Dear Friends,

Following are this week’s underground news from NCKRI and its associates around the world:

· NCKRI Publications For Free Download

· Call for Papers: National Cave and Karst Management Symposium, Arkansas, USA

· Micro Grants for Microbats: Proposal Submission Deadline Approaching

· Support for Young scientists: International Scientific Meeting “Man and Karst 2017,” Zadar, Croatia

· 25^th Karstological School, Slovenia: Extended Deadline for Registration and Abstract Submission

· List of Upcoming Cave and Karst Meetings

The details are provided below. As always, please feel free to share this message with anyone who may be interested, and contact the people and organizations listed below for more information.

George

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NCKRI Publications For Free Download

Nearly all of NCKRI’s publications are available for free download from http://nckri.org/about_nckri/nckri_publications.htm. However, a server upgrade made some publications inaccessible. That problem is now fixed and they can be downloaded again. My apologies for the temporary problem.

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Call for Papers: National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

October 16-20, 2017 Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA

We are now accepting papers for NCKMS 2017. The theme for the Symposium is "An Ancient Land with Modern Problems", with particular emphasis on management issues related to human impact on karst. However, we encourage oral presentations and/ or poster submissions on all topics related to the management of caves and karst resources. The deadline for paper submission is September 10, 2017. Visit our website for more information on the Presentations page (http://www.nckms2017.com/presentations/).

The 22nd National Cave and Karst Management Symposium will be held in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which is in the northern part of the state. Venues for NCKMS 2017 are the 1905 Basin Park Hotel and Crescent Hotel & Spa situated in downtown Eureka Springs. Late October is a perfect time to visit the southern Ozarks and typically coincides with peak fall colors. Eureka Springs, founded in 1879, is one of the largest historic districts in Arkansas, and the quirky town is steeped in history and legend. A walk through town will bring you near many Victorian era houses, and quite a number of springs and karst features. The springs have long been thought to impart good health, and “health-seekers” flocked to town in the past to drink and bathe the spring waters. Originally an encampment of tents and shanties, the town rapidly grew up around the springs, and today, the springs remain an important focal point of the cities’ tourism. Eureka Springs is situated near several of our larger metropolitan areas in the southern Ozarks, and the town is convenient to the international airports of Bentonville, Arkansas (1.2 hours to the west) and Springfield, Missouri (2 hours to the north). The 2017 Symposium is hosted by Buffalo National River, The Nature Conservancy, and Cave Research Foundation.

As the theme for NCKMS 2017 is “An Ancient Land with Modern Problems”, field trips will visit Buffalo National River and surrounding areas of the southern Ozarks to discuss challenges of urban and agricultural development on karst. A selection of six outstanding workshops will be offered on Monday, October 19, 2015. The workshops will provide hands-on experiences with the techniques and skills necessary for studying, monitoring, and managing cave systems and karst areas. See the website for more information.

For more information on NCKMS 2017 please visit our website at http://www.nckms2017.com/ or contact Chuck Bitting ().

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Micro Grants for Microbats: Proposal Submission Deadline Approaching

Fightwns' 'Microgrants for Microbats' proposal submission deadline is quickly approaching! Apply by May 16, 2017 for the opportunity to receive up to $5000 for white-nose syndrome and Pseudogymnoascus destructans research. This opportunity applies to state and federal personnel, NGOs, academic institutions and private or independent researchers.

Please submit proposals by May 16, 2017.

View fightwns' 'Grant Application Guidelines.'

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Support for Young scientists: International Scientific Meeting “Man and Karst 2017,” Zadar, Croatia

Dear colleagues,

With the support of UNESCO - Division of Water Sciences, Groundwater Systems and Settlements Section, International Hydrological Programme (IHP) we are happy to announce that we are able to provide financial support to young scientists who wish to present their work at International Scientific Meeting “Man and Karst 2017” (26^th to 29^th of June 2017, Zadar, Croatia).

Financial support includes a waiver of the registration fee and a refund of the subsistence costs (lump sum in amount of 1000 kn, approx. 130 €).

Scientists who wish to apply for financial support should submit an abstract, on which they are first authors, by 15 May 2017. Late applications, or applications where the scientist is not the main author, will not be considered. The Scientific committee will make its decision to support individual contributions by 25 May 2017. All applicants will be informed after the decision via email within several days from decision. Financial support will be paid out to the supported scientist, in person, during the Meeting.

Young Scientists are undergraduate or postgraduate (Masters/PhD) students or scientists who has received their highest degree (BSc, MSc, or PhD) within the past seven years. By this action we are able to financially support 10 Young Scientists. More information regarding the meeting can be found on our web page https://manandkarst2017.wixsite.com/manandkarst2017. For any other additional information, do not hesitate to contact us.

