fee; however we do ask that attendees donate Conference on Subterranean Biology in USA an item to the Saturday night auction and bring a Fayetteville, Arkansas. Information: www. April 22-24, 2016--Spring VAR 2016, hosted dish for the potluck dinner. Camping is $5/person speleobiology.com/icsb2016/ by Tri-State Grotto, will take place at Endless for the entire weekend. We will have led cave Caverns, New Market, VA. For more info contact trips, a bat float to Nickajack Cave, a potluck John DiCarlo at [email protected] dinner, and our auction. For more information Rescue April 22-24, 2016­—(Earth Day Weekend) Texas e-mail [email protected]. May 7-14, 2016—The National Cave Rescue Speleological Association Spring Convention, September 9-11, 2016 --- 52nd Annual Hodag Commission (NCRC) Cave Rescue Operations Edwards County Fairgrounds, Rocksprings, Hunt Festival, sponsored by the Wisconsin and Management Seminar in Mentone, Alabama. Texas. Camping, presentations, banquet, and Speleological Society, at Spook Cave, a show Extensive classroom instruction and fieldwork in fundraising auction. This year talks are focusing cave near McGregor, in Northeastern Iowa. all phases of cave rescue including underground on the karst of the Edwards Plateau, and local A group campground site is reserved. A guide environment, vertical rescue, hauling systems, ranchers are being invited. Details are on our booklet featuring the history of local show caves, extrication techniques, medical management, Facebook Page, or contact event coordinator hiking and other outdoor activities will be printed, communication systems, and the organization Jim “Crash” Kennedy ([email protected]) breakfast on Saturday followed by a group boat and management of cave rescue operations. tour rate for Spook Cave, Saturday night banquet For more information please visit our website at May 5 - 8 2016—Commander Cody Caving Club followed by a caver’s auction. Sunday morning http://ncrc.info or facebook page at https://www. 40th Anniversary Celebrationl, Thorn Spring Park, is the September Wisconsin Speleological facebook.com/NCRCtraining. 42 All Star Drive Franklin, WV 26807. All past Society Board of Directors Meeting. Everyone and present members of the Commander Cody is welcome. Pre-register and save, by going to Caving Club are welcome to join us in celebrating the WSS web site at wisconsincaves.org for a Foreign our 40th year as a grotto. For more information you registration form. For more information contact can e-mail us at info@commandercodycaving. Gary K. Soule at [email protected]. August 13–20, 2016—European Federation com or visit our Facebook event page - https:// meeting in Ingleton, UK www.facebook.com/events/1566517127002427/ October 6th - 9th, 2016—39th Annual TAG Fall Cave-In hosted by the Dogwood City Grotto July 23-29, 2017—17th International Congress May 13-15, 2016—Franklin County Grotto will be on Lookout Mtn. Near Menlo, GA. (always the of Speleology, Sydney, Australia. Facebook hosting the 2016 Spring MAR in Shade Gap, PA. weekend before Columbus Day).NSS Members page: https://www.facebook.com/Speleo2017. May 27-30, 2016—Speleofest 2016 will be a or guests only. No dogs, no generators, no air Official site: http://speleo2017.com/ Contact celebration of the Louisville Grotto’s 50 years horns, no off-highway vehicles. [email protected] of NSS membership. Located in the heart of cave country, at The Lonestar Preserve, in Hart County Kentucky. Early arrival on Thursday Cave & Karst Science available, and you can stay until Monday. April 11-14, 2016—International conference Howdy Party on Friday night with live music, on the origins, resources, and management of bonfire. Cave Central opens Friday night with hypogene karst, Deep Karst in Carlsbad, NM. trip signups for the weekend. Banquet Saturday Deep Karst 2016 is being organized by the Reading...... 32 night with guest speaker and door prizes. Cave National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Social/ Lantern tour in Lonestar Cave Sunday cooperation with the Karst Hydrogeology and Underground Online...... 34 night. Plenty of camping spots, port o potty’s, Speleogenesis Commission of the International Classified Ads...... 35 and hot showers. Breakfast will be available on Union of Speleology. More information and Obituaries...... 35 Saturday and Sunday mornings. Gear Vendors updates on registration at www.deepkarst.org News and Notes...... 35 will be onsite. Vendors and Inquires, Contact June 13-16, 2016 – The 23rd International David McClintock, Speleofest Chairman,@ 502-643-4590, or [email protected]. Visit http://louisville.caves.org/ for more info and preregistration links. Remember Speleofest is always on Memorial Day Weekend. June 2-5, 2016—The 65th SERA Cave Carnival Front cover: Emily Dillon poses in West Virginia’s Mystic Cave for Ryan Maurer’s “Beauty will be held at Pigeon Mountain, Georgia. and the Beasts.” He won an Honorable Mention for it in the 2015 NSS Photo Salon. For information contact: Larry E. Matthews, Back cover, right: The Gruta do Janelão is the centerpiece of a new National Park in Brazil [email protected] being developed to help promote its conservation. Photo by Val Hildreth-Werker. June 17-19 2016---Greater Cincinnati Grotto is Back cover, left: Brazilian cavers on a cave clean-up. Photo by Val Hildreth-Werker. hosting Karst-O-Rama at the Great Saltpeter Cave Preserve, in Mt Vernon Ky. Cave trips on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will be cave Below: Steph Petri eyes pristine stalactites in a middle Tennessee Cave. Honorable Mention vendors, children’s activities, cave box for the photo from the 2015 Photo Salon by Ed McCarthy. flexible, climbing contest, and more. Howdy party on Friday night and a live band on Saturday night. Theme for the party is Saturday Night Fever. Be sure to dress up for disco music. Preregistration discount available. Visit us on http://karstorama. com/kor16form.html and like us on Facebook for updates! Any questions Email Don Brandner Karst-O-Rama chair Sodastraw2002@yahoo. com July 17-23, 2016—NSS 75th Anniversary Convention - Ely, NV. Contact nss75th@caves. org for more info. http://nss2016.caves.org September 2-5, 2016—Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest hosted by the Sewanee Mountain Grotto in the heart of TAG. Amenities include a bath house, hot tub & sauna, and thousands of caves within an hours drive. There is no registration

Send items for the calendar to davebunnell@ comcast.net at least 6 weeks before desired month of publication (i.e., by March 15 for the May issue).

