UIS-bulletin vol. 52, Nr 1 (2009)3
Status report15th International Congress of Speleologyand 2009 U.S. National Speleological Society Convention:Kerrville, Texas, USA, 19-26 July 2009
The International Congress of Speleology (ICS) is the world’s premier speleological event. Afunction of the International Union of Speleology (UIS), it is held once every four years in alocation selected by the delegates of the UIS member nations. This year’s ICS will be in Ker-rville, Texas, USA on 19-26 July 2009. As of 7 June 2009, nearly 1,300 people from 51 coun-tries have registered to share the results of their latest explorations, studies, and tech-niques. The National Speleological Society (NSS) of the United States will host the ICS incombination with its annual convention for a truly spectacular affair. All of the usual ICS andNSS events will occur, as well as some new ones. Some of the scheduled events include:The four opening lectures will have the world’s leading experts describing the state-of-the-art
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in cave exploration, sciences, management, and the international speleological community. Itwill be followed by the opening gala reception to visit with those and other world-renown expertsand cavers.Thirteen symposia on a wide variety of topics, plus many topical sessions, will host over 500
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exciting talks from around the world.Meetings of international, regional, and national speleological committees and projects.
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More than a dozen special mid-week trips will cover all aspects of speleology.
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Excellent caving trips throughout the ICS week.
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Many tourist and family trips.
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Over 50 adult-supervised activities for children 7-17 years of age.
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International fund raising auction to support the UIS and NSS
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International vendors of speleological books and equipment.
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The International Cave and Karst Management Symposium.
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Three banquets.
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The landmark 500-page guidebook Caves and Karst of the U.S.A.
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The ICS Proceedings, which will total about 1,600 pages of detailed reports of the over 500
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presented papers.Despite 6 years of planning and work, this ICS is suffering a major problem never before experienced
by an ICS. White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is a terrible afiction that rst appeared in one U.S. cave
in 2006 and has since spread and killed about a half million bats in the northeastern U.S. There isevidence that people may carry it from cave to cave. In response, the ICS has closed its caving trips inthe now 17 affected states and has placed restrictions on ICS trips in the currently unaffected states:Caves with bat colonies will not be entered, except for a carefully selected few that have
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areas not visited by bats, are long distances from bat areas, and reaching them does not requireentering areas used by bats.Decontamination procedures will follow all trips.
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Caving clothing and equipment used in the 17 affected states will not be brought to the ICS or
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used on ICS caving trips.As a result, many caving trips around the country are canceled, and trips to the best caves in
Texas are also cancelled. The ICS is suffering nancially from this unexpected loss of income,
and extra costs for decontamination supplies and other expenses. Much remains to be learnedabout WNS and how far it may potentially spread. The ICS is committed to not acceleratingits distribution and giving biologists more time to discover its cause and, hopefully, a solution.Meanwhile, the heart of the ICS remains unaffected, where we will gather in meetings, social-ly, and in caves, to exchange ideas, renew old ties, and build new projects and friendships.
George Veni, Chairman, 15th International Congress of Speleology
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