-----Original Message----- From: nmcaver-boun...@caver.net [mailto:nmcaver-boun...@caver.net] On Behalf Of John Corcoran Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 2:23 AM To: 'Lee H. Skinner'; 'nmcaver list' Subject: Re: [NMCAVER] Cave and Karst bill clears Senate committee
Thanks Lee, I have always wondered how NCKRI could succeed with the 50% cap imposed by its founding legislation. Regards, John *************************************** The cap was administratively necessary when NCKRI was first created and was an institute within the National Park Service. Now that NCKRI is a non-profit, albeit a hybrid non-profit since we still have our federal mandates, obligations, and funding, the matching funds clause in our enabling legislation is significantly restricting our ability to partner, conduct projects, and grow to better study karst and develop means to better protect and manage it. I'm confident that NCKRI will succeed if this bill doesn't pass, but more slowly and in a far smaller way. I encourage anyone interested in supporting cave and karst research, education, and stewardship to contact their senators and representatives in Congress to support Senate Bill 3096. It will likely be included in an omnibus package with other bills and presented later this month or early next month. I don't have the details on the package yet, but below are some details on the issues. Feel free to distribute this message to anyone you think may be interested. George *********************** George Veni, Ph.D. Executive Director National Cave and Karst Research Institute 1400 Commerce Dr. Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220 USA gv...@nckri.org www.nckri.org 001-575-887-5517 (office) 001-210-863-5919 (mobile) 001-413-383-2276 (fax) Caves and karst are a hidden, little known, yet vital underground resource that directly impact over 25% of the United States. The National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) was created by the U.S. Congress in 1998 to support and conduct research, education, and sound management of these areas directly and through partnerships with other entities. One group of crucial partners are federal agencies and federally-funded organizations which hold properties that contain many of the country's and world's most significant caves and karst areas. Unfortunately, the legislation that created NCKRI had the unexpected effect of severely limiting NCKRI's ability to establish those crucial partnerships and passage of S.3096 is crucial for NCKRI to more effectively fulfill its mandates. Section 5(a) of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute Act of 1998 requires NCKRI to receive matching non-federal funds for the federal funding it is allocated. While the intent of this requirement seems clear, the reality is that NCKRI is either unable to work with federal or federally-funded agencies, or can do so under conditions that can seldom be achieved. The two fundamental problems are that in many cases: 1) Non-federal matches may not exist for the specific needs, or cannot be effectively located without disproportionate expenditure of NCKRI resources; 2) There is often insufficient time to locate non-federal funds. In the case of grants, such as from the National Science Foundation, potential non-federal sponsors do not want to commit funds for protracted grant review periods without a clear end date (since many grants are not accepted in the first round of review but years later in future rounds) or reasonable degree of certainty that the federal funds will be approved. During the past year, I have met with staff from the Bureau of Land Management, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and Geological Survey. They were all supportive of NCKRI and interested in partnering, but put-off by the matching funds requirement. In 1998, Congress took an unprecedented step in recognizing the importance of cave and karst resources by creating NCKRI. Approval of S.3096 will remove a well-intentioned but flawed clause that severely limits NCKRI's ability to effectively fulfill the purposes Congress intended. _______________________________________________ NMCAVER mailing list nmca...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net