2 NSS News, April 2016 POSTMASTERS OR MEMBERS: Send address changes to the National Speleological NSS News Society Office, contact information below. NSS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE April 2016 President Wm Shrewsbury Volume 74 Number 4 6609 Lasata Lane Harrison, TN 37341 ® [email protected] (727) 424-2901 Operations VP Administrative VP Annual Cave Conservation Issue David Haun Katherine L. Crispin, Ph.D. PO Box 47961 756 Devonshire Dr Val Hildreth-Werker, NSS News Conservation Editor Indianapolis, IN 46247 State College, PA 16803 (317) 517-0795 (610) 504-0339 cell [email protected] [email protected] Cave On—Cave Strong...... 4 Val Hildreth-Werker Executive VP Secretary/Treasurer Curt Harler Gary T. Barnes Leave Nothing Behind!...... 4 12936 Falling Water Rd. 2250 Shady Creek Trail Strongsville, OH44136 Birmingham, AL 35216 Phil Jones (440) 238-6339 (205) 492-7555 [email protected] [email protected] Crossing the Pit: Help the Next Generation Find Footing in Our National Speleological Society Office Caving Community...... 5 6001 Pulaski Pike NW, Huntsville, AL 35810 Tel: (256) 852-1300 Jonathan Carman e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: www.caves.org Please contact the office for address changes or back issues. Ballet Cave: Rock Art Conservation in Brazil...... 6 Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura NSS NEWS EDITOR Dave Bunnell, Ph.D. Box 879 First International Cave Conservation and Restoration Course in Angels Camp, CA 95222 Brazil...... 8 [email protected] Val Hildreth-Werker and Jim C. Werker, and Luciana Alt Please include “NSS News” in your subject line when e-mailing material to help me sort it from the spam. Thanks! and Vitor Moura Questions about submitting features and photos? Please see the style and submission guidelines:on the NSS web site: Sandia Cave Restoration: National Historic Landmark...... 11 www.caves.org/pub/nssnews/style.html Sandra Arazi-Coambs and Carrin Rich ADVERTISING Complete advertising information, including ad costs, deadlines, and Caverns of Sonora Cave Vandalism Case—Successful Prosecution guidelines for preparation, are on the NSS wesite at: www.caves.org/ pub/nssnews/ads.html. New advertisers should Contact Joe Horton, Under New Texas Cave Law...... 15 Marketing Representative for the NSS News, at 678-467-3148 or [email protected] if you wish to place an ad. Melissa Perner Payments for ads should be sent to the NSS office. New advertisers are expected to pay for ads prior to publication. The Future of the Riviera Maya...... 16 DEPARTMENT EDITORS Stacey Chilcott ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR UNDERGROUND ONLINE 2015 White Nose Syndrome Update...... 19 Gary Gibula Buford Pruitt, Jr. [email protected] [email protected] Jennifer Foote CONSERVATION NEWSLETTER REVIEW Conservation News...... 20 Jim & Val Hildreth-Werker Jonah Kidder PO Box 207 370 Paul Copas Road Announcements related to conservation in the NSS Hillsboro, NM 88042-0207 Winchester OH 45697 (575) 895-5050 [email protected] Ichetucknee Springs Graffiti Removal Project...... 22 [email protected] CAVE CHRONICLES Kelly Jessop SPELEAN SPOTLIGHT Philip Rykwalder Michael Ray Taylor [email protected] Cave Delivered to Children at Catamount Institute...... 23 [email protected] Tracy Jackson Deadline: Ads, articles, and announcements should be sent to the Partnership: Lick Creek Cave Restoration Project...... 24 editor by the 1st of the month, 1 months before the month of issue (e.g., material for the March issue needs to be in by Feb. 1). Taylor Woods The NSS News (ISSN 0027-7010) is published monthly with the Members Manual and American Caving Accidents published as Merlins Preserve Workday with the Boston Grotto...... 25 additional issues by the National Speleological Society, Inc, 6001 Pulaski Pike NW, Huntsville, AL 35810. Periodicals Postage Paid at Morgan Ingalls Huntsville, Al and additional mailing offices. Tel: (256)852-1300, e-mail: [email protected], web: www.caves.org VCA Cleanup at the NCC’s Bentleys Cavern Preserve...... 25 Regular membership in the NSS is $45 per year. Members may elect to receive a digital NSS NEWS (only) for $35/year. See http:// John Dunham and Jonah Spivak caves.org/info/membertypes.shtml for descriptions of other membership categories. Subscriptions to the NSS News are $27 per year; individual Salts Cave Sinkhole Cleanup: A Small Grotto Can Make a Big copies are $3.00 each. Contact the Huntsville office for membership applications, subscriptions, orders, or for replacement of issues missing Difference...... 27 or damaged in the mail. Moving? Please report changes of address to Brian “Grandpa Caver” Leavell the office promptly or online at: www.caves.org/info/changeinfo.shtml Copyright ©2016 Restoration Cavers Drawn to Mammoth Cave...... 29 by the National Speleological Society, Inc. Gary Gibula

Department of Corrections: Apologies to Photographer John Woods, whose lovely photo on our April cover went uncredited. We’ll likely see more of his photos in the Convention guidebook.

NSS News, April 2016 3 Cave On—Cave Strong Val Hildreth-Werker, NSS News Conservation Editor caves.org/committee/conservation/

We share this prose poem to open May you do no harm—primum the pages of the 2016 NSS News Annual non nocere. Conservation Issue. The accounts within May you mentor those who claim boldly address several of the myriad issues your stake. and realities surrounding cave and karst May you leave better cavers in conservation. your wake. With persistence, we can make a We dedicate this Annual Conservation difference. Issue to the memory and contributions of Keep caving. Advocate cave and karst Helena David, PhD, a Brazilian speleolo- ecosystem health. gist and art conservator/restorationist who Go safe. Move soft. Cave clean. sought and and developed minimum-impact May the cave rise up to teach techniques to protect and preserve the fragil- you. ity of cultural sites and spelean environments. May you safely reach the depths (Included in this issue is an article highlighting below. her work in Ballet Cave, Brazil.) May you softly move to beckon- If you’d like to put your inspiration ing airflow. to work as part of the NSS Conservation May you gently mark pathways Team, we invite you to contact the NSS as you go. Conservation Division Chiefs, Val Hildreth- Dr. Helena David applied her expertise May your gear be clean and Werker and Jim Werker: as an art conservator to speleology, and spore-free. [email protected] is remembered for her contributions to May you take only photos to tell The NSS Conservation Pages: ecosystem and cultural site conservation/ the memory. caves.org/committee/conservation/ restoration awareness in Brazil. Photo by Vitor Moura.

