Clubs and Grottos
A Grotto is usually an internal organization of the National Speleological Society (NSS).
The Texas Speleological Association (TSA) is a not-for-profit organization that supports cave exploration and cave studies by cavers in and around the state of Texas. It is an internal organization of the National Speleological Society (NSS).
Cavernet
email: caverbill@caver.net
"Cavernet" is funded soly and maintained by Bill Bentley and is dedicated for the advancement and enjoyment of cavers throughout the world.Bexar Grotto
4019 Ramsgate
San Antonio, TX 78230Meeting times & places Second and Fourth Mondays at Chester's Hamburgers, 281 N. & Thousand Oaks in San Antonio at 7:30. Jennifer Vela (James Loftin) Editor The Bexar Facts Ongoing Projects Robber Baron Cave - Carl Ponebshek, James Loftin co-managers w/ TCMA Government Canyon SNA George Veni, Cindy Perez w/ Texas Parks & Wildlife.
Aggie Speleological Society
MSC Student Finance Center
659 Box 5688
College Station, TX 77844-9081Meeting times & places Every Thursday evening at 8:30, 202 Francis Hall, Texas A&M campus. Purpose To foster an interest and an education of caves and cave life at Texas A&M University and the surrounding community. Activities Regular weekend trips, exas projects with TSS, Powell's Cave, others; frequent participation by members in NCRC work with local public schools (cave life lectures to elementary schools) Publications A.S.S. Explorer bi-semester newsletter covering recent trips and various caving topics
Central Texas Grotto
PO Box 2162 Hewitt TX 76643Meeting time & place the second Friday of each month at Mr. Gatti's in Lampasas at 7:00pm. Ongoing projects include Cobb Caverns Restoration, sponsorship of Earth Day Projects at Colorado Bend State Park each year and Cave mapping and exploring in the Campwood & San Saba areas.
Comal County Grotto
534 Oakwood Blvd
New Braunfels, TX 78130
Phone: (830) 620-7372
email: rti@angelfire.comMeeting time & place First Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Longhorn Grille 1030 Hwy 81 in New Braunfels.
Dallas-Fort Worth Grotto
2909 Warren Circle
Irving, TX 75062-4565Meeting time & place Fourth Wednesday of every month except November--3rd Wednesday & December at Recreational Equipment, Inc.4515 LBJ Freeway in Farmers Branch Projects Attended by DFW Cavers Fitton
Cave Survey, Carlsbad Caverns Survey & Restoration, Mystic Cave Survey, Powell's Cave Project, Colorado Bend State Park, Whirlpool and Lost Oasis, Texas Parks & Wildlife projects.
Devil's Canyon Wilderness Program at St. Stephen's Episcopal School
PO Box 1868
Austin, TX
Meeting time & place Fall Term Caving Course, Weekdays, 3:30 to6:00 PM Purpose The Devils Canyon Wilderness Program serves the students and faculty of St. Stephen's Episcopal School by teaching wilderness
skills in a variety of contexts. The program offers semester long training in both caving and rock climbing as well as weekly activities such as mountain biking, kayak rolling and wilderness first aid. The program also offers extended spring break and summer trips for its students in boating, mountaineering, caving and climbing. This student club is sponsored by St. Stephen's Episcopal School and prints the DCWP News, published each semester.
Galveston Grotto
Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG)
PO Box 1981 Mail Drop 611
Galveston, TX 77553Meeting Time and Place 1st and 3rd Tuesday at Texas A&M Galveston in Rm 215 Classroom/Administration Building (CLB) at 8:30.
Greater Houston Grotto
1526 1/2 Heights Blvd
Houston, TX 77008
caverarch@aol.com
Lubbock Area Grotto
Box 1094
Lubbock, TX 79408Meeting time & place 1st. Thursday of each month at Eagle Self Storage, 1110-98th Street in Lubbock at 7:30. Ongoing projects Endless Cave Survey, Eddy County, NM on the last Saturday in odd numbered months. Other full teams welcome to help.
Maverick Grotto
3700 Waylan
Fort Worth, TX 76133Meeting time and place Second Tuesday of each month at Smokey's Ribs, 5300 E. Lancaster, F. Worth 7:00pm.
North Texas Speleological Society, NTSS (Independent Club since 1951)
Box 176
Wichita Falls, TX 76307Meeting time & place First Tuesday each Month at the Polynesian Gardens in Wichita Falls. Ongoing projects Maintaining and Cleaning of local caves, Monthly Work Trips to Carlsbad, Vertical Certification of Members.
Nueces Canyon Caving Club
HCR 2 Box 1169 A
Wood, TX 78833Infrequent meetings. Organization's purpose is locating caves in the area in cooperation with the TCC.
Southwest Texas Caving Club
126 Scott St. Apt. 105
San Marcos, TX 78666Meeting time & place 1st & 3rd Monday at Mr. Gatti's in San Marcos at 7:45pm. Projects: Recruitment and training. Hays County Cave Project co-sponsored by TSS which includes updating information in the Hays County file, checking & digging new leads and surveying caves.
UT Grotto
Box 7672 UT Station
Austin, TX 78713Meeting time & place 1st, 3rd, & 5th Wednesdays at 7:30 in room 4.28 of Painter Hall on UT campus. Ongoing projects TCC Masterson Ranch work area, caver recruitment & training each long semester, members participate in most other major projects. Publications UTG News Irregular schedule & editor, handed out at meetings.
