The Texas Speleological Survey

TSS

The TSS is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to scientific, educational, and conservation purposes, with the specific objectives to collect, organize, and maintain information on Texas caves and karst, and to generally make that information available to responsible persons and organizations. TSS works with caving organizations to make science an important part of all cave-related activities, and to document new cave-related information. TSS is affiliated with the TSA, TCMA, TCC, NSS, Government Canyon Natural History Association, and the Texas Memorial Museum at The University of Texas at Austin. Activities Irregular work nights and work weekends are scheduled at the TSS office to organize data, maps, photographs, publications, and other archival materials.

All volunteers are welcomed. Contact Jim "Crash" Kennedy for dates and times or see TSA website. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the TSS and what is in the files. TSS is not a membership organization, but its board meets four times per year. The TSS also sponsors a Technical Workshop open to all cavers. Past workshops covered cave surveying, data reduction and cartography, and photography. See the Activities Newsletter, The TEXAS CAVER, and the TSA Calendar on the TSA Home Page for dates and locations of these and other activities. Publications TSS is dedicated to making cave information available to cavers. This is accomplished through articles in The TEXAS CAVER, specifically "From the Files of the TSS", a regular column which highlights caves or karst areas in need of exploration and study.

TSS also publishes the "Caves of..." series of books describing the known caves of an area, including their history, biology, geology, etc. Older, out of print issues are slowly being reformatted and reprinted. "TSS Monographs" is a new series for major technical works, and for the publication of dissertations and theses as high quality, page-efficient reformatted books. A series of technical handbooks are planned to accompany future workshops. The TSS Store is generally available at the TSA Spring Convention and at Texas Cavers' Reunion. Books can also be ordered through any of the officers.