Leave Nothing Behind! Phil Jones

“Leave nothing behind.” This is the cavers’ I found my answers through Bill Nordgren. motto. This was an ecology project, believed to have I was on a Cleveland Grotto trip to Poor Farm been started by Ray Setteur, done in the late 60s Cave in April 2015. Hazel Barton was leading the and early 70s. The cave project was to provide trip along with Kai, Julie, and me. Training in cave cavers with a plastic baggy to haul their spent carbide photography and surveying were on the agenda. out of the cave. There’s that motto again. Leave In an area towards the middle of the cave, I nothing behind. found a plastic bottle—trash! I was amazed that it Cavers frequently used carbide lamps during had a sticker on it from Cleveland Grotto. I hauled this period. This plastic container of baggies has it out. “Good caver!” I thought. Once back outside. been in service for over 40 years. Now with the vast I found this bottle was not trash, but had a purpose. improvements of lighting and battery technology, this Inside the bottle I found plastic bags. I had to ecology-minded container of the 60s has run its know more. Who put this here and why? Only an course. Time to retire it to the Grotto archives, the old timer would know. showing of a successful project. Well done! The bottle in question, the As for me—right or wrong—I will continue to label states: haul out trash from caves, and leave nothing behind! THIS IS NOT A CARBIDE CONTAINER! Right: Two generations of cavers tandem climb out Please don’t dump your of Natural Well in TAG—pictured are Scott Thompson carbide in this cave. If you and Lisa Troyer. Photo by Jonathan Carman. forgot a plastic bag—take one. If you have extra bags—leave them. Try pick-up dumped carbide and erase cave writings on the way. If we all try a little—it will mean a lot!

4 NSS News, April 2016 Crossing the Pit: Help the Next Generation Find Footing in Our Caving Community Jonathan Carman The age of the average caver is increas- in non-artistic ways. We have not needed had free reign of the place without much ing. That’s not a hard fact backed by a PhD to be creative in order to keep ourselves direct supervision. Video game console? in statistics, but among most cavers I know, entertained. Who needs that when you have 150 acres the observation is generally accepted as My generation also has very little prac- of farm with four ponds and a BB gun? My true. Unfortunately, data do not yet exist tice communicating with people outside of grandmother moved in with us when I was to create a graph showing how the average our age demographic. We don’t interact 10, and my oldest sister is 16 years older NSS member-age has increased over time. If socially with older family in the same way than me. While I had plenty of friends my it did, I’m pretty convinced that the line would that other generations did. Due to an over age, I spent most of my time hanging out be more than a bit positive if measured with reliance on communication technology, with the owner of the farm who was five an inclinometer! most of us quite simply have underdeveloped decades my senior. When it comes to hard facts, we are interpersonal skills when it comes to commu- Most other kids my age grew up in a limited to just two. The age of the average nicating face-to-face. bubble of kids in their own age group. A NSS member is about 53 while the average Unfortunately, most habitually short- bubble they never really left until they got American is about 38. (Statistics Feb 2016 term people, not good at interpersonal their first real job. The only adults they spent from NSS Member Data www.caves.org relationships, looking for easy entertain- much time with were authority figures. and CIA Factbook https://www.cia.gov/ ment, are not going to show up to grotto So how can we cross this pit, this library/publications/the-world-factbook/ meeting after grotto meeting populated by chasm that separates younger and older geos/us.html). older cavers in hopes of sometime weeks or generations? Why is this happening? Where are the months down the road getting underground. For starters, let’s recognize that young younger cavers? What can we do to get more Instead, these younger folks will buy a people who have shown up to their first 20ish—30ish cavers involved? climbing guidebook, and head straight to a grotto meeting took a big step by the (crappy) The caves we love will need cavers to cliff with their best bud without ever needing standards of my generation. They showed care for them when we’re gone. Fewer cavers to talk to a real person to get directions or up, in person, when they could have been means more graffiti, not less. Stewardship permission. It’s one of the reasons the sport watching Netflix. This doesn’t mean they get and protection is about passing the torch, of rock climbing is taking off like mad among extra points, but it does mean there’s a good and the responsibility. Future discoveries this generation while caving certainly is not. chance they’re really interested in caving. await if new cavers seek them out. We all It’s pretty easy to get started on your own as However, that interest won’t last for know the score. a climber, and quite honestly, nowadays it’s forever, particularly if it seems like attending There are many sides to this problem, hard to get started caving without first getting meetings won’t actually get them any closer but surely there are no fewer young people a foot into the caving community. to a cave. Consider the setting of a grotto in the world – the problem is they’re choos- Community is another important differ- meeting. Any outsider walking into a room of ing to do other things. But why? The caves ence between cavers and climbers. Climbing, people who have known each other for years are still interesting, amazing, and a lot of while very fun, is a lot about individual or decades will have a tough time socially. fun! The caves aren’t different—but the athletic accomplishment. Rock climbing fits This problem is only made worse when the current generation of young people most pretty well with the individualistic mindset of outsider is from my generation, and the definitely is. a lifetime built on instant gratification and caving club is made up of people far older. Our generation of 20-somethings “happy meals.” Members of a generation with poor (of which I am one) grew up with video Caving on the other hand, is more about interpersonal skills are pretty likely to show games, computers, cell phones, and cable. building on the discoveries and accomplish- up to a meeting and sit there, be nice and Entertainment came easily. We had kit ments of others. Even the most narcissistic polite, but not take a lot of initiative when it swingsets, not tree houses made of scrap jerks of the caving community have to estab- comes to conversation, and then just leave wood. We did not run the neighborhood lish and maintain relationships with other when the meeting is over. It’s the responsibil- until dark because our parents hardly let us cavers and landowners. The result is our ity of the grotto members to engage them, out of their sight. The result? We are more real caving community, while the climbing to tell them when the next events are, to short-term oriented and less able to self-start community often only exists among the most explain how they can get involved, and most than our parents and grandparents were. It’s elite climbers and route developers. importantly to get them underground soon! not that we’re less creative, but that we have So wait a second—are there a few It is pretty tempting to think the younger not had good practice in exercising creativity young cavers in your grotto? Sure, some generation should just get their act together. of us are out there, but But, for the most part, we honestly don’t I guarantee that almost realize how different our upbringing is from every young caver you that of our parents and grandparents, and know had an upbringing therefore, how different we are. that deviates from that Understanding a problem is the first step of their peers in signifi- to fixing it. To establish the next generation cant ways—or they had of cavers, it’s up to current NSS members an older caving mentor to reach out across the pit and help ‘em find who helped them get footing in the caving community. Get moti- involved. vated and get creative about bringing in the For myself, I grew younger set! The caves need our energy, and up in a farmhouse that the cavers need us. Far too much is at stake my family rented and I to make us figure things out on our own.

