NSS Convention 2026

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2026-07-06
* 12:00 Sketching Contest, No speakers (en); in in-cave
* 12:30 Opening Ceremony, No speakers (en); in High School Main Entrance
* 13:00 BOG Open Meeting, No speakers (en); in 104
* 13:00 NCRC Annual Meeting, No speakers (en); in 110
* 13:00 Carlsbad Caverns Listening Session, No speakers (en); in 154
* 13:00 Introduction to Sketching: Digital and Paper, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:00 Speleology for Cavers, No speakers (en); in 254
* 13:05 Regional Geology and GIS Overview, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:15 Ohio Cave Survey—State Overview, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:25 Indiana Cave Survey—State Overview, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:35 Kentucky Speleological Survey — State Overview, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:45 Exploring Courtey Cave and the Cave Systems of Central Ohio's Scioto River Corridor, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:05 Caves of Edwards Mountain & Wayne County, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:55 Modern Exploration in Big Bat Cave, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:15 Pless Cave Exploration & Mapping, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:35 James Cave, The Cave, The Exploration, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 16:00 An Oral History of Indiana Caving, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 16:00 BOG Lunch (Closed), No speakers (en); in 104
* 16:00 Speleology Class Lunch, No speakers (en); in 254
* 16:00 Fine Arts Salon Opening, No speakers (en); in Library
* 16:30 Vertical Climbing Contests, No speakers (en); in Junior High Gym
* 17:00 Big Bat Cave—A Brief History of Exploration, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 17:00 Cave Conservancy Roundtable, No speakers (en); in 102
* 17:00 Luncheon & Business Meeting, No speakers (en); in 154
* 17:00 Vertical Training Commission (VTC), No speakers (en); in 205
* 17:00 Speleology for Cavers, No speakers (en); in 254
* 17:00 Vertical Climbing Contests, No speakers (en); in Junior High Gym
* 17:00 In-Cave Sketching: Paper & Digital, No speakers (en); in in-cave
* 17:20 Sandstone Caves in Northeast Ohio, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 17:40 Great Caves, Great Survey Projects in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:00 BOG Meeting (Closed), No speakers (en); in 104
* 18:10 Twenty Kentucky Caves That Might be Bigger than Mammoth, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:15 Bat talk cancelled, Now: Special Events Stations, No speakers (en); in 154
* 18:45 Flamingo Cave Radios, Jamie Moon (en); in 154
* 18:50 Fisher Ridge Cave System Project 2023-2026 Update, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:10 Roppel Cave, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:30 History of Cave Exploration in Wayne County, Kentucky, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:45 Analysis of a Network Outage in BuecherNet in Fort Stanton Cave, NM, No speakers (en); in 154
* 19:50 Cedar Grove Cave—Discovery of a Virgin Cave, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:10 Whigpistle Cave Project Update 2026, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:15 Audio in Cave Projects, No speakers (en); in 154
* 20:30 Cave Mapping and Inventory of a Significant Kentucky National Forest, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:45 Ruggedized oxygen and carbon dioxide air logger for continuous sampling - Virtual, Philip Balister (en); in 154
* 21:15 Show and Tell, Questions, Discussions in 154
* 21:30 Howdy Party Dinner/Music : The Creekers, No speakers (en); in Fairgrounds
* 22:30 Cave Open House (shuttles provided to/from), No speakers (en); in Indiana Caverns

2026-07-07
* 12:00 Coffee & Karst, No speakers (en); in Cafeteria
* 12:00 Sketching Contest, No speakers (en); in in-cave
* 12:00 Yoga, No speakers (en); in Wrestling Area (next to cartography)
* 13:00 Modern Exploration of Warren Cave in Florida, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:00 Discover Vertical Caving, No speakers (en); in 100
* 13:00 Interagency Meeting, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:00 Cavers Against Sexual Harassment, No speakers (en); in 154
* 13:00 The Powell Mountain Karst Preserve: A Management Plan Analysis, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:00 Speleothem Repair Workshop Part I, No speakers (en); in 254
