[NMCAVER] Fw: Congress disappoints big time - need to make noise

[froo froo ha.]

Dear Colleagues,

We have just received the detailed House and Senate Appropriations
Committee reports.  These each now are pending before the full House
and the full Senate respectively.

Votes will take place after the August recess, so it is critical that
we contact our Senators and Representatives while they are at home
during the break.  They typically have pretty booked schedules, but
calling, writing, e-mailing, showing up at town meeting style forums
and raising the WNS funding issue.

These two documents are the Senate Appropriations Committee report
number 111-38, dated July 7 (which clearly predates the recent Senate
hearing on WNS);  the other is the House Appropriations Committee
report number 111-180, dated June 23.

According to the Senate report above, there is a $500,000
appropriation to USFWS (page 7) for "increased monitoring." According
to the House report (USFWS page 30), there is no increased funding,
but language that states, "The Committee is concerned about increased
mortality of bats in the northeastern United States from white nose
syndrome and encourages the Service to work with the USGS to research
the cause and extent of the problem and develop a mitigation plan."
Mirror language is included under the USGS section.

This level of funding (or no funding) would be crippling for WNS
research.  Simply "encouraging" the USFWS and USGS without providing
any funding is an empty statement (House).  With only money for
monitoring (Senate), there is NO designated funding for research.
This will mean that state and federal agencies will only be able to
count and survey and use closures as a management tool, but there is
no dedicated funding for research.

Dr. Tom Kunz provided the detailed budget requests to both the House
and Senate:  a total of $55 million over 5 years, with about $15
million front-loaded to meet critical research needs about the fungus
itself and how it is affecting the bats.  Without this knowledge,
developing and testing any biological, chemical, or other controls
will not happen.

It seems to me that Congress was persuaded by USFWS testimony that
they had things under control.  While we understand that as an
administrative agency they can't request additional funds over and
above what is in the President's budget submittal, we though we had
presented a strong case for additional funding.  Clearly, not strong
enough.

If we don't want to be sitting around waiting for caves to open after
WNS has killed all the bats, then we need to let our Senators and
Representatives know that the House and Senate committee
recommendations are quite simply inadequate.

It's up to us to yell loudly and clearly that they need to do more. I strongly 
suggest we put out a call to contact Congress as soon as possible.  The E-mail 
addresses can be found at http://www.senate.gov/ or http://www.house.gov/ to 
forward your own personalized e-mail to your Senator or Congressional 
Representative.  Calling your home district office is also recommended.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,

Peter Youngbaer
WNS Liaison
National Speleological Society


  

___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net

[NMCAVER] Fw: WNS testimony today -- Video online!

[froo froo ha.]

If anyone else missed the WNS presentation broadcast yesterday morning, it is 
online in video form now.

Jennifer



- Forwarded Message 
From: Cheryl Jones 
To: b...@caves.org
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2009 7:04:06 PM
Subject: WNS testimony today -- Video online!

The testimony on WNS before the joint House sub-committee* today went very 
well.  "Our" panel of Peter Youngbaer, Merlin Tuttle (BCI), and Scott Darling 
(Vermont F&W Dept.) and Tom Kunz (Boston U.) did a terrific job, and Peter sure 
did the NSS proud.  The NSS received kudos from the USF&W and USFS witnesses.

Although it would appear that with only 6 or 7 sub-committee members present 
the hearing was poorly attended. However the staff said that actually 
attendance was excellent -- often only the chairman shows up for hearings.  The 
audience seating was over flowing, primarily with congressional staff taking 
careful notes.

The committee members seemed quite interested, and appeared to (eventually) 
grasp the situation, issues, the value of bats, and need for research funding.  
Fingers crossed.

A copy of the conservation issue of the NSS News (the issue with the WNS bat on 
the back cover) was distributed to the committee, and available for attendees.

Go here to watch the video of the hearing -- I think you'll find it pretty 
interesting -- and/or to read the written statements that were presented in 
advance to the sub-committee members: 
http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=27&extmode=view&extid=259

A take away quote: "It probably is the most serious threat to American wildlife 
of the past century."

Cheryl
*Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and the Subcommittee 
on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife


  ___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net

[NMCAVER] Fw: NSS IO Info May 31, 2009

[froo froo ha.]

- Forwarded Message 
From: Keith D. Wheeland 
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2009 6:48:21 PM
Subject: NSS IO Info May 31, 2009

Hi IO Contacts,

(If you think you should not be receiving this email, please contact the 
responsible person in your IO and have them change the online record. I used 
the latest information from the IO records to construct this emailing list.)

There are two topics in this IO Info. Please share this with your IO.

1) Results of the NSS election for Board of Direstors
2) Update of WNS website

-
1) Election Results
-

In the balloting that closed May 23, the following four candidates were elected 
to the NSS Board of Directors

Linda Baker Devine
Ted Kayes
Carol Tiderman
Keith Wheeland

-
2) WNS Website updated  (I am sending this information per the request of Peter 
Youngbaer, the NSS WNS Liaison.)
--

The WNS page on caves.org has just received 
a major facelift and a lot of new content.

The latest Breaking News is still displayed at the top, and you can now more 
easily find all the most recent info on Cave Closures, Media Articles, Decon, 
and Research Science.