NSS News, April 2016 5 Ballet Cave: Rock Art Conservation in Brazil Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura Instituto do Carste (Brazilian Karst Institute) Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil and www.institutodocarste.org.br [email protected]; [email protected]

Ballet Cave is one of the most impor- over sedimentary layers); this was described or disturbance in the sedimentary layer, tant archaeological and speleological sites in by David & Moura (2002). thus avoiding irreversible damages to the Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Ballet style1 may To protect Ballet Cave and other human archeological site. be one of the oldest rock art styles identified and natural heritage places, the creation of Platform installation resulted in better in South America, with relative dating of PRNH Fazenda Bom Jardim was mandated views of the rock art panels and improved the at least 10,500 AP (Neves et al., 2012) .2 by environmental agencies along with overall conservation of the site. Moreover, Ballet Cave is about 150 meters long, and other actions, including a Visitation and the platform can easily be removed during is located in the Private Reserve of Natural Conservation Project for Ballet Cave, coor- future archaeological excavations. The use of Heritage—PRNH Fazenda Bom Jardim,3 dinated by Helena David and implemented pallets made the project feasible due to the which is part of the Lagoa Santa Karst in 2002. reduced cost of installation and maintenance. Environmental Protection Area. In 2002, the The Project first steps included cave The platforms also protect archaeological infrastructure project and installation were survey, impact mapping, and detailed sediment from compaction and disturbance carried out, as well as extensive conserva- photographic survey of rock art panels and caused by trampling, and help avoid disper- tion work on the cave and restoration of all surfaces to be restored. Photos were sion of fine particle matter and subsequent the rock art panels. This “nationwide first” taken before, during, and after conservation deposition over pictorial panels. project was coordinated by Helena David, actions. speleologist, and PhD in art conservation The project coordinator took another Present Situation and restoration. This article presents results important step and implemented solubility Nowadays Ballet Cave receives about of this study, the current situation of the site, testing over different types of graffiti on 600 visitors per year, mostly students. They and future prospects. different substrates (rock, speleothems). enter the cave in groups up to 15 people, These tests enabled the development of guided by a LafargeHolcim S/A employee. various techniques for removal of different The cave visit is included in a broader preset Visitation and Conservation Project types of graffiti, dirt, insect nests, and animal visitation program. The interpretive program at Ballet Cave / 2002 excrements. Deionized water was the solvent lasts about two hours and includes other Ballet Cave, well known in the region, used to avoid harming the cave fauna. human and natural heritage places within received unmanaged visitation until the end In order to understand the dynamics of PRNH Fazenda Bom Jardim. Visitation is of the 90s. Unfortunately graffiti covered the cave microclimate and to avoid causing held from Monday to Friday and must be practically every smooth and accessible any microclimate changes, David initiated booked online, 10 days in advance. surface, including rock art panels, cave walls, baseline temperature and relative humidity A 150-meter wooden walkway was ceiling, and speleothems. These graffiti were measurements, then continued collecting recently installed on the hillside forest made with different materials and techniques, these data throughout the process. between the dirt road access and the entrance especially coal, clay, chalk, and incisions. The conservation/restoration work of the cave. This walkway provides easy In the 90s a barbed-wire fence and gate lasted about four months, and only three access for visitors and will possibly reduce were installed in order to protect the cave. people were involved.4 It was a painstaking erosion processes. But that was not enough to stop the vandal- job, accomplished with minimum impact Apparently, there was a significant ism. At the beginning of the new millennium, techniques and control measures to safe- recovery on the hillside forest in comparison the cave conservation status was pitiful. guard the integrity of the cave environment to the situation observed in 2002; thus, the There was a significant amount of scattered and archaeological heritage. barbed-wire fence is now better camouflaged garbage, many broken speleothems, and The second phase of the project by vegetation, and does not constitute a big cattle feces covering large areas of the floor. included planning and installation of the visual impact. At that time, besides the graffiti, several infrastructure to facilitate resource preser- The conservation status of the cave, changes on the pictorial panels were found: vation. For protection of the archaeological in general, has improved. Now because of nests and hives of insects; animal droppings; sediment, a wooden platform was installed the platform, fewer intrusive footprints are mineral deposits (probably caused by succes- at the cave entrance zone, and access to the observed, indicating that most visitors have sive applications of water to “enhance” the cave interior was restricted.5 Also, signs were respected the installed infrastructure and the visual quality of the paintings); dust accumu- installed in strategic locations, posting warn- guides’ instructions. lation (possibly a consequence of trampling ings or interpretive content to guide visitors. Furthermore, observations confirm only The platform is made of removable rare new incidents of graffiti. This attests 1 This style is characterized by elongated pallets that provide a smooth surface, to the theory that the existence of graffiti human figures, with male and female nominees, comfortable and safe for visitors. They attracts new graffiti, and also shows that arms raised, head and mouth often elongated were put together with flexible joints and cave management has been effective. In and open. supported directly on the cave floor. The 2002, during the beginning stages of the 2 Relative dating for Ballet Style figure installation process called for no excavation project when there were still large amounts found in Lapa do Santo, Matozinhos, by the of unsightly graffiti in the cave, we often Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies team, 4 Helena David, Vitor Moura, and found new graffiti over strips we had already led by Walter A. Neves. Luciana Alt. restored. 3 Owned by LafargeHolcim S/A. 5 Access is allowed only to conduct It should be noted that, from time to time, scientific research and monitoring activities. the conservation interventions performed on

