Huntsville, Alabama: Still an Ideal Home for the NSS

What do you think about when you hear the words “Huntsville, Alabama?” For cavers, the name might bring to mind the NSS Office, TAG caving, and the beautiful rolling Appalachian foothills. Huntsville is indeed all of those things, but Huntsville is a community with a great deal to offer individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. As the NSS membership considers the future of the NSS headquarters, take a few minutes to learn about the huge advantages to keeping the NSS Office complex in the city we’ve called home for over 35 years.

Huntsville: Deep in the Heart of TAG Caving

Huntsville has been a center for organized caving, exploration, and equipment innovation for over 50 years. The Huntsville Grotto got started in 1955 and our early members spearheaded the discovery and exploration of some of today’s best known caves. One of our early members, John Cole, invented the rappel rack, and another early member, Bill Cuddington, is widely recognized as the “father of vertical caving.” In an interesting “first,” Shelta Cave (now an NSS nature preserve located behind the NSS Office) was the first place in Huntsville to use electric lights--to illuminate the cave’s underground dance hall! In modern times, cavers discovered unique cave life in Shelta, making it one of the NSS’ first cave biology laboratories.

The Huntsville Grotto strives to be one of the most open and friendly Grottos for new and visiting cavers. We host monthly trips to both a horizontal and vertical cave; new members and visitors are welcome to join us on our outings. New cavers are also invited to participate in a variety of cave surveys, biological inventories, ridgewalking, ropework and rescue training, bat conservation, and other worthwhile projects.

Huntsville’s Economy is Strong

Huntsville is much more than just a good caving destination. Despite the severe economic downturn, Huntsville is not only faring very well, the city has been widely recognized for our strong economy and quality of life. Huntsville is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the US Army’s Redstone Arsenal, and is a center for high technology research and development. Huntsville’s employment growth rate of 15.8% (from 2000-2008) is almost four times higher than the US average. In 2008, in the midst of economic downward spiral, companies in Huntsville created 3,811 new jobs and added $96 million in new capital investment. Huntsville’s population is 378,057 and the income growth rate is a strong 9.7%. The cost of living index is 91 with a median household income of $51,275.

The city continues to attract not only jobs, but a huge number of visitors. According to the Alabama Department of Tourism, 2.5 million people visited Madison County in 2008 and spent an estimated $991 million. Also in 2008 and 2009, several national publications recognized Huntsville as an economic engine, a great place to live, and an environmentally friendly city. A small sampling of our national recognition includes:

· Kiplinger’s #1 Best City in the Country

· Named one of the country’s top 10 places to live

· Standard & Poor’s highest possible “AAA” bond rating for strength of the local economy

· One of the top 50 “greenest” cities (our first LEED building is currently under construction)

· One of the top 6 places in the country to find a job

· The country’s leading metropolitan area for consumer lending growth

· Ranked 3rd among America’s leading technology cities

To view complete statistics, visit:

Huntsville’s 2009 Economic Growth Report

Huntsville Economic Development Handbook

In addition, many local officials enthusiastically endorse keeping the NSS Office in Huntsville and have pledged their support to help the NSS build a new facility. The Huntsville proposal received letters of endorsement from Huntsville’s mayor, the city councilman representing the district where the NSS Office is located, and the President and CEO of the area’s influential Chamber of Commerce. What do all of these statistics mean for the NSS? It means that Huntsville is a growing, vigorous city with great potential for the NSS to tap into support from financially stable local businesses and citizens.

A Medium-sized City With Huge Partnership Opportunities

Huntsville is large enough to have an international airport 20 minutes from the NSS Office, yet small enough to avoid annoying traffic and congestion. We are connected to the interstate highway system, so it’s easy and convenient to visit. There are numerous hotels, campgrounds, and restaurants available at reasonable prices. Huntsville is also home to several universities and research institutes. The University of Alabama in Huntsville consistently ranks as one of the country’s best schools. The university has long-term partnerships with NASA and the National Space Science and Technology Center, and the school is open to other partnerships. The UA Huntsville archivist is willing to help the NSS preserve and protect our library collection. Another city university, Alabama A&M, offers a wildlife biology program and one of the professors specializes in bats. In addition, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has become a powerhouse in our town, and has created many research jobs. In this era of White Nose Syndrome, we all know the value of scientific research—the NSS could easily form partnerships with these (and other) local institutions.

Diverse Recreation and Tourism Opportunities

As a medium-sized city, Huntsville is a great mix of urban space and green space. Monte Sano State Park, with a nice campground, miles of hiking trails (and yes, several caves), is within the city limits. Our local land trust protects over 5,700 acres of land in north Alabama and is one of our area’s most successful nonprofit organizations. Huntsville also boasts many popular tourist attractions that draw tourists and tourist dollars, including the US Space and Rocket Center, US Space Camp, a large botanical garden, SciQuest (a hands-on science museum for kids), and many others. Our community values the work of nonprofit organizations; local businesses and citizens provide significant support to our local conservation organizations, museums, and cultural institutions. We have numerous outdoor recreation and conservation groups that focus on hiking, biking, trail running, rock climbing, paddling, swimming, wildlife, and much more. Many local clubs schedule cave trips for their groups and find caves intriguing. The potential for mutually beneficial partnerships with local groups is enormous in Huntsville.