* 13:20 Lee County Blowing – A Speleo Whodunit, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:20 Conservation and Management of the Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:40 Binkley Cave Project, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:40 The Effects of Excavation on Cave Ecosystems (Two Years Later), No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:00 Recent Discoveries in Shoveleater Cave, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:00 Are There Renewable Resources in Caves? Do Drip Hole Rings Count? And What Can Cavers Ethically Do in Exploring and Studying Caves?, No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:20 Fern Cave Survey Project, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:30 Protecting Caves and Karst – A Holistic Approach, No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:45 Warm River Cave Update, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:00 Cavers, State Agencies , and the United States Forest Service Working Together to Protect Caves and Karst in Virginia, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:05 Cave Mapping and Inventory of a Significant KY National Forest, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:20 Celebrate the UNESCO International Day of Caves and Karst, September 13th, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:25 Recent Discoveries in Hidden River Cave, Kentucky, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:30 Book Signing: Mud, Water & Guts - Gary T. Roberson, No speakers (en); in Vendors Area
* 15:45 Whigpistle Cave Project Update: 2026, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 16:30 Luminary Speaker: Catherine "Cat" & Charlie Bishop, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 17:00 Vertical Climbing Contests, No speakers (en); in Junior High Gym
* 17:40 Binkley Cave System: The Importance of Digs in Expanding Indiana’s Longest Cave, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:00 Progress in Fort Stanton Cave, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:00 Convention Planning, No speakers (en); in 110
* 18:00 The Restoration of Pleasant Valley Cave, No speakers (en); in 205
* 18:20 Bigger, Better Mobile Caves for STEM Education Outreach, No speakers (en); in 205
* 18:30 Gem Cave: A New Discovery Under South Dakota's Black Hills, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:40 026 U.S. Cave Animal of the Year – The Slimy Salamander Cave Animal of the Year Team, No speakers (en); in 205
* 18:50 Walking into Mordor: The Mount Baker Glaciovolcanic Cave Expedition, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:00 Documenting and Describing Two Species of Cave -Adapted Blind Fish in the Tiger Cave System, Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, Việt Nam, No speakers (en); in 205
* 19:20 2025 Silvertip Expedition: Bobsled Cave Exploration, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:30 hong Nha-Kẻ Bàng: Cave Ecotourism for Sustainable Development in Việt Nam, No speakers (en); in 205
* 19:40 Klamath Mountains Project, Cave Research Foundation, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:00 Celebrate the Conservation Legacy of Rob Stitt NSS 5403 Stories, Song, Snacks ! Three Generations of Caving, Conservation, and Speleopolitics Rob Stitt, No speakers (en); in 205
* 20:10 Report-walking: Using Search and Rescue Reports to Find Unmapped Caves, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:30 Geology, Mineralogy, Archeology and Exploration History of Hualalai Ranch Cave, Hawaii, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 22:30 Fellows & New Members Reception, No speakers (en); in Discovery Center
* 23:00 Open Mic, No speakers (en); in Campground stage
* 01:00 Keynote Speaker: Genevieve von Petzinger, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 02:00 Karaoke, No speakers (en); in Campground stage

2026-07-08
* 12:00 Coffee & Karst, No speakers (en); in Cafeteria
* 12:10 Examining genetic diversity and potential cryptic diversity within the Georgia Blind Salamander and the Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish of the Upper Floridan Aquifer, No speakers (en); in 205
* 12:30 New surveys of cave and groundwater fauna in the Upper Floridan Aquifer, No speakers (en); in 205
* 12:50 Mapping cave vulnerability and priority areas for biospeleological conservation, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:00 PESH 2026 Expedition, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:00 Discover Vertical Caving, No speakers (en); in 100
* 13:00 Cavers: Who, Why, So What?, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:00 NPS Cave Managers Meeting, No speakers (en); in 103
* 13:00 Cave Digging Section, No speakers (en); in 254
* 13:00 Speleothem Repair Workshop Part II, No speakers (en); in in-cave
* 13:10 Directed Phytokarst: Red-Shifted Phototrophy and Limestone Dissolution in Cave Twilight Zones, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:30 Cueva Sin Fin, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:30 CAC Creating a Legacy at UA, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:30 Examining phylogenetic relationships and cryptic diversity in the genus Scoterpes (Chordeumatida: Trichopetalidae), a wide-ranging genus of North American cave-obligate millipedes, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:50 Evaluating the Biogenicity of Biovermiculations in Mammoth Cave, KY, USA, No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:00 40 Years of Exploration at Cueva Cheve, Oaxaca, Mexico, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:00 Expressing Culture Piece by Piece, No speakers (en); in 102