6 NSS News, April 2016 Partial view of pictorial panel in Ballet Cave. Photo Luciana Alt & Vitor Moura. View of main rock art panels from the wooden platforms. Photo Luciana Alt & Vitor Moura. incised graffiti need to be monitored and breakage, graffiti, insect nests, animal dung maintained. In 2002, cave sediment mixed deposition, and so on). with deionized water was applied with These monitoring actions call for the delicate paintbrushes to fill the incisions. planning of immediate conservation stud- International de Conservation, 2002, Paris. For example, 13 years after completion of ies. Monitoring systems are important L’art avant l’histoire - La conservation de l’art the Visitation and Conservation Project, in tools for pinpointing needs in manage- préhistorique. Champs-sur-Marne: SFIIC, 2002. p. 164-171. a few places the camouflaging technique ment and surveillance review, and in David, H.; SOUZA, L. A. C.. Prehistoric rock used on incised graffiti already needed to be proving the conservation and management art conservation in Peruaçu valley, Minas revised because filler material was appar- effectiveness. Gerais, Brasil. In: 10es journées d’études de la ently removed by natural processes such as Section Française de l’Institut International de airflow, temperature changes, activities of Acknowledgements Conservation, 2002, Paris. L’art avant l’histoire invertebrates and rodents, and so on. This article is a tribute in memory of - La conservation de l’art préhistorique. In some places, insect nests began to Helena David, who introduced us to the Champs-sur-Marne: SFIIC, 2002. p. 172-178. David, H.; MARTINEZ-BAZÁN, M. L.; form over the rock art and other surfaces. world of cave conservation, and instilled DOMÉNECH-CARBÓ, M. T.; ROIG, M. P.. When this kind of nest is formed over the into us a strong awareness about the fragility Contribution for prehistoric rock art conserva- rock art panels, removal is crucial. The of these environments. She showed us the tion. In: Colours 2008. Bridging Science with removal process can cause damage to the need to seek and develop minimum-impact Art, 2008, Évora. Book of Abstracts. Évora, pictorial layers and should be performed techniques. We acknowledge Jose Duarte 2008. v. 1. only by specialists. from LafargeHolcim S/A for allowing and David, H. The conservation of Ballet Cave, Brazil. supervising our visit to Ballet Cave. We also In: 14th International Congress of Speleology, 2005, Atenas. 14th International Congress of Future Outlook and Recommendations acknowledge André Alt for reviewing the Speleology. Atenas, 2005. v. 1. The good condition observed in 2015 English translation. NEVES, W.A.; ARAÚJO, A. G. M.; BERNARDO, in Ballet Cave attests to the management D. V.; KIPNIS, R.; FEATHERS, J. K. Rock qualities, and because of that, it is possible References Art at the Pelistocene/Holocene Boundary in to consider expansion of the visitation circuit David, H & Moura, V. Ballet Cave, Minas Gerais, Eastern South America. In: PLoS One. Oxford, within the cave. In addition to rock art, the Brasil, Conservation and Visitation. In: 10es 2012. v. 7, Issue 2. cave possesses other attractions, such as a journées de la Section Française de l’Intitut main hall that contains historical evidence of saltpeter extraction. This main hall also contains the remainders of recent archaeo- logical excavations. Given the importance of Ballet Cave it could well be included in regional touristic circuits and could be opened to the public on weekends, without prior appointment, in order to expand the audience and outreach potential. Currently there is no monitoring program in place for the cave. Is its recom- mended that monitoring of cave fauna dynamics be developed in order to evaluate possible interference of the installed infra- structure. This monitoring study is important for assessing the impact of introduced construction materials on cave fauna. It is also recommended to carry out an annual photographic monitoring of rock art panels and other cave surfaces. Over time, the photomonitoring images help to identify Example of surface with graffiti in Ballet Cave in 2001, in 2002 after Conservation Project, and and record possible changes (speleothems again in 2015. Photo Vitor Moura.

NSS News, April 2016 7 First International Cave Conservation and Restoration Course in Brazil Val Hildreth-Werker and Jim C. Werker1, and Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura2 Cumulative consequences of human restoration. impact are of great concern for cave resource conservation. Several Brazilian show caves History, Impacts, Motivation are in areas protected for environmental, Gruta do Maquiné, located in the historical, and cultural significance. In some highlands of Minas Gerais, is a popular cases, evidence of anthropogenic impact in national destination renowned for paleon- popular tourist caves spans more than 100 tological discoveries made during the 1830s years of public visitation. Graffiti, trash, by accomplished Danish scientist, Peter construction rubble, broken speleothems, Wilhelm Lund. stained formations, and disturbed sediments Famed twentieth-century Brazilian have resulted from decades of infrastructure novelist, João Guimarães Rosa, who was installation, maintenance, and visitor-flow born in the nearby small town of Cordisburgo operations. Without proper conservation in 1908, described the magical chambers and management, the cave habitats, microcli- beautiful speleothems of Maquiné. mates, and faunal populations may be at risk. About a century ago, Maquiné became The urgent need to implement conservation an important tourist site and the first Brazilian Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, site of the course activities with ongoing monitoring, mitiga- cave developed for organized visitation; and tion, and restoration in fragile Brazilian cave in the late 1960s, also the first to install an environments stimulated coordination of the electric lighting system. This show cave is first International Cave Conservation and one of the most popular commercial caves Restoration Course in Brazil. in Brazil and receives about 50,000 visitors Held during April 2014 in Brazil’s per year. southeastern state of Minas Gerais, we A second show cave named Rei do Mato designed the Course to introduce current lies about 50 kilometers from Maquiné, near best techniques, philosophy, and ethics with the city of Sete Lagoas. State and municipal daily hands-on cave projects. agencies organized commercial tourist visi- For on-site training, we used two heav- tation in the 1980s and installed walkways ily visited Brazilian show caves, Gruta do and stairs. The walls of Rei do Mato protect Maquiné and Gruta do Rei do Mato. Cave a splendid mutli-level chamber filled with management plans for these caves describe speleothems of rare beauty. the cumulative anthropogenic impacts of Administered under the supervision of installations, maintenance, and commercial the State Forestry Institute, both caves are in operations, as well as resulting detriments to protected areas and operate through public- lations of iron plates under the catwalk, and fauna, habitat, and microclimate (Alt, Moura private management partnerships. The State deteriorated wood left from old walkways NCKMS 2013). Tourist Board of Minas Gerais implemented in Rei do Mato, as well as compacted soils, For the Course, the two cave sites a national advertising campaign promoting disturbed sediments, undelineated visitor provided very different types of installed the Peter Lund Museum and three show pathways, questionable handholds, and other infrastructures, management characteris- caves, including Maquiné, Rei do Mato, and concerns in Maquiné. tics, and impacts for students to practice Gruta do Laphina, as destinations located Between 2009 and 2013, cave resource assessment, project planning, and on highways north of the major city of Belo managers began to implement a few of the mitigation strategies. Participants benefited Horizonte along a regional tourist route conservation recommendations proposed from theoretical discussion in the classroom known as Rota Lund (Lund Route). in the management plans, but progress followed by practical application in the cave. was slow and sporadic. For example, an Each day, students used what they learned in Cave Management Plans LED-based lighting system was installed to the classroom to produce tangible mitigation Both cave operation units began imple- replace old high-voltage lamps. plans as well as real progress with hands-on, menting resource management plans written With many issues described in the in-cave restoration work. by Alt and Moura in 2009/2010. These management plans, and little remediation Augusto Auler, President of the Instituto plans include detailed studies and diagnoses initiated at the cave sites, the Brazilian Karst do Carste (Brazilian Karst Research Institute), of environmental impacts, provide recom- in cooperation with corporate sponsor Anglo mendations for visitor activities, document American Mining Company, invited Jim concerns regarding installed infrastructure, Werker and Val Hildreth-Werker to collabo- and propose measures to reduce harmful 1-NSS Conservation Division Chiefs rate with Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura in consequences by improving infrastructure Hillsboro, New Mexico USA conducting the seven-day training. and mitigating negative-impact activities www.caves.org/committee/conservation/ The Course, an important step toward (IEF, 2010). [email protected]; jimwerker@zianet. initiating conservation actions set forth in In addition to historic and contemporary com management plans for both caves, was signatures, graffiti, trash, broken speleo- enabled through environmental compensa- thems, and debris from development, Alt and 2-Instituto do Carste (Brazilian Karst Institute) tion laws and cave protection legislation Moura describe a variety of specific problems Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais Brasil established after 1988, and is one of Brazil’s such as iron stains on speleothems, metal www.institutodocarste.org.br pioneering initiatives in karst outreach and flaking from walkway degradation, accumu- [email protected]; [email protected]

