Minutes of the Chouteau Grotto Meeting
Wednesday, September 3, 2003
The
meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM.
14
members were present.
Treasurer's Report: $1226.61 in the coffers
MSS
Report. The Director was not present. The next meeting is
September 13, 2003 in Rolla
Foresight Editor: Not present
Quartermaster 's Report: Mike Morgan reports our inventory as
follows:
6 helmets with chinstraps
6
working headlamps
1
100 foot fiberglass tape measure
1
cable ladder
1
Boone Country plat book
1
Suunto compass in need of repair
1
Clinometer (presently missing)
1
600 foot rappelling rope
1
bat sticker
4
chin straps
There was discussion on the checkout system for Grotto equipment,
Tentatively, the rules will include the following; these will be
fine-tuned by Joe Dom.
-borrowed items must be returned within 30 days
-there will be a cleaning fee for equipment returned in dirty
condition.
-you
must provide your own batteries
-you
will be expected to pay for damaged equipment (beyond ordinary
wear
and tear).
-there will be a deposit on equipment
-anyone using the rope will be expected to have previous experience
on
rope. A log of rope use should be kept.
-a
liability waiver will be drawn up for use of the rope, hopefully
with
the assistance of Kirsten Alvey's father. The Grotto cannot
accept liability for any problems with the rope.
Generally, there will a special set of rules for use of the rope.
Mike
asked Grotto members present if we might cut the rope into 400
and
200 foot lengths for easier cleaning and storage. Kevin proposed
cutting it into equal 300 foot lengths.
Mike
will look for more feedback at the ropework session on the
Grotto's campout weekend later this month. If there is no feedback,
Mike
may proceed with the cut as he judges best. Mike will send the
compass back and get it repaired for about $55. A new one costs
$110.
Kirsten Alvey will be the Landowner Relations representative for the
Grotto. There will be a generic liability waiver for Grotto members
to
give to landowners.
Hunter's Cave Emergency Cache: Rita and Rick were supposed to pick
out
the first aid kit, but there's been no report from them. Joe Dom
will
go ahead and buy the first aid kit. On Saturday, September 13
this
will be placed in the cave.
New
Business and Upcoming Events:
We
need to start planning the winter campout now. There has been a
suggestion to go to Arkansas.
MCKC
will be gating Cookstove and Holmes Hollow caves. These belong
to a
private landowner. Contact Joe if you want to help; he'll put
you
in touch with Jim Kaufman.
Grotto campout: weekend of September 12-14 at Rock Bridge Memorial
State Park. The use fee for overnight camping is $1 per person.
Activities will kick off with rope work at Capen Park on Friday at
about 4:30 PM. On Saturday at 9 AM there will be a stream team
cleanup in Three Creeks; meet at the south parking lot (reached by
Myers Road) at 9 AM. Meet back at the parking lot at noon if you
want
to go on the Hunter's Cave trip to place the emergency cache.
That
trip will be limited to 10; there were four signed up as of the
time
of this meeting. The cave trip will end around 5 PM. The picnic
dinner at the campground will start around 6:30 PM. Any
entertainment ideas are welcome (there is no electricity on site,
FYI). Meal is pot luck, BYOB, etc; this is not the chicken roast of
yore.
Fall
MVOR, October 3-5, hosted by MSN Spelunkers in Buckhorn.
TAG,
October 9-13: Mike Morgan, Rick Walk, Mike Walk will attend.
The
MCKC Fall Board meeting will be on September 20, in Rolla. Dave
Webster says all are welcome.
Cave
Reports:
Kirsten Alvey: Perkins Cave is gated; she visited right after it was
gated. It was a great trip. Her kids did a lot of caving with
Kirsten this summer, including in Berry and Kirby caves.
Joe
Hobbs talked about the course he taught this summer in Belize,
"The
Geography of Ancient Maya Caves." Joe and 8 students from MU
and
Western Missouri State U. mapped and excavated a single cave
used
by the ancient Maya in the Classic period, and also visited a
number of other caves used by the Maya. Joe did two short studies of
modern Maya uses of caves in Guatemala, and plans to do followup
work
on that topic next summer.
Amber Spohn worked at Talking Rocks this summer, where she was paid
to
talk about caves! She had a big trip two weeks ago to Breakdown
cave.
Scott was recently at Green Cave in the Meramec State Park with his
sons.
The
meeting was adjourned at 7:58 PM.
Program: Joe Dom did a slide show on Steam Team Monitoring
Activities, depicting the organisms that may be collected in our
area. The objective is to look for organisms that are indicative of
the
health of Missouri streams. Our role as stream team is
important; we serve as citizen volunteers and activists providing
valuable data to state biologists. The MDC puts the information in a
database, and uses the data to set priorities for actions, including
listing and delisting.
Respectfully submitted (with many thanks to Marck Schneider and
others who covered my duties this summer),
Joe
Hobbs, Secretary