We've created a new Cave Closures link with the most accurate and up-to-date 
information on cave closings - and even cave openings!  Yes, check it out!

A WNS Research Center lets folks know what's going on, including info on the 
NSS Rapid Response Fund - what it is, how to donate or apply for research, and 
a great link describing the research projects:  Your NSS donations at Work!

Some very important things are about to happen - the second gathering of 
scientists, and a Congressional hearing. Check it out!

Peter Youngbaer
NSS 16161
WNS Liaison

Keith

-- Keith D. Wheeland, NSS 2878, Chair NSS IO Committee
2191 Mt. View Ave.
State College, PA 16801-7214
814-238-2057
kwheel...@psualum.com (Use this forwarding address in your address book)
IO Website - www.caves.org/committee/i-o/
Annual Report & Updates- www.nssio.org


  ___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net

[NMCAVER] WNS Press Release

[froo froo ha.]

- Forwarded Message 



Hello all,

Here is the WNS Press Release which was a cooperative effort between
Peter Youngbaer WNS Liaison and Jay Jorden Public Relations Committee.
This will be circulated to the Media today prior to the testimony up on
Capital Hill on June 4th. 

Gordon
 

__,_._,___   


  

NSSPR_REL_drft_060109_v3.rtf
Description: MS-Word document
___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net

[NMCAVER] Fw: USFS Closes Region 8 Caves and Mines

[froo froo ha.]

In case anyone missed the reference to USFS caves closed in 33 states now in 
Marks previous email...



-

Here's the Press Release now closing caves and mines on USFS land in 13 more 
states and Puerto Rico:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/news/documents/2009/NR%2006-09_Forest%20Service%20Closes%20Caves%20and%20Mines%20to%20Protect%20Bats_%20NewsRelease.pdf

  States included are KY, VA, NC, SC, TN, AL, GA, FL, MS, LA, AR, OK, and TX, 
plus Puerto Rico.


  ___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net

[NMCAVER] Fw: Revamped WNS Website and Spring Updates

[froo froo ha.]

- Forwarded Message 
From: Peter Youngbaer 
To: NSS Board of Governors ; Mike Warner 
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 10:35:45 PM
Subject: Revamped WNS Website and Spring Updates

Hi, Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we just went live with a totally re-vamped WNS 
web page:  http://www.caves.org/WNS/index.htm.

Many thanks to Alex Sproul for many hours of technical wizardry to make all the 
links work and make it visually exciting.  Thanks also to Mike Warner for the 
Media Accounts updates.  Gordon Birkhimer's report from the WNS Congressional 
briefing to NGOs is there, and we've incorporated several suggestions from 
other NSS members.

We've added a couple new features:  a current Cave Closures tracking link, and 
a new WNS Research Center. This highlights the WNS Rapid Response Fund, 
including a description of the fund, links to the donation page and application 
guidelines for researchers, and a report on what it has supported so far.

And, of course, there is news included in the new Update message.

Spread the word.

Peter


  ___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net

[NMCAVER] Fw: NSS IT Committee Chairman Needed

[froo froo ha.]

- Forwarded Message 
From: Wm Shrewsbury 
To: Dave Bunnell 
Cc: b...@caves.org; kwheel...@psualum.com
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 7:04:42 AM
Subject: NSS IT Committee Chairman Needed


Dave,
 
Please run the ad below in the next NSS News (July, I believe).
 
NSS BOG members – Please distribute widely to any caving forums you may be part 
of and announce at your local grotto meetings.
 
Keith – Please send this out to the Grotto email list.
 
Thank you everyone,
 
Wm
 

NSS IT Committee Chairman Needed
 
IT Committee Chairman Darrell Wells is stepping down. The search is on for 
someone to take his place. With the importance of our Web site to the Society 
and its members, the IT Committee Chairman is critical to NSS operations and 
success.  
 
We are looking for an experienced Unix (Linux) systems administrator, with 
additional skills as listed below.  The volunteer would be responsible for the 
maintenance and operation of a dedicated virtual private server in a managed 
hosting environment.  Primarily, this includes Apache, MySQL, and FTP 
administration.  Most common tasks are completed via Parallels Plesk; although, 
due to legacy configurations from our previous servers, some tasks must be done 
via the command line.
 
The time commitment is a minimum of 8 hours per month.  However, with several 
mission critical projects currently underway, the initial time commitment will 
be greater. The chairman will be expected to respond quickly to e-mail, and 
address problems as they arise. S/he will also be expected to work with other 
NSS Committees, Internal Organizations, and advertisers who interface with the 
NSS server.  The chairman may recruit additional members as s/he feels 
necessary.
 
Necessary core skills:
* Linux systems administration
* Familiarity with Parallels Plesk or cPanel
* Apache web server administration
* Knowledge of HTML
* Perl/CGI/PHP scripting
* MySQL administration
 
Desirable skills: 
* Knowledge of common web publishing tools, such as DreamWeaver and FrontPage.
* Javascript, ASP
 
Note:  This position does not include maintenance of content on caves.org.
That responsibility is managed by the webmaster who serves on the IT Committee.
 
If you are interested in the job, or know someone we should approach, please 
contact me. If you have any questions about the job, please contact Darrell.

 
Wm Shrewsbury
NSS Operations VP
o...@caves.org
(Please circulate this notice widely among cavers)


  ___
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net