8 NSS News, April 2016 Students worked in small groups, identifying anthropogenic impacts in Gruta do Maquiné and creating impact maps for their assigned areas. Photos by Luciana Alt, Val Hildreth-Werker.

Course participants spent a day collecting trash in Maquiné, completing the tasks by sorting the garbage to determine what activities generated the waste—they defined that management needs to improve communication of protocols for infrastructure maintenance and for visiting tourists. Trash sorting in the parking lot blossomed into spontaneous art statements using objects found in the cave passages. Lata lixo is Portuguese for trash can! Photos by Luciana Alt, Val Hildreth-Werker.

Left and above: discussion and testing to find the best techniques for removing a thick lint layer covering speleothems in Rei do Mato included using mindful protocols for wildlife and minimum-impact techniques. Participants gained valuable hands-on experience in a variety of restoration tasks. Photos Luciana Alt, Val Hildreth-Werker.

Group shot of course participants

NSS News, April 2016 9 Institute (Instituto do Carste) partnered with Participation the Course. Anglo American Mining in applying federally Through an application process, 27 However, the proposed plans for mandated environmental compensation fees students with diverse skills and backgrounds continuing conservation and restoration to support the first International Course on were selected to attend this first Course. projects in the caves have not yet been imple- Cave Conservation and Restoration. Some represented federal and state envi- mented. Much still needs to be done—thus, The main objective of the Course was ronmental protection agencies, and some we will design our next course to stimulate to provide hands-on training in identification, were from private companies specializing continued training and especially to motivate mitigation, and control of environmen- in speleological studies. We also had long- ongoing annual restoration events. tal impacts linked to tourism and public time interpretive guides from the two caves; Brazil’s first International Course in visitation. archaeologists from federal agencies; lawyers Cave Conservation and Restoration is an representing environmental agencies; a few important initiative for karst outreach and Brazil’s First Cave Conservation and members of the caving community; and instigates new pathways forward in the Restoration Course some mining company officials. Other appli- protection and conservation of caves in To reinforce the conservation-manage- cants fill a waiting list for the second course South America and throughout the world. ment processes of these two show caves, the to be planned for the future. We appreciate this opportunity to share Course Directors defined four objectives: 1) Classroom information and practical and expand conservation methods. As well, train and engage conservation stewardship; in-cave activities gave students technical we are enthusiastic about reinforcing these 2) initiate mitigation projects; 3) teach moni- training for performing current best practices initiatives and continuing to develop future toring techniques; 4) and motivate ongoing in caves based on the foundation of primum training events. restoration progress. non nocere—first do no harm. A pioneering initiative in Brazil, the first Drawing from current best practice Acknoweldgements International Course on Cave Conservation concepts published in Cave Conservation We extend gratitude to the Anglo and Restoration is a milestone for future cave and Restoration (Hildreth-Werker and American Mining Company and their conservation and restoration activities in the Werker 2006), the Course curriculum supportive representatives; to our friends country. The intent was to train, motivate, covered techniques, philosophy, and ethics and colleagues from the Brazilian Karst and establish practical experience to enhance of cave management. We include the word Institute (Instituto do Carste); Chico Mendes ongoing advances. current in front of best practices, as a Institute for Biodiversity Conservation– Delivered by Val Hildreth-Werker and reminder to stay abreast of new studies and ICMBio; National Center for Research and Jim Werker, who authored the NSS manual use science-based information to continually Conservation of Caves—CECAV; Minas titled Cave Conservation and Restoration improve and redefine standards and practices Gerais State Forest Service—IEF-MG; (2006), coordination and logistics of the in cave conservation (Spate, et al.1998; Maquinetur Foundation; Gruta do Maquiné Course counted on the expertise of Luciana Hildreth-Werker 2006). team; Gruta Rei do Mato team; and all the Alt and Vitor Moura, who authored the amazing people at Brazilian cave sites we 2009/2010 Management Plans for both Tangible Outcomes visited. We deeply appreciate the opportu- caves, Maquiné and Rei do Mato (IEF, 2010). Participants accomplished much impres- nity to participate in Brazil’s conservation During the seven-day Course, all theo- sive conservation work in the two protected management and karst outreach. retical and practical activities were carried out show caves during the Course week. Teams in the facilities and caves of Maquiné and Rei identified, documented, and initiated resto- References do Mato. Lectures, discussions, demonstra- ration projects addressing some of the Alt L, Moura V. Use of impact mapping for plan- tions, and group assignments filled the week conservation concerns described in the cave ning the infrastructure in tourist caves – case study: Maquiné Cave, Brazil. In: 20th National with conservation management activities. management plans. Cave and Karst Management Symposium Following classroom presentation All students gained tangible field experi- Proceedings, 2013. Carlsbad NM: National and discussion of theoretical concepts, we ence in resource assessment, identification of Cave and Karst Research Institute. p 77-88. assigned small teams with daily hands-on conservation issues, impact mapping, low- Hildreth-Werker V, Werker JC, editors. 2006. impact caving ethics, cave cleaning, special Cave Conservation and Restoration. Huntsville, cave projects involving resource assessment, Alabama: National Speleological Society. xiv+ impact analysis, decision-making, planning, attention for historic materials, lint debris 600 p. [Contains a wealth of detail from 46 group dynamics, consensus building, and removal, speleothem restoration, lampen- contributors describing current best tools and execution of cave management tasks. flora control, trail delineation, historical and methods for identification of cave resources, The seven-day schedule enabled partici- cultural marking analysis, contemporary graf- perpetuation of speleological processes, cave conservation, restoration, and speleothem pants to spend many hours each day in small fiti removal, and visitor routing to enhance repair.] ISBN 1-879961-15-6 groups, literally planning and executing a safety and mitigate impact. Available through Amazon, NSS http://bookstore. variety of in-cave, conservation-management The week of instruction, discussion, caves.org and http://www.karstportal.org/ projects. Student teams took our classroom and practical training inspired participants to node/20158/. propose follow-up programs for continuing Hildreth-Werker, V. 2006. Current Best Practices. theories and restoration methods directly In: Hildreth-Werker V, Werker JC, editors. into the caves, used the information we the work initiated through the Course. 2006. Cave Conservation and Restoration. presented to identify problems, discuss and Following the Course, participants Huntsville, Alabama: National Speleological plan mitigation strategies, make decisions, employed in various federal, state, and Society. p 17-18. ISBN 1-879961-15-6 and then performed actual hands-on applica- private cave-resource-management jobs IEF. 2010. State Forestry Institute Management, Plan for the Natural State Monument Peter created new minimum-impact protocols for tion of the tasks. Lund / Maquiné Cave / Booklet I, Belo As projects became more complex, work in their respective scientific disciplines. Horizonte, Brasil. (In Portuguese) participants adapted plans and techniques to Results include new protocols for cave arche- Spate A, Hamilton-Smith E, Little L, Holland E. better fit the specific situations they encoun- ologists and biologists. These documents 1998. Best practice and tourist cave engineer- represent tangible positive outcomes of the ing. In: Smith DW, editor. Cave and Karst tered. The Course provided opportunity for Management in Australasia XII. Carlton in-depth analysis, application of decisions, philosophical discussions, technical methods, South, Victoria, Australia: Australasian Cave and fine-tuning of skills. and impact-reducing ethics presented during and Karst Management Association. p 97-109.

