This is my first blog entry on our new website! I hope you like it, it is a great improvement over the old and a number of people (especially Dr. Tom Williams and David Ebaugh) worked very hard to get it online. As with anything new there is a bit of a shakedown period and if you have any questions or comments on the new website we would love to hear from you –either contact me directly or click on the “having a problem” button at the bottom of the page and give us your feedback.

There is yet more coming. We will be adding significantly more content in a lot of areas and we will be adding a password protected members-only page where we will post all of our scientific articles as well as other content.

In the process of changing over my last blog entry went missing so I will cover a lot of territory here. We held our annual Volunteer Day at the Gault Site May 7^th. This is the one day a year where we get lots of volunteers to help with all the big maintenance issues at Gault. We worked a half day followed by an enormous BBQ lunch. The work was not only greatly appreciated but was also very evident two weeks later when the site flooded and there were no logs or deadfall to clog our culverts or destroy our fences. Thanks to all who took part!

We also held a celebration of the GSAR’s 10^th anniversary out at Gault in May. Members came out and wandered the site, threw Frisbees and talked while eating hamburgers and hotdogs prepared by our volunteer chef (Thank you Angus Branagh!). After sundown we had a large movie screen set up and we all watched- what else? – Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The rains didn’t do any significant damage to the site but they did delay the back filling of Area 15 at the site. We were seeing springs we haven’t seen since 2007 and the road down was a mess. The excavation took a beating from rising groundwater but we were finally able to fill it in Saturday June 25^th. Once the excavation shelter has come down we will be installing a more permanent display in the pasture to explain the excavations there.

We have a field work hiatus in the summer – Dr. Howard is in New York State running his Allegheny Valley Project and it is difficult to find volunteers when it’s over 100 degrees. The staff did however manage to do more survey and testing at the 700 Springs Ranch near Junction, TX. The work was very hot but the setting is amazing!