* 14:30 Roaming North-Eastern Mexico Surveying Unexplored Caves, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:30 Discussion of “Empowering Women Through Cave Exploration and Conservation”, No speakers (en); in 102
* 14:30 Population Monitoring of the Enigmatic Cave Snail, Fontigens antroecetes, in Stemler Cave, No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:50 A creature from the “Upside Down”: cryptic cave- fish diversity in a long-studied karst cave ecosystem, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:00 New Zealand Expedition, 2026, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:10 Sediment geochemistry, manganese oxidation, hu- man traffic, and microbial community structure across three Southern Appalachian caves, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:30 Exploration in Montenegro, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:30 Subterranean isopod diversity in caves of the northern Interior Low Plateaus, No speakers (en); in 205
* 16:30 Luminary Speaker: Gordon Smith, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 17:00 Speleophilatelic Section, No speakers (en); in 110
* 17:00 Pottery Demonstration by Peter Jones, No speakers (en); in 283
* 18:00 Sternes Cave Project, Crete, Greece, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:00 Congress of Grottos, No speakers (en); in 102
* 18:30 Beneath the Thunder Dragon: Cave Exploration in Eastern Bhutan, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:00 Mulu Cave Project 2026, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:30 Mapping the extensive caves of the newly accessible Lạng Sơn Geopark,  Vietnam, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:00 Nimbus project on Vancouver Island, BC, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 20:30 Continued Exploration in Mindanao, Philippines, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 23:00 NSS Auction, No speakers (en); in Cafeteria
* 00:00 Beer Swap and Horizontal Section Meeting, No speakers (en); in VPI Campground
* 01:00 Campground Party/Music: Muchos Garcias, No speakers (en); in Fairgrounds
* 03:59 EDM Rave, No speakers (en); in VPI Campground

2026-07-09
* 12:00 Contingency Considerations in Caving, No speakers (en); in Junior High Gym
* 12:00 Yoga, No speakers (en); in Wrestling Area (next to cartography)
* 13:00 "Camp Rock," aka "The Black Mountain Hotel": Mount Mitchell's Historic Rock Shelter, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:00 Planned Giving, No speakers (en); in 226
* 13:00 An Investigation of Permanently Rigged Ropes, No speakers (en); in 254
* 13:00 Cave Photography Workshop, No speakers (en); in in-cave
* 13:05 The Discovery and Recovery of the Shenandoah Caverns Peccaries and Reincarnation of PRIOVAC, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:15 A Brief Overview of the Significant Hoosier Cavers 1850-2025, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:25 Extinct Long-nosed Peccary Remains from Shenandoah Wild Cave, Virginia: An Update, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:40 The 130-Year History of the Ohio Cave Survey, No speakers (en); in 205
* 13:45 The Importance of Small Mammals in Cave Paleontology, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:45 NSS Vertical Training Commission: July 2026 Progress Update, No speakers (en); in 254
* 14:10 Historic Cave Slides of Lewis David Lamon, NSS2188FE, taken 1952-1990, No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:10 Fun and Sketchy Things to Do with Rappel Devices, No speakers (en); in 254
* 14:25 Advances in Discovering and Managing Paleontological Resources in Tennessee Caves, No speakers (en); in 102
* 14:30 Josiah Mosher Jr. and the Mammoth Cave Hotel, No speakers (en); in 205
* 14:35 Fundamentals of Rigging, No speakers (en); in 254
* 14:45 New Interpretation of Sediments and Fossils from a Cave in Sullivan County, Tennessee, No speakers (en); in 102
* 14:50 When Martel was Banished from Mammoth Cave, or On Discovering a Rare Version of Hovey’s 1912 Guidebook, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:00 The Gauntlet, No speakers (en); in 254
* 15:05 An Ancient Bear Skeleton from Cebada, Chiquibul Cave System, Belize, No speakers (en); in 102
* 15:15 Cooper’s Cave, New York: A Notable Bicentennial, 1826 - 2026, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:25 History of Kernmantle Rope, No speakers (en); in 254
* 15:30 Book Signing: Mud, Water & Guts- Gary T. Roberson, No speakers (en); in Vendors Area
* 15:35 Charles Waldack and Mammoth Cave, No speakers (en); in 205
* 15:50 From Incident to Insight: A College Grotto's Perspective on a Vertical Rescue in Wind-Hicks Cave, No speakers (en); in 254
* 15:55 Pennsylvania's Show Caves, No speakers (en); in 205
* 16:00 NCKMS Steering Committee, No speakers (en); in 110
* 16:15 Bolting Considerations for High Traffic Caves and/or Bad Rock Quality: a Brief Introduction to Glue-In’s, No speakers (en); in 254
* 16:30 Luminary Speaker: Jill Yager, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 17:00 State Cave Surveys, No speakers (en); in 205
* 17:00 Vertical Section Lunch/Business Meeting, No speakers (en); in 254
* 17:00 Cave Diving Exploration, No speakers (en); in Choir Room
