The NFSA and NACD need your help at Madison Blue Springs State Park.

[NACD]

Here is some information on the NFSA and NACD cleanup at Madison Blue Springs State Park that I mentioned in a post a few days ago.

Who: Open to all. Bring your significant other(s), children, friend’s children, etc.
What: General cleanup and some basic construction
When: Saturday, March 17, 2012
Where: Madison Blue Springs State Park
Why: To help keep our parks and dive sites in tip top shape.
Schedule:
9:00 to 12:30 – work (Come earlier if you wish)
12:45 to 1:30 – grilled burgers and dogs
1:30 – Door prizes

Last year, 20+ volunteers helped paint the changing/rest rooms, fill potholes, install tank benches, pressure clean steps, clean the entrance way to the park, and perform some other miscellaneous jobs. Park personnel were most appreciative of your efforts. Additionally, it was a great way to meet other people who care about the parks including a number of cave divers.

This year, our efforts will be steered towards installing BBQ grills, replacing picnic tables, and some cleanup around the entrance. Depending on the number of volunteers, we may also transplant some palmetto bushes. The park will donate all supplies needed. We will need to provide the muscle and maybe some hand/garden/power tools. I will keep you posted on this. We will provide lunch, water/sodas, and door prizes.

If you can help, send me a pm (to NACD or to sandy) or email me at the address below. You can also contact Kelly Jessop at kjessop@bellsouth.net.

Also, I want to say how appreciative we are for the volunteer efforts you guys and gals contribute to our dive sites and its environment. Whether it is the Interpretative Trail (thanks Kelly), Cannonball Cave (thanks Doug), the Great Suwannee River Cleanup (thanks Rob), or the Madison Blue cleanups, your efforts go a long way in keeping our parks, dive sites, and rivers clean. At the same time, it shows the public that we care enough about these areas to use our personal time to improve them. It seems like whenever we ask, you respond. It is great to be associated with all of you. Hope to see you on the 17th!

Safe diving,

Sandy Robinson
pr@safecavediving.com

[NACD]

Hey all, we are up to 6 volunteers and one donor who is out of town on cleanup day. Thank you for your response and support so far. I hope we can match or exceed last years number of volunteers.

Sandy Robinson
pr@safecavediving.com

[Imbodie]

Might get to help out, but will depend on when I have to get my son to the Airport on the 17th....

[NACD]

Might get to help out, but will depend on when I have to get my son to the Airport on the 17th....

Hi Imbodie, Sorry to be late responding. Somehow I have missed this post. If you can get your son to the airport, come on over. We would appreciate anything you can do for us. If things do not work out, we will catch you next time.Sandy Robinsonpr@safecavediving.com

[Imbodie]

NP on the late response.... Heather and I are planning on being there... his flight just happened to be booked for the 18th...

[NACD]

NP on the late response.... Heather and I are planning on being there... his flight just happened to be booked for the 18th...

Great news - I enjoy updating the number of volunteers

For everyone else, we are up to about 15 to 20 volunteers but can still use more help. Let Kelly or me know if you can join us so we can plan for work and food. This is a great way to show the rest of the world the conservation efforts of the cave diving community. See you on the 17th at Madison!

[Imbodie]

Thanks for sponsoring a great event... Heather and I had a blast. I always wanted to help out at a Cannonball cleanup but never could seem to make it (was a bit of a drive for a non-cave diver at the time) Can't wait till we get to see more of Madison.....

Tim

[carobinsoniv]

Just wanted to say thanks to all who participated in the Madison clean-up earlier today and give everyone an update. We had 36 volunteers plus 2 rangers compared to 17 volunteers and 5 rangers last year - almost a 100% increase. We had all ages helping which was great to see. Park management was so appreciative of everyones efforts. We contributed 144+ hours of community service to the park.

At times we had more volunteers than work which is probably better than the reverse. We were able to:
1. Install/replace 6 grills
2. Replace 6 picnic tables
3. Replace about 8 trash cans/containers
4. General clean-up of sticks and pine cones
5. Shrub/tree clean up at the entrance to provide better visibility

Thanks to the NFSA, Nestles, and the NACD for providing food and refreshments. At the risk of leaving someone out, door prizes were provided by Dive Outpost, Cave Excursions, Cave Country Dive Shop, OMS, NFSA, NSSCDS, WCDC, NACD, and Cozumel Cave Expeditions.

Thanks to Kelly, Mark, and Kelsie for the cookout. Thanks to Mat (aka AuGeRmAn) for bringing a gas powered auger.

I will post more later but our next cleanup will be at Cannonball Cave in July. Doug Rorex is leading the efforts on this one.