OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Friends of Dunbar Cave Newsletter	September 2006

 

NEXT MEETING:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2006, AT 6:00PM,

DUNBAR CAVE STATE NATURAL AREA VISITOR CENTER MEETING TOPICS

Events:

The following are events that have a board member to lead them:1. Spring Fling (April): Steve Hamilton, programs are put together by Steve.

2. Dunbar Cave Day (July): Barbara Wilbur organizer

3. Christmas tree mulching: It was determined that it is too much work for all concerned.

Ronnie Hunter is willing to oversee CDE’s mulching of the Christmas trees.

Jennifer Mantlo will organize the dispersing of the Christmas tree mulch to occur in February or March over two weekends to public for donation.

4. Historical Hysteria: Involves a lot of people. Must have an organizer besides the person that organizes the actors. Debbie Boen cannot continue with this event as an organizer.

5. Newsletter: Jennifer Mantlo has agreed to put together the newsletter each month. She will get the newsletter to Sally who will post it on the web and will let me know when the newsletter is posted. An e-mai will be sent out to notify everyone. I will get Jennifer the mailing list each month to send out the newsletter through regular mail.

6. Debbie H will continue keeping track of membership.

7. Sally Schiller is the web master. All information concerning upcoming events should be sent to her at schillers@apsu.edu and she will post it on the web.

8. David Boen will continue working with the state about the interpretive center.

9. Shirley Berardo has agreed to put together an occasional program for meetings.

UPCOMING EVENTS

September 30 we will be spreading mulch on the trails. The mulch is left over from last year’s Christmas tree pile. It needs to get spread on the trails, so we will start at 8:30 a.m., however; you can come anytime, just walk up the trail until you find a mulch pile and someone moving it. Please bring either a garden rake to spread the mulch, a shovel, or a wheelbarrow to fill and push along the trail. The more wheelbarrows we have the faster the mulch can be spread. Please invite your friends and family to this event. It's a fun service activity for families and youth groups.

NEWs from dunbar cave

            We had a productive summer - installed a new gate, announced the discovery of the cave art, conducted a new survey of the cave, worked on the Site Interpretive Master Plan, scanned our research documents into the computer the Friends bought for us, had a dragonfly count and two butterfly counts. A student from Austin Peay has almost completed a study of the bats in Dunbar. We all feel that we are seeing a larger number of bats flying around the lake at sunset - it is amazing to watch them.

            By the time you read this, we will have a new full-time staff member. Adam Neblett will be officially a Ranger, and will be going through the Law Enforcement Academy in October, finishing in December. We also welcome David Britton, who is in our nine-month Maintenance position and will be made full-time (at Port Royal) soon (if all goes as planned). Gregg Bush and Peggy Renwick left us to pursue higher learning - we will miss them both. Will Ward joins us as a seasonal naturalist.

            We have received a lot of publicity lately - stories on Channels 2 and 5 news, two wonderful articles in the Leaf-Chronicle which were picked up by the Nashville Tennessean and the Knoxville paper, stories in the Travel section of the Tennessean even had a blurb about the cave art. Our hikes are booked up three and four weeks in advance! People are fighting to get in!

                                                                             - Amy Wallace

friends board and presidency members:

President: Empty

Vice-President: Empty

Secretary: Empty

Treasurer: Ronnie Hunter

Historian: Debbie Hamilton

Board Members

Jennifer Mantlo 2006-2009

Sally Schiller 2006-2009

Barbara Wilbur 2005-2008

Brenda Radford 2005-2008

Steve Hamilton 2004-2007

Dave Boen 2005-2007

Just a quick note to everyone that is involved in adding to this wonderful newsletter:

If you could please get the information you want included by at least the first of every month I would greatly appreciate it. I want plenty of time to make it look good, and make any corrections I need to.

Thank you!

Jen Mantlo