* 18:00 NSS Awards Committee, No speakers (en); in 104
* 18:00 NSS Preserves & Acquisitions, No speakers (en); in 110
* 18:00 Convention Debrief, No speakers (en); in Cafeteria
* 18:05 Cataloging the National Cave Museum, No speakers (en); in 102
* 18:15 Can AI Image Editing Tools Understand a Cave?, No speakers (en); in 226
* 18:25 Early Woodland Gypsum Mining at Bluff Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, No speakers (en); in 102
* 18:45 The Salts Cave/Unknown Cave Footprint Project, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, No speakers (en); in 102
* 18:45 Why and when to choose a cellphone over a con- ventional digital camera for cave photography, and tips for getting the best possible photo from them, No speakers (en); in 226
* 19:00 Sketching Contest Results, No speakers (en); in Vendors area catwalk
* 19:15 Diffraction Limited Optics and the New Galaxy S25 Ultra 200Mp Lens, No speakers (en); in 226
* 21:30 Photo Salon and Salon Awards Short Show, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 23:30 Full Photo Salon and Salon Awards, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 02:00 Caver Story Telling Contest, No speakers (en); in Windell  Ag  Building

2026-07-10
* 12:30 Arts & Letters Salon and Cave Writers Workshop, No speakers (en); in 154
* 13:00 Geologic Characterization of the Glaciovolcanic Caves of Mount Baker, Washington, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:00 Video Salon Viewing, No speakers (en); in 102
* 13:00 BOG Meeting, No speakers (en); in 104
* 13:00 Fine Art Salon Critique, No speakers (en); in Library
* 13:20 New Paradigms of Speleogenesis in the Ohio River Valley, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 13:40 Utilizing Structural Lineament Mapping with Digital Elevation Models for Understanding Speleogeneic Patterns in the Mammoth Cave Plateau, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:00 Cave Ballad Salon Critique, No speakers (en); in Library
* 14:00 Photo Salon Critique, No speakers (en); in Library
* 14:00 Cave Ballards & Print Salon Critique, No speakers (en); in Library
* 14:00 Cartographic Salon Critique, No speakers (en); in Vendors area catwalk
* 14:20 Applied Geophysics and LiDAR in Karst: From Environmental Consulting to Cave Discovery, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 14:40 Quantifying and Comparing Sinkhole Morphometry across Different Geospatial Datasets, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 15:00 Understanding the variability in gas concentrations of Carlsbad Cavern, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 16:00 Geology and Geography Section Meeting, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 16:00 Arts and Letters Lunch, No speakers (en); in 154
* 16:00 Survey & Cartography Section Meeting & Lunch, No speakers (en); in 205
* 16:00 The Caving Podcast Live featuring: Jason Ballensky & Dustin Kisner, No speakers (en); in Band Room
* 17:00 BOG Meeting, No speakers (en); in 104
* 17:00 NSF Trustees Meeting (open), No speakers (en); in 112
* 17:00 Arts & Letters, No speakers (en); in 154
* 17:00 Software Defined Cave Symbology, No speakers (en); in 205
* 17:15 Photogrammetry for Fun and Prospecting, Philip Balister (en); in 205
* 17:30 Evaluating speleothem samples as a geological archive for paleomagnetic records and environmental interpretation, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 17:30 Collegiate Grotto Challenges and Solutions, No speakers (en); in 110
* 17:40 How Do I Know Where This Drone Image Is?, Philip Balister (en); in 205
* 17:50 The Importance of Caves in the History of Geology, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:05 3D LiDAR cave survey software for iPhone, No speakers (en); in 205
* 18:10 The consequences of the self-modification island karst aquifers, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 18:25 Speleological Model in ArcGIS, No speakers (en); in 205
* 18:50 Exploring the stratigraphic and structural context of the Cheve karst system, Oaxaca, Mexico, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:00 Developing New Surveyors, Sketchers and Cartographers through Beginner Focused Projects, No speakers (en); in 205
* 19:10 Mineralogical and Genetic Controls on Coralloid Crystal Formation in Granite Talus Caves of Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:20 Techniques for Generating High-Definition Karst-Focused Terrain Imagery from LiDAR Surface Data, No speakers (en); in 205
* 19:30 The influence of magnitude and frequency on the relative importance of chemical and mechanical erosion: Examples from J2 and slot canyons in the Ozarks, No speakers (en); in Auditorium
* 19:45 0Bar Maps: Interactive Maps for Your Cave Phone, No speakers (en); in 205
* 20:10 Select Methods Using Adobe Illustrator, No speakers (en); in 205
* 20:35 Automated Cave Detection from LiDAR: Improved Methods and Broader Access, No speakers (en); in 205
* 22:00 NSS Awards Banquet, No speakers (en); in Fairgrounds
* 01:00 Farewell Party/Music: Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, No speakers (en); in Fairgrounds


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