Looking forward to see you in Zadar,

Organizing committee

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25^th Karstological School, Slovenia: Extended Deadline for Registration and Abstract Submission

Dear colleagues,

We would like to inform you that the deadline for registration and abstract submission for the 25^th Karstological School "Classical Karst" – Milestones and challenges in karstology has been extended until 5^th May 2017. Please register and submit the abstracts until via on-line forms: http://iks.zrc-sazu.si/en/registration-and-abstract_submission.html

Session descriptions and programme outline are attached to this email.

Invited speakers of the 25^th Karstological School:

- Speleology: Stein-Erik Lauritzen (University of Bergen, Department of Geology, Norway) and Franci Gabrovšek (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna);

- Karst Geomorphology: Stéphane Jaillet (Laboratoire EDYTEM - UMR 5204 du CNRS, Université de Savoie, France) and Andrej Mihevc (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna);

- Subterranean Ecosystems: Fabio Stoch (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) and Janez Mulec (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna);

- Karst hydrogeology: Louise Maurice (British Geological Survey, United Kingdom) and Nataša Ravbar (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna);

- Karst Record: Christoph Spötl (Universität Innsbruck, Austria) and Nadja Zupan Hajna (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna);

- Development challenges on karst: Pierre-Yves Jeannin (Swiss Institute for Speleology and Karst Studies (SISKA), Switzerland) and Martin Knez (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna);

- Karstology: Derek Ford (McMaster University, Canada) and Tadej Slabe (Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU, Postojna).

More information regarding the 25^th IKS can be found on our web page:

http://iks.zrc-sazu.si/en/

We are looking forward to seeing you in Postojna.

Petra Gostinčar

Head of the Organising Committee

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List of Upcoming Cave and Karst Meetings

1) US Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Meeting, 16-18 May 2017 (San Antonio, Texas, USA). http://geologyutsa.wixsite.com/sgsutsa/karst-interest-group-workshop.

2) Climate Record: The Karst Record VIII, 21-24 May 2017, (Austin, Texas, USA), http://sites.uci.edu/kr8conference/

3) 25^th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”: Milestones and challenges in Karstology, 19-23 June 2017 (Postojna, Slovenia), http://iks.zrc-sazu.si

4) National Speleological Society Convention, 19-23 June 2017 (Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA), http://nss2017.caves.org/

5) National Association of Mining History Organisations Conference 2017, 23-26 June 2017 (Godstone, Surrey, UK), http://namho2017.info/

6) Man and Karst 2017 International Scientific Meeting, 26-29 June (Zadar, Croatia), https://manandkarst2017.wixsite.com/manandkarst2017

7) 17^th International Congress of Speleology, 23-30 July 2017 (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), http://speleo2017.com/

8) International Clean-up of Gouffre Berger, 1-15 August 2017 (Vercors, France), http://cds39.fr/BFC/index.

9) Biospeleology Conference, 21-23 September 2017 (Seville, Spain), https://5encuentrobssevill.wixsite.com/veibs

10) 44^th International Association of Hydrogeologists Congress, 25-29 September 2017 (Dubrovnik, Croatia), http://iah2017.org/

11) Geological Society of America Convention, 22-25 October (Seattle, -Washington, USA), http://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Events/Annual_Meeting/GSA/Events/gsa2017.aspx

12) National Cave and Karst Management Symposium, 16-20 October 2017 (Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA), http://www.nckms2017.com/

13) British Cave Research Association 28^th Cave Science Symposium, 20-21 October 2017 (Leeds, UK), website to be announced.

14) International Conference on Geomorphology, 6-11 November 2017 (New Delhi, India), karst session, http://www.icg2017.com/session.php

15) Workshop: Grotte de Han, New Dramatic Effect of Lighting, 16-18 November 2017 (Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium), .

16) The Sinkhole Conference, joint with the 3^rd Appalachian Karst Symposium, 2-6 April 2018 (Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA), http://www.sinkholeconference.com/

17) 18^th International Vulcanospeleology Symposium, 21-27 July 2018 (Lava Beds National Monument, California, USA), http://www.vulcanospeleology.org/sym18/ISV18.html

18) EuroSpeleo Forum 2018, 23-26 August 2018 (Ebensee, Austria), http://eurospeleo.at/expo.html.

19) 24^th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, 20-24 August 2018 (University of Aveiro, Portugal), website to be announced.

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George Veni, PhD

Executive Director

National Cave and Karst Research Institute

400-1 Cascades Avenue

Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA

Office: 575-887-5517

Mobile: 210-863-5919

Fax: 575-887-5523