Missing Cave & Karst Conservancies?

[Sharon Faulkner]

There are a number of Cave and Karst Conservancies across the U.S. now a days, some have been around for decades and some barely out of the start up stage. I'm beginning to wonder why more of them do not participate in this Conservation Forum. I'm sure many Conservancies will have articles in the upcoming Conservation Issue of the NSS News, but I'm still curious as to why there is a lack of news and information forthcoming the rest of the year.

In this day and age when it has become vital for cavers to protect caves and access to caves for cavers, I would have thought a Caving Forum with a section dedicated to Conservancies would have brought them out of the woodwork. Anyone have any theories on this?

[Brian Roebuck]

Sharon that is a good question. I suspect they are not aware of the benefits of being a member of a forum or do not have a designated spokesperson. Many orgs have the Chairman speak for the whole group and if they are too busy to do that nothing gets said. I imagine they have many sensitive issues in obtaining caves to keep away from the general public as well. It is tough to negotiate some of the issues when purchasing such properties. In any case it would be nice to at least hear from them and have some input and feedback from time to time. Should we send invites out?

[Azurerana]

Until a few weeks ago (Dec 31) I was a member of the Missouri Caves and Karst Conservancy, serving on its board and then as an officer until 2003 or 4 (I can't remember). I know SCCI and some of the bigger conservancies have fairly cohesive managerial units and purposes, but this is not the case with smaller cave conservancies. Internal communication across a unit like a state is difficult to maintain, specifically because of distance, and time involved in putting together a newsletter. When the long time editor/production assistant stepped down, a few people tried to keep it together, but without articles being submitted, doing a 20 to 40 page magazine can be onerous.

The glue which keeps any volunteer organization together is the willingness to step up and volunteer your time and efforts, usually in return for appreciation of the effort. When that glue dissolves, everything else falls apart.

MCKC tried an internal discussion online group, as being more timely, but no one was willing to maintain the come and go of email addresses, plus members who were not so facile with computers felt disinfranchised. I offered to continue to put out a newsletter and was turned down. Currently, they have a two page distribution of the minutes, but as Dr. Beaner says, because some info is sensitive, the members still don't feel they are in the know.

Currently, the MCKC is one of the primary cosponsors of the 2007 NCKM Symposium---as in any such endeavor, all the problems and difficulties come down to ones of communication. They recently revised their financial year, making it quite difficult for many (including me) to come up with membership dues at the proper time-- and, since they no longer put out a big publication, it is harder to 'sell' the organization to cavers. Part of difficulty has been a long-term one of mission statement--some cavers joined thinking the MCKC would preserve recreational caves by purchase; others had a more altruistic approach, and expect the organization to preserve caves for critters where caving is not allowed. Still others were primarily interested in the management of caves and education of the public regarding caves and groundwater issues. When the MCKC got into the cave gating business (good for landowners, maybe not so good for cavers, I began distancing myself from it. Since then, many have voted with their feet, since even talking about such issues seems futile. I'm sure the NCKMS will happen, but when you volunteer and volunteer and volunteer, and you are not taken up on the offers, you quit asking and move on to other endeavors.

When no concensus exists internally, and the organization has only the President to speak officially for it, anything he or she says will be deemed 'wrong' by some of the constituents. So then they say nothing at all--unless the official spokeshuman is very communicative, and a good organizer, both the organization and its potential falters.

I wish I had more of an answer. I've tried until I am tired of trying.

[Sharon Faulkner]

Thanks guys. Azurerana, after I posted, I looked up some of the different Cave and Karst Conservancies web sites. I had thought the organizational setup of the Conservancies would be similar to the SCCi, I see now that this isn't always the case. My bad for not already knowing this.

Should we send invites out?

No, I guess not. The folks involved with the Conservancies are all working on a volunteer basis and their primary interest is with cave conservation and management.

Their spare time is probably limited as it is, no need to add to their to do list. I'm sure they know their input would be welcome if they want to participate.