10 NSS News, April 2016 Sandia Cave Restoration: National Historic Landmark Sandra Arazi-Coambs-USFS and Carrin Rich-Sandia Grotto versial work of Frank Cummings Hibben artifacts into earlier layers. Following a series (1910-2002), professor of Anthropology at of published academic articles questioning the University of New Mexico, and his search the veracity of the finds at Sandia Cave, for evidence of pre-Folsom culture in North Hibben’s work was largely discredited. America. Hibben conducted excavations in Sandia Cave from 1936 through 1941, and Sporadic Human Use Confirmed attempted to associate prehistoric human Recent reanalysis of faunal material material with extinct Pleistocene fauna, from the Hibben excavations has provided including mammoth, mastodon, horse, and adequate closure to the debate surrounding camel. prehistoric human use of Sandia Cave. In a Because his excavations were conducted 2008 analysis of patterns of bone fragmenta- prior to acceptance of radiocarbon dating tion, researchers concluded that carnivores in the 1950s, his interpretation was based introduced most of the bones recovered on the stratigraphy of the cave. Hibben from the cave, including those from extinct purported that below a Folsom Age strati- Pleistocene species. graphic layer that contained several fluted Human use of the cave appears to be projectile points was a layer of material sporadic, and only two percent of the bones where Pleistocene fauna were found in analyzed in the study displayed evidence of association with a distinct type of stone possible human modification, in the form projectile point. of cut and percussion marks, charring, and This type of point, dubbed “Sandia bone tool manufacture. Subsequent studies points” by Hibben, had a single-shouldered where modified bone material was subjected side reminiscent of Solutrean points found to radiocarbon dating indicate that there is in northwest Europe (22,000 – 17,000 B.P.) no evidence for human use of the cave prior Spiral stairs leading to the mouth of Sandia Cave, viewed from the half-mile trail from the The find was significant, as it suggested that to the Folsom period. parking lot. Photo by Pete Lindsley. human use of Sandia Cave represented the Despite the controversy surrounding earliest known occupation in North America, Hibben’s excavation results, the debate Sandia Cave (formerly as Sandia Man predating the Folsom period, which was the that ensued over Sandia Cave continues to Cave), high in the walls of Las Huertas oldest established period at that time. be taught in the history of Paleoindian and Canyon in northern New Mexico, holds Controversy erupted regarding the true Southwestern archaeology. Popular and cultural and spiritual significance for several age of the points, as other archaeologists professional articles revisiting the site and of the surrounding tribes. Lying within the questioned the cave’s actual stratigraphy and discussing the Hibben controversy continue Madera limestone formation dated to the whether Hibben himself had planted the arti- to be published into the 21st century and Pennsylvanian Age, Sandia Cave has a facts. Hibben’s contemporaries questioned suggest that Sandia Cave has significance verified Folsom component and evidence of whether the stratigraphy of the cave was because of its persistent use from the human use for as many as 10,000 years. As intact and if layers had been mixed by rodent Paleoindian period to the present. such, the site is a National Historic Landmark activity, artificially integrating later-period that has played an important role in the history of archaeological thought about the Paleoindian period and Southwestern archaeology. Sandia Cave The cave is also a popular tourist Legend Sandoval County, New Mexico N

Grade 5 survey by Garrett Jorgensen & Carrin Rich Passage Walls Floor Ledge Ceiling Ledge Slope destination and has been open to the public Surveyed January 2016 8.65° E (1/23/16) Nm