Strong Volunteer Base and Professional Staff

Huntsville is the home base of the Huntsville Grotto, one of the largest and most active Grottos in the country. With 138 members, the Grotto has actively supported the NSS Office since it moved to Huntsville in 1973, and we will continue to support the facility into the future. Over the years, Huntsville Grotto volunteers have been responsible for completely running the NSS Library and the NSS Archives. Huntsville Grotto members have a long history of helping with ongoing office tasks, maintaining the A/V Library, assisting with yardwork, providing free plumbing/electrical maintenance, helping the office staff deal with large book shipments, helping out during OTR, SERA, and Convention, and much, much more. The NSS Office staff currently lets the Grotto leadership know what volunteer projects they need help with, and our members are there to assist. We also hosted the successful 2005 NSS Convention in Huntsville, and have hosted numerous SERA Cave Carnivals over the years. Grotto members also volunteer for many projects that directly benefit NSS members. One member is the volunteer access coordinator for the Fern Cave, others serve as liaisons with the US Forest Service, some conduct cave inventories for various government agencies, several serve as property managers for local Southeastern Cave Conservancy caves, and yet others volunteer for the Alabama Cave Survey. Local cavers are also very involved in the Huntsville Cave Rescue Unit and the area’s High Angle Rescue Team. These are just a few examples of our long history of volunteering to benefit the NSS and the caving community at large.

Huntsville also has an active and effective volunteer clearinghouse to connect volunteers with nonprofit organizations. The Volunteer Center of Madison County annually recruits thousands of volunteers and assists more than 175 nonprofit groups in Huntsville. Over 4,000 volunteers are currently registered with the Volunteer Center and the center recruits over 20,000 volunteers annually. If the NSS wanted to tap into addition volunteer labor for an expanded office complex or any ongoing project that the local caver base cannot completely staff, the NSS would simply need to sign up with the Volunteer Center. The volunteer base in Huntsville is vast, and the NSS can easily tap into many more dedicated volunteers (and educate more members of the public about caves and bats in the process!).

In addition to volunteers, the NSS has a dedicated and professional staff who know the intricacies of operating the NSS office, bookstore, and membership services smoothly and efficiently. Moving to a new city would require finding, hiring, and training a completely new staff. The potential for disrupting essential membership services is significant.

Let’s Not Forget About Caves!

Of course, NSS members want to know that their office complex will be located somewhere near caves! Well, if you want caves, Huntsville is a great location. There are 240 caves within the city limits. Many Huntsville cavers go on quick cave trips after work and are home in time to get a good night’s sleep. The caves in our community are on both public and private land and many are readily accessible (the Southeastern Cave Conservancy even owns a nice pit in the city limits). If you want to drive 30 minutes outside the city, you can get to some TAG classics: Fern Cave, Stephens Gap, Limrock Blowing, Anvil Cave, to name just a few. If you want to drive an hour outside the city you can visit Neversink, Tumbling Rock, Valhalla, War Eagle, and thousands more. Dry or wet, horizontal or vertical, open-air or pulldown, the choices near Huntsville are almost endless. And the best thing about our caves is that thousands of them are open (when WNS isn’t part of the equation) if you simply get permission from the landowner.

Plus, Shelta Cave is On-Site!

Shelta Cave is located under a portion of the current NSS property in Huntsville. Our proposal recommends building a new facility on an area not over the cave (but there will be a wonderful view of it from the building!). If you visit the Huntsville Grotto webpage, open our proposal, and scroll to pages 10 and 11, you will see the location we’re proposing for the new facility (you can also review estimated costs and other information). There is plenty of room for a building with over 10,000 feet of usable space on land the NSS already owns—and the new facility will not impact Shelta Cave. As a bonus, the fact that we don’t want to build over a cave will provide the NSS with an excellent opportunity educate people across the country about construction and groundwater issues in karst areas. An expanded facility right next to a biologically significant cave will also be an ideal education center. In Huntsville, there are 27 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, 7 high schools, and 5 magnet schools with a total of 22,800 students. Thousands more kids from other parts of the country attend summer camps at local museums, providing many educational partnership opportunities. Just imagine the number of kids the NSS could educate about bats, caves, and groundwater using the Shelta Cave Preserve as an outdoor learning laboratory! The NSS could also plan lectures, programs, and fundraisers to target the overall population of not only Huntsville, but surrounding communities.

Why Huntsville?

As the NSS membership debates whether or not to move the office complex, we feel the answer is clear. With a booming economy, strong local support of nonprofits, thousands of easily accessible caves nearby, a diverse mix of recreation and conservation enthusiasts, dedicated professional staff, and a huge pool of volunteers, Huntsville can most effectively support an expanded office complex. The Huntsville choice also makes the most financial sense for NSS members. The NSS can expand on its existing, paid-off property in a city where securing local financial support is a realistic goal. Expansion can also be phased in as funding allows without disrupting operations. In addition, moving to the new facility will mean moving a couple hundred feet instead of a couple hundred miles, avoiding all of the costs, aggravations, and disruptions of a long-distance move. Maintaining the office in Huntsville will also ensure we won’t lose our dedicated staff or need to worry about a difficult and costly transition and training process for new staff.

We invite all NSS members to visit the Huntsville Grotto’s webpage at www.caves.org/grotto/huntsville/ to read our proposal for the NSS Office complex and to review additional information about Huntsville and the Huntsville Grotto. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at huntsvillegrotto@yahoo.com. And finally, let the BOG know what you think about the future of the NSS Office!