after this meeting adjourns to discuss the issues further. General agreement to have the database be as inclusive as possible.

P. Moss proposed that someone look at the NSS Illinois cave files. This was tabled pending the ISS files being put in order.

P. Moss proposed that the ISS start making its existence known to the research community. P. Moss will write a blurb for the NSS News, R. Graham and D. Webb will talk to other researchers in state agencies, J. Marquart and others will look into notifying appropriate university professors with an eye to encouraging graduate student research in Illinois speleological topics.

The Keller entrance clean-up is rescheduled for 9 March 1996 with participants to meet at Illinois Caverns at 0900 hours. Adam Marty is arranging for a dump truck to be available.

The next meeting of the ISS will be a dinner meeting following the cleanup, 1700 hours on 9 March 1996 at a location to be arranged by Philip Moss. This information will be circulated to the Directors and Officers.

Brief reports on the activities of the ISS by the Directors since the last meeting:

Dr. Webb reports on distribution of an endangered amphipod that is doing well in Illinois Caverns and seems to less numerous in its other known locations. He is working on a peer-reviewed publication on the biota of Illinois Caves.

P. Moss reports that the Karst Committee has received a USEPA 319 grant for in excess of $300,000 fro karst education and research in the Southwestern Illinois karst. Adam Marty has been hired as the educator and SIUE and Tom Aley have been selected as the researchers. MMV had no current activity in Illinois to report. Near-Normal is completing (has completed?) the to Blackball Mine and will be involved in gating it soon. Windy City has made a $500 donation to the Field Museum for a bat exhibit and has been mapping in southern Monroe County. MVG had been involved in adding over one-half mile to Fogelpole and Sore Knee Cave has been mapped (>1600 feet). Stygian has been involve in some cave clean-ups. The ISM is analyzing bones recovered from several paleontological sites in Illinois caves.

Meeting adjouned.

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As of April 2000, this page is maintained by Steve Taylor. Please email sjtaylor@inhs.uiuc.edu with web page comments and corrections. All other correspondence should be addressed to the ISS via the president.
Page last modified 3 January 2002