General Meeting Minutes from February 23, 2010

Rob Phelps, Mike Broome, Ken Walsh, Jon Plyler, Ko Takamizawa, Joan Johnson, Warren Pusak, Pete Hertl, Howard and Hayden Holgate, Brian Bolt, Justin Noia, Charlie ?, and Diana Gietl were in attendance. Vice Chair Diana Gietl presided and welcomed the former VPI cavers.

In the absence of the Treasurer Mark Little, Mike Broome agreed to collect dues. A brief discussion established that an updated members list needs to be compiled by the Treasurer and posted on the web site. Mike will send out a notice when the new list is posted.

Mike reported no recent changes to the web hosting. Diana reminded members that they could find a calendar, trip blog, meeting minutes, and the photo gallery all at www.tritrogs.org.

Diana introduced the open Chair position as an Administrative figurehead with no duties other than running meetings, but this approach did not result in volunteers. She threatened to draw a name out of a hat at the next meeting if no volunteers come forward.

In response to January petition of the Center for Biological Diversity to close American caves to prevent the spread of WNS, Diana and Melanie previously volunteered to help draft a letter to Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior. Their effort will focus on making a letter more personal to the Triangle Troglodytes' past and present conservation efforts (e.g., Hancock Cave). Diana plans to share the draft with select grotto members and then the whole grotto. She emphasized that the caving moratoria in the East Coast already has limited caving activities by NSS members and asked TriTrogs to contact her if they want to help more.

Pete Hertl shared some communications that he has had with the museum's mammologist, Lisa Gatin, as she makes preparation for the arrival of WNS in NC. She asked the caving community to share landowner contacts and cave locations. Even a few NC contacts would help them get started. Pete also passed on that bat biologists want to work with cavers as they face the WNS threat. Diana mentioned that several Flittermice members have been active on the cave chat forum and would likely be helpful contacts for Pete to connect the museum to.

Ken mentioned that the NSS Safety and Techniques Committee has developed an online survey about grotto training techniques. He asked if anyone in the grotto would be interested in being the TriTrog contact point for this NSS committee. He also offered contact points for the conservation and youth group committees.

Brian mentioned that the grotto owns two two-drawer filing cabinets that are located in his garage with materials before 1993. He asked that the grotto find a solution as to where it should reside so that members can actually access useful information. Brian agreed to bring the contents to future meetings so that TriTrogs could help empty the cabinets.

Pete Hertl clarified some points about his friend Dave Lent looking for worms. He is looking for someone to take him to a cave entrance with a stream and leave him at the entrance to dig for this worm species. Ken suggested the caves in Sugar Grove might be good.

No one shared any trip reports.

Upcoming trips include:
Bat checks at cave entrances for the Feb 27 weekend
Venture Crew 469's trip to Cribb Cave on March 27 (Warren has gotten permission and will post a notice asking for volunteers to help out)
Duke students caving on April 10-11 weekend (led by Justin Noia; Howard suggested they consider going to New River Cave for some adventure)
Grand Caverns Restoration weekend sponsored by the VAR on April 3-4 (Easter) -- expect good food and no caving gear required
VAR cleanup of Crystal Caverns near Strasburg, Virginia on May 8

After a short break, Diana Gietl shared her slides from her exploration of Greenland ice caves.