Affiliated Organizations
These are autonomous caving organizations which cooperate closely with the TSA (Texas Speleological Association) and each other for the betterment of Texas caving. The "Permian Basin Speleological Society's Newsletter" and The Hole News are the unofficial newsletters for several of these organizations to communicate with Texas cavers.
Association for Mexican Cave Studies (AMCS)
This loosely organized group collects, publishes, and distributes information on Mexican caves and caving. Cave and trip reports and maps are always needed and welcomed. Box 8424 Austin TX 78713 AMCS Activities Newsletter Nominally Annual reports on the past year's activities. For list and prices of other publications e-mail or write:
PO Box 7037 Austin TX 78713.
Bat Conservation International
PO Box 162603
Austin, TX 78716-2603
512-327-9721 Fax 512-327-9724Purpose: BCI is a non-profit corporation promoting bat conservation, education, and research. A large percentage of cavers are numbered in our overall membership. BCI has been the leader in many cave conservation projects where bats are affected, such as Hubbards Cave in Tennessee. Bracken Bat Cave in Comal County Texas is owned and managed by BCI to protect the largest known concentration of bats in the world, up to 40 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) at the peak of the season. Many educational products and gift items are available through our catalog.
Activities sponsored: Bat Conservation and Management Workshops in Arizona, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania; Bats and MinesWorkshops in varying localities; Bat House Building Workshops; Cave Gating Workshops; Bat watching at Bracken Bat Cave (members only); Bat education and research symposia at conferences throughout the year, including the NSS Convention and the National Cave Management Symposium; scholarship opportunities for graduate students; and more.
Publications: "Bats Magazine" quarterly, to BCI members. The Bat House Researcher semiannual, to North American Bat House Research Project participants. America's Neighborhood Bats and other books, many professional a-v materials, including slide sets and videotapes.
Membership: Regular BCI membership is $30/year, and gets you BATS, catalog discounts, workshop and scholarship opportunities. Student rates available. NABHRP membership is $15/year, $10 for BCI members. Benefits include The Bat House Builder's Handbook, semiannual newsletter, participant directory, and more.
Texas Cave Conservancy
PO Box 153034
Austin, TX 78715Meeting times & places - second Wednesdays at 7pm in Austin. Activities - Provides access for several Grotto exploration and mapping projects around the state including Austin, Camp Wood, & Cleo areas. Develops & manages cave preserves. Works with cavers and cave owners to increase awareness of conservation and effective management. Sponsors a TCC Weekend each year, an Open TSA Weekend each year and sponsors other TSA meetings. The TCC has access to over 100 caves.
Texas Cave Management Association (TCMA)
PO Box 202853
Austin, TX 78720-2853Projects and Managers:
"Robber Baron Cave", San Antonio: Carl Ponebshek & Bexar Grotto
"Whirlpool and Lost Oasis Caves", Austin: Nico Hauwert
"Marigold and Buttercup Caves", Austin area: Mike Wharton
"Amazing Maze, 0-9 Water Well", and the Southwest Texas Area: Walter Feaster and Gralin L. Coffin
Besides the above listed cave management projects in the Austin and San Antonio areas, TCMA also manages caves on University of Texas System lands and elsewhere. Its volunteers work with landowners and developers
to manage the non-renewable resources - protecting them for future generations, ;helping them develop access policies and educating the public. Meeting ;Times & Places: Annual membership meeting & multiple board
meetings, usually held in conjunction with TCMA projects at caves and Texas caving functions. Purpose: Chartered in 1986 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit Texas corporation for: "The preservation for posterity of the caves and caverns of Texas and their mineral, biological, archaeological and aesthetic contents; to promote the conservation and study of caves within the state of Texas; to promote and support any scientific and educational programs on caves in Texas the Board of Directors shall from time to time authorize; to acquire ... real and personal property by lease, ownership or other means ... . All of the activities are to be carried out solely for conservation, scientific and educational purposes and not for profit".
For more information and membership applications contact the treasurer.
Texas Cavers' Reunion (TCR)
300 Mockingbird
Austin, TX 78745
In Charge: G.Willikers
Meeting time & place: The weekend following Columbus Day each October which is the Saturday nearest the 20th of October. Purpose: The Texas Cavers' Reunion: organized to support the TSA primarily by giving cavers from around Texas a chance to interact with other cavers they might not otherwise meet. The TCR provides an eclectic weekend of cave related education and training activities, fun and games, equipment and publication sales, extreme good socializing & fellowship, and the caving world's best feed. Publications: The TSA Members' Manual - The TCR maintains the TSA/TCR database of Texas cavers and annually publishes this listing to aid the various entities of the TSA in the conduct of their caving activities.
The Texas Speleological Association (TSA)
The TSA. is a not-for-profit organization that supports cave exploration and cave studies by cavers in and around the state of Texas. It is comprised of members and clubs (called Grottos). It is an internal organization of the National Speleological Society (NSS).sertations and theses as high quality, page-efficient reformatted books.
The Texas Speleological Survey (TSS)
The Texas Speleological Survey (TSS) is non-profit corporation established in 1961 to collect, organize, and maintain information on Texas caves and karst. We make that information generally available for scientific, educational, and conservation purposes, and to support safe and responsible cave exploration. We are affiliated with the Texas Memorial Museum, the Texas Speleological Association, and the National Speleological Society.
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