Letter From the President
Published: Spring/Summer 2007

Dear Friends:

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank everyone who has been so supportive of the WCC in the first half of 2007. It has been a very busy time, thanks to people who have gotten involved! We held a productive annual public meeting, put in many days of work at Rippled Cave and the Weller Natural Preserve, had a successful fundraising dinner at Speleo-Ed, and made progress on the Windeler Cave project. To top it all off, we are now very close to having enough money to pay off the Rippled Cave loans!

I would like to recognize Diablo Grotto for two important contributions. First, with the help of Chair Steven Johnson, they hosted the WCC's annual public meeting in January. Special thanks go to Bill and Peri Frantz who opened their home for the meeting. Since the Diablo Holiday Season Party began immediately after the WCC meeting ended, it was a very full day. Secondly, the Diablo Grotto just recently gave the WCC a wonderful vote of confidence in our ability to manage Windeler Cave. The membership voted to donate $1,500 to the WCC Windeler Cave fund. This very generous donation will go a long way in helping us manufacture and install the new cave gate. THANK YOU DIABLO CAVERS!

As described in detail elsewhere in the newsletter there have been over 25 trips to the Weller Natural Preserve by dedicated volunteers since January to work either on cave mapping, brush clearing, boundary survey, or Scotch Broom control. Dale Hartwig, Jerald Johnson, Matt Leissring, and Heather McDonald were on most of these trips and have been a driving force behind most of our accomplishments at the preserve. A big thanks to you, and to the other volunteers. I also want to mention John Gardner, who donated the use of his large chipper on one of our workdays. Thanks John!

Last fall, Matt Bowers, Western Region Chair, asked the WCC if we would be willing to put on the Saturday night banquet at the Spring Speleo-Ed as a special fundraiser for the Lava Beds Research Center. With Chef Eileen Belan's nod, we said "Sure!" As usual, Eileen outdid herself, with delicious enchiladas, hot veggies, Bill Papke's delicious salad buffet, and homemade cookies for desert. Yum! Well over 100 people bought tickets for the meal, so after expenses, we raised approximately $1,000 for the Research Center! Assisting Chef Belan in making this event another WCC success were Bryan Wright (Right-Hand Man), Pat Helton (Right-Hand Woman), Bill Papke (Salad King), Elisabeth Belan (Enchilada Assembly Technician), Tammy Meredith (Official Ticket Taker), Marc Hasbrouck (Vegetable Preparation Specialist) and Claire Lakner (Cleanup Engineer). Thank you all for a job VERY WELL DONE!

As for Rippled, we are very close now. A little over $3,000 is all the money we need to pay off our loans for the property and still maintain a $5,000 reserve. Since our last newsletter, several thousands of dollars have been donated. Boosting us recently were a number of membership renewals, many of which were at the $50-to $100-levels. While the WCC didn't receive the proceeds from the Speleo-Ed banquet, many attendees donated generously at Marianne's Famous Schnapps Tasting and Ben Robinson's Ice Cream Social. These modest fundraisers brought the WCC $307—every penny helping to reduce that debt! Thank you Ben for all your effort. Let's try that again some time. Maybe at the NSS Western Regional Meeting at Pinnacles in October?

What's next? Once we have enough cash to pay off our loans, we can start planning in earnest for other projects. The Windeler Cave project will need more funding, and of course, both Windeler and the Weller Natural Preserve will require maintenance funds. We would also like to be prepared financially to move on other projects, a few of which will undoubtedly become real opportunities in the future.

Thank you everyone for all your financial and volunteer support. The Conservancy is the sum of all of us: all of our hours, our dollars, our confidence, and our belief in the idea.

Marianne Russo

President, Western Cave Conservancy