Youth Groups Liaison Committee (YGLC) Report Q2 2013

Regional Reports

• Arizona Regional Association – No RC
• Mid Atlantic Region – Allen Maddox
University of Scouting and Phenomenon went well.
Caving Program for Camp Horseshoe at a stalling point
Checked in with Grottos about putting YGL information on their web sites.
Preparing for Powder Horn.
• Mississippi Valley-Ozark Region – No RC
• Northeastern Regional Organization – Sandra Ramsey
• Northwest Caving Association – Debbie Spoon
I have just finished writing the first caving policy for our local Scout Council.
I have trained a new scout group and two Adult leaders.
I trained the Utah County Sheriff's Office Explorer post on how to cave safely and softly, then took two of them caving twice.
I just finished teaching Caving 101 at a near by charter school and I have been asked to teach this course to two separate school groups next school year.
Problems,
On our way into Little Brush Creek cave near Vernal Utah, which is not a beginners cave, we saw 6 boys about 15years old come out of the cave. Of the 6 boys, 1 had a head lamp, 1 had a hand held flash light, and I think that 1 had a helmet and they were all wearing cotton. (Little Brush Creek is very wet and cold) One of the two adult leaders had a helmet, and the other one had a head lamp. They were very unprepared and no one had experience in caving.
How to get info about caving out to more people so that we don't have another rescue.

Plans,
I just brought 2 new Scout council members on board who will help me train scouts and leaders and I hope that this will help get better caving information out to more people.
• Ozark Valley Region – Eric Edelman
• Rocky Mountain Region – No RC
• Southeastern Regional Association – Lewis Baker
• Southwestern Region - Deanna Younger
• Texas Speleological Association – Mark Alman
I gave a session on caving in January at SMU during their “University of Scouting” training. About 15 people in attendance.
The Scout groups that contact me about going caving are getting directed to a couple of the state parks here who have a caving program.
Most of the parks are 3 to 4 hours from me. It’s hard physically to drive that far, takes up all of my weekends, and incurs a lot of money on my part and excess wear and tear on my truck.
I’m starting to back off on leading trips and it’s working well, thus far. Just a conduit for groups and trips. I still give cave talks locally, when asked.
But, the main reason is that the parks here need the $$!
The parks have a reduced rate for large youth groups to camp and to go caving. Much cheaper than the commercial cave and the parks get some much needed money!
The guides also go over the basics of caving, why they’re important, hazards and biota in caves, etc.
Win/win, in other words.
Other than that, not to awfully much more.

• Virginia Region – Joey Fagan
• Western Region - Steve Deveny

Old Business

• I have been asked to review and submit suggestions for revision to the “Caving: A Policy Statement and Guidelines on Caving Prepared by the Youth Groups Liaison Committee of the National Speleological Society and the Boy Scouts of America”. This is in progress.
• I have been asked to review and update YGLC web site and links. This is in progress.
• I would like to develop some kind of online database for the YGLC that keeps track of contacts for cavers, grottos, and youth organization contacts in specific NSS Regions. No new progress.
• I would like to change tactics with the YGLC. At this point we have been taking a more passive approach to interfacing with youth organizations. We have a web page that shows what we have to offer youth organizations. From what I have been told that web page received about 100 views last month. With the millions of youth organizations members across the US this is not good. I would like to take a more aggressive marketing approach and actually reach out to other organizations to show them what we have to offer their programs. More details to do this will be explored and reported on later. No new progress.
• To pull off the last two bullets the YGLC will need some type of budget. I would like to explore how to raise funds to do these and other projects in the future.
• Looking for Regional Coordinator for Arizona Regional Association.
• Looking for Regional Coordinator for Mississippi Valley-Ozark Region
• Looking for Regional Coordinator for Rocky Mountain Region.
• Bryan McAllister is has completed a patch design that we may be able to use for promoting the NSS and YGLC. This has stalled.

New Business

•

Problems

• .Need to get more Regions and Grottos involved in the YGLC.
• Need more visibility.

Questions?

If you want more information about taking youth groups caving, or you’re just curious about what’s involved with getting kids underground, visit the National Speleological Society Youth Group Liaison Committee at www.caves.org/youth. Or you can email me directly at allenmaddox@youcave.org. I’d enjoy hearing from you.

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Thanks,
Allen


“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed