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More information about the NCC
- History of the NCC
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- Committee Chairs
- NCC Board Manual
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- Legal Opinion on   NY's Landowner   Liability

About

Officers  
To complete an email address, append necaveconservancy.org after the @ sign.
President Bob Addis 518-237-1165
Started caving in 1961(Gage) and caver & active digger in all possible of the 48 contiguous states, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, Germany, S. Africa.

Favorite caves: McFails & Scott Hollow. Mapped 3 miles of virgin cave in Scott Hollow over 5 years with the PAG. Re- activated/re-energized 3 Grottos: Mohawk-Hudson, Southern Cal, Parkersburg Area. NSS Board Director 19 years. Tri-founder of the NCC in 1978 and President since. Authored & published MBA thesis on landowner liability and the management of Knox Cave. On the lighter side, I co-founded Bob & Bob; invented the caving tee shirt, am the worldest's champion stalagmite sitter, the founder & Grand Marshall of the Old Timers Reunion Doo Dah Parade!

As my career path takes yet another turn, I'm currently a manager for Housing Initiatives of the NYS Office of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities.

Favorite saying: "If it isn't fun, it isn't worth doing!"
 
Vice President Peter Youngbaer 802-454-7752
Peter Youngbaer is the Vice President on the NCC Board and is the Liaison on White Nose Syndrome for the NSS. He joined the NSS (16161) in 1974, thanks to inspiration from his wife, Jane (10227). Currently, Peter is President of the Vermont Cavers Association, Vice-President of the Northeastern Regional Organization of the NSS, and serves as the NCC’s agent in Vermont. In real life he is Director of the People’s Health & Wellness Clinic, serving the uninsured and underinsured of Central Vermont.
 
Treasurer Bill Folsom 845-626-4220
VP of the NCC 2000-2006, Chairman of Met Grotto 1998-1999, Treasurer of Met Grotto 1996-1997, Organizer of the Spring 1998 and 2003 NROs, member of the Rockeaters forever, actively involved in exploration and conservation of caves and karst of the Northeast. When not underground, Bill can be found in front of a computer screen, having worked at various times in book, magazine, online and game publishing.
 
Secretary Christa Hay 518-237-1165
NCC Secretary since 2000, NCC committee chair (Publications,Newsletter Publisher, Publicity) since 1999, Treasurer of the Helderberg-Hudson Grotto 2002-present, organizer of several caving related activities (NROs,dinners, fundraising). Started caving in 1997 after being asked by a caving co-worker "so what are you doing this weekend?" I enjoy most areas related to caving; exploring caves, conserving caves, digging, and meeting land owners just to name a few. In my day job I am a Geographical Information Specialist working for C.T. Male Associates in Latham, NY.

 

Trustees      
06/2011 (exp date) Robert Simmons  
Bob has been on the Board since 2005, prior to which he served three years as nominating committee chairman. Bob is the present Secretary of the Central Connecticut Grotto and has served multiple stints as Chairman and as Treasurer since joining CCG in the mid-1970s. Bob has also been a member of the Cascade Grotto (WA) and Parkersburg Area Grotto (WV) while serving in the Army in the late 1970s and while in Grad School in the mid 1980s. Bob serves as the NCC's agent in Connecticut and also chairs the ad hoc committee on the management of Surprise (Mystery) Cave. Bob's early exposure to caves and caving resulted in his studying Geology and Hydrogeology in college. This has resulted in a twenty-plus year career in environmental consulting, investigating and remediating current and historic industrial properties accross the globe.
 
06/2011 Michael Chu  
Mike has been an NSS member since 2001, Chair of the Rensselaer Outing Club Grotto from 2004-2008, and NCC Trustee since 2005. Outside of caving, Mike is a member of the IEEE and currently working as a post-doc at RPI.
 
06/2011 Vince Kappler 973-579-2116
NCC Trustee since 1999, Membership Chairman Greater Allentown Grotto, and Secretary to the Board of Governors of the NSS.  Vince started caving with the Northern New Jersey Grotto in the early '60's.  At that time the grotto was very active with "project caving" such as digging and trenching in Schoharie Caverns to lower or bypass the siphon, lowering the water level in the Lost Passage or digging to gain access to the suspected "big cave just around the corner" in Gage Caverns.  The NE is still Vince's primary caving area and his interests have evolved from tough in cave projects (a byproduct of getting older!), to conservation issues. Vince is a retired NJ high school principal and lives in Sussex County, NJ.
 
06/2012 Thom Engel  
I started caving in October 1969. My first wild cave was Clarksville though I had "dabbled" in some of the Thacher Park caves earily. I was co-editor of the Northeastern Caver with Doug Hauser for a few years starting in 1976 and then editor on my own in the late 1980s. I am preserve manager for Onesquethaw and for the NSS at Barton Hill. I am co-manager of Clarksville. I am past manager of McFails Cave. I have written many of the management plans for the NSS and NCC preserves in New York.

My caving interests include management, surveying and cartography, and geology. Since 2003 I have been involved with exploring and surveying the Kipuka Kanohina Cave system on the Island of Hawai`i.
 
06/2012 Alan Hicks  
Alan Hicks is a wildlife biologist that has been the bat specialist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for nearly 30 years. In addition to his role as advisor to the NCC on bat related issues, he serves as liaison between the NCC, and both bat researchers and state and federal resource agencies in their common interests to protect bats, the caves they live in, and the benefits that caves provide to the people of the Northeast.
 
06/2012 Alan Traino 973 427 2020
Alan has been a member of the NSS since 2002 and chair of the NRO for the past five years.  He has also served as NCC Fundraising Chair since 2004. A member of the Rockeaters, Alan is active in exploration and conservation of caves and karst.  He also has a very active interest in astronomy: Board member of the Rocklnd Astronomy Club, Alan chairs the largest astronomy show in the world, owns a solar telescope company and an optical store.
 
06/2013 Mike Warner 518-295-7978
Mike Warner has been an active caver since 1986 and is a Fellow of the National Speleological Society. He is currently chair of the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium Steering Committee, Vice President of the Cave Conservancy of Hawaii, Organizer of the upcoming International Cave and Karst Management Symposium to be held at the International Congress of Speleology, one of the organizers of the National Cave and Karst Conservancies Forum, and past board member of the Michigan Karst Conservancy and the Schoharie Land Trust. He is also actively working with the NSS White Nose Syndrome Liaison to facilitate projects. Mike has visited cave and karst management sites internationally as co-owner of Speleobooks.
 
06/2013 Kevin Dumont  
 
 
06/2013 Paul Woodell