August 27 SFBC Members Meeting

The August SFBC Caving meeting will be held Tuesday 27th August at 7:30PM at the USGS conference room 3 in Menlo Park.

Longtime caver Janet Sowers will talk about her involvement with the Santa Clara Valley creek & watershed mapping project since 1993. The project has  added the present day drainage network with its creeks, engineered channels, and underground storm drains to Google Earth as well as the historic creeks as they were in the 1800s.

SFBC Training Scholarship

The SFBC has $150 in scholarship available to members who attend an upcoming training seminar this year and are willing to give back to the grotto in the form of a talk, article, training, or other method of your choice.

The next National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) seminar will be on Cave Rescue Operations and Management 6-13 July in Schoharie New York.  Registration costs are $575.  More information on this event can be obtained on the NCRC web site:

http://www.caves.org/commission/ncrc/national/2013Seminar/seminar2013.htm

If you are interested in applying for a SFBC scholarship for this event, send an email to Nick at treasurer.sfbc@gmail.com with your proposal before 1 July 2013 for transferring some of your skills back to the grotto.

Mark

New Irvington Tunnel February Presentation

“They (SFBC member Nick Schmalenberger)  kindly attended one of our meetings, and we, in turn, attended their’s. We were delighted to meet members of the National Speleological Society’s San Francisco Bay Chapter (SFBC) at one of our quarterly coffees in Fremont a while back.  Much to our surprise, they saw our New Irvington Tunnel (NIT) blog and became interested in the project. They invited us to speak at one of their future meetings about our man-made ‘cave’. Last week Project Manager David Tsztoo and Geologist Rebecca Fusee made a presentation at the SFBC general meeting and  ‘rocked out’ as it were by talking about the NIT Project and the complex geology it passes through.”

March 12 Exec Committee Meeting -UPDATE-

Hi all,

The meeting will be at Fey Restaurant at 1368 El Camino Real @ Glenwood Avenue in Menlo Park. Dinner is at 6 PM and the meeting will start at 7 PM.

Tuesday, March 12th, we will hold the Grotto’s Executive Committee meeting, at the Fresh Taste Mandarin Kitchen: http://www.yelp.com/biz/fresh-taste-golden-wok-palo-alto
Please note the address change for this month.

Fresh Taste Mandarin Kitchen is located at

2107 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA.
650-324-8749

We will meet between 6 and 6:15 pm to eat, and the meeting will start at about 7:00 pm.Topics that will be discussed:
Old Business

  1.            Fund raising for NSS office
  2.            Discuss Dave McClurg honor donation
  3.            Legal forms for liability – Member Signatures needed with renewal
  4.            Legal Forms for grotto gear, Liability Waiver Agreement and process discussion
  5.            Xapian – Newsletter search feature for Members
  6.            Trip Leader focus
  7.            Financial Aid – Set for FY2013
  8.            BOG Meeting – Updates


New Business

  1.            Survey gear + possible new seminar on surveying
  2.            Chase bank / Future grotto banking
  3.            Website Discussion
  4.            Membership Password Change

 

Volunteer to Provide Housing and Lodging for BOG

The SFBC is hosting the Spring 2013 NSS BOG Meeting. NSS Directors and Officers are not compensated for the time or expenses they incur. Please join your fellow SFBC members and other California Cavers by volunteering to provide lodging and transportation for them. You can download the volunteer forms at http://www.sfbaycaving.org/documents/BOG_Meeting_Housing.pdf. For more information about the BOG Meeting, see http://www.sfbaycaving.org/bog2013.html.

David McClurg’s passing

Longtime SFBC member David McClurg took his last breath on Earth 29 November at 10:20AM.

David and his lovely wife Janet were very active and influential in the SFBC Grotto in the 1970s and 80s.

Dave introduced many of us to caving and caving techniques.  He was an accomplished cave photographer, wrote several books on caving, and contributed to the Hodag cave ballad movement.

He ran the 1975 NSS FrogTown CA convention, when it was still possible to drive to the Lilburn cabin.

Dave and Janet were awarded lifetime membership in SFBC.

Mark Conover

SFBC Holiday Party 8 Dec 2012

Come One – Come All

        Everyone’s Invited
The SFBC Holiday Party 
      Saturday December 8
    6:00PM – The Wee Hours
At the Bill & Peri Frantz Abode
     16345 Englewood Ave.
      Los Gatos CA 95032
          408 356-8506
              Activities:
Pot Luck Dinner:
       Turkey & Ham Provided
       Beer on Tap
       Bring side dishes, desserts, & beverage
A Thieving Gift Exchange:
       Bring a wrapped gift, valued at $15-20,
       and find out who your friends really are.
Grotto Fund Raiser Auction:
      Bring your caving castoffs and memorabilia,
      or other objects of interest
    We’ve got lots of floor space.
Bring your sleeping bag and spend
                the night
Join us for an evening of good food, 
          good company,
   and lots of speleo-chatter

Pinnacles Draft Plan Available for Comment

The new Pinnacles National Monument is a unique landscape, just an hour south of the SF Bay Area.
We use the area for vertical climbing practice and enjoy exploring the large talus caves.

The Park Service has just released a draft management plan and is soliciting comments.
It is important for all potential users of this park to review and comment on the proposed options.
The Park Service is required to consider all comments that it receives.

The Draft Management Plan is available as 5 .pdf documents from
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=332&projectID=17891&documentID=50419

The plan includes several alternatives.

The Park Service is seeking your comments on the alternatives or other issues via its web form:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?parkID=332&projectID=17891&documentID=50419

Comment period closes 1/11/2013