SPG member Lawrence Ireland was one of a select few who was awarded the honor of NSS Fellow at the August 2006 NSS Convention in the State of Washington.  Lawrence joins a list of only a handful of southwest Missourians on the list of Fellows.  This award is granted to those who have contributed significantly to speleology and caving.  Lawrence has quite a list of accomplishments including directing the 2002 MCKC/MDC Missouri State Cave Biology survey involving detailed bio inventories of dozens of caves, his role in the bio inventory of Carroll Cave, a lengthy cave in Camden County as well as his role in cave mapping in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas.  A photo of Lawrence (cropped from a larger group photo) at the ceremony shows him holding his certificate. 

The photo was taken by Dr. Bill Elliott, one of several Missourians to attend the convention.