TOTAL HORIZONTAL CAVE: 466.4 ft 20 40 Feet for many decades. A 466.4-foot horizontal Breakdown Silt Floor Clay Floor Limestone TOTAL VERTICAL EXTENT: 71.8 ft 5 10 Meters solution cavity proximate to the city of Cartography by Garrett Jorgensen NSS #62280, January 2016 Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sandia Cave is navigable by explorers of all experience levels. The site is accessible by car and appears on many maps and navigation apps. The site features a half-mile access trail with spectacular views and a thrilling 20-foot spiral staircase to the cave mouth. Entrance Unfortunately, the same ease of access that allows visitors to experience the historic and Projected Pro le View natural richness of Sandia Cave also leaves the site vulnerable to vandalism. Plan View

Sandia Cave Archeological Controversy Much of Sandia Cave’s notoriety in the twentieth century derived from the contro-

NSS News, April 2016 11 Right: Red ocher lines (enhanced with PhotoShop) on the cave ceiling that Loubser considers to be “of considerable antiquity,” as they underlie the yellow ocher handprints. Also visible here are historic markings from the Hibben excavations. (photo by Jannie Loubser)

In January 2015 UNM Public Archaeology graduate student Katherine A group of archaeology students who assisted in the first year of Shaum collaborated with Sandia Grotto Hibben excavations and survey, circa 1936, with a fresh survey and USFS to submit a grant to New Mexico mark on the left wall and a K&E transit on a wooden tripod. (photo Historic Preservation Division to fund the credit unknown; property of the Maxwell Museum). restoration. The grant was awarded and provided $16,777 toward the project. Rock Cultural/Spiritual Site Marred by Partners in Appropriate Restoration Art Restoration Specialist Jannie Loubser of Vandalism Strategy Stratum Unlimited in Alpharetta, Georgia Even while this site holds contemporary In fall 2013 the Cibola National Forest [www.stratumunlimited.com] was contracted cultural and spiritual significance to many and National Grasslands paired with Sandia to lead the restoration. Dr. Loubser’s experi- surrounding Native American communities, Grotto to address the possibility of restoring ence with restoring other natural and cultural the integrity of Sandia Cave diminished Sandia Cave to a more natural-looking state. sites throughout the American West and extensively throughout the 1990s and early Developing an action plan to mitigate degra- his sensitivity to art forms that are all but 2000s. The mouth of the cave, its first two dation at Sandia posed special challenges due obscured by graffiti placed him in a unique chambers, and the metal infrastructure by to the multitude of agencies and groups that position to lead the restoration effort at which the cave is accessed were heavily are concerned with the cave, have ancestral Sandia. and repeatedly vandalized with spray paint, ties to that land, or are involved in its ongo- marker, nail polish, and etching. ing management. Complex Overlays Required Special The cave walls were severely sooted Discussion of restoration strategies Expertise and blackened by fires illegally lit in its inte- was conducted over a two-year period and Mounting a wide-scale restoration at rior, and large amounts of graffiti and litter involved extensive outreach and collabora- Sandia Cave was complex for a number of appeared along the trail from the parking tion with Pueblo tribal members, state and reasons. The graffiti covering the site had area. USFS archaeologists concerned with federal governments, and specialists in graf- accumulated over a number of decades and Sandia Cave (as well as NSS cave restora- fiti removal, archaeology, and cave science. existed in layers and in multiple varying tion specialists Val Hildreth-Werker and Jim Once a proposal was developed, it had to be media. Restoration techniques that might Werker) believed that the heavy graffiti at reviewed internally by USFS, the National work on one layer wouldn’t necessarily work the site potentially obscured valuable historic Park Service, New Mexico Department of on the next layer. and prehistoric markings on the rock surface Cultural Affairs, affiliated tribal members, Likewise, the rock surface of the cave of the cave. and experts from the National Speleological and trail varies in its composition, so removal Society (NSS), the NSS Southwestern techniques that worked on one instance of Region (SWR), and Sandia Grotto. graffiti wouldn’t necessarily be effective on

Forest Service Archaeologist Sandra Arazi-Coambs orients visitors First chamber pre-restoration; Pete Lindsley uses a Disto to measure to the in-progress restoration efforts during the Cave Open House opening dimensions. Photo by Val Hildreth-Werker. public day. Photo by Pete Lindsley.

12 NSS News, April 2016 For two consecutive weeks in June and July 2015, the site was closed to the public and Dr. Loubser set about training volunteers in specialized removal techniques. More than 32 individuals logged volunteer hours with USFS during the project, totaling some 670 labor hours. To say the restoration effort at Sandia Cave was nearly entirely volunteer-based would not be an understatement. Under Loubser’s guidance, volunteers trained other volunteers and were immediately able to Jannie Loubser applies potassium hydroxide apply what they were learning to the rock Jannie Loubser uses a Dremel tool to break with a rolling poultice to remove spray paint surfaces of the site. from the ceiling of the first chamber. up and blend etched graffiti in the first chamber. PhotoS by Pete Lindsley. a neighboring instance, even if only a foot Hierarchy of Graffiti Assessment/ away. Removal Techniques day’s work. And throughout the site, any given graf- A wide variety of removal techniques Paper towels soaked in water were fito might be overlying historic or prehistoric were employed at Sandia Cave, starting applied as poultices on nine panels within markings of unique and irreplaceable value. with safer “dry” techniques and moving on the cave and were effective in lifting bonded Effective techniques for removing graffiti but to riskier “wet” techniques that involved the dust from the rock surface. preserving any potential underlying features use of solvents where needed. had to be customized for each of the 75 Before work began, areas in the second 3—Specially Tested Products and discrete instances of defacement that were chamber that might contain fragile underly- Protocol removed during the restoration. ing markings of historic significance were All solvents used in the Sandia Cave Adding to the challenges is the fact marked off with painter’s blue masking tape, restoration were biodegradable and of neutral that Sandia Cave is positioned some 300 and left undisturbed. pH. [Please note: biodegradable also can feet above the floor of Las Huertas Canyon. mean “yummy for biota” and can be harm- Materials had to be hauled manually up and 1—Dry Methods First ful to bio-films, invertebrates, bats, other down this rise, including rinse water from On each area of graffiti designated for animals, and even humans; we used these Las Huertas Creek, which Dr. Loubser removal, we first used dry paintbrushes to products only in the broad entrance area recommended for its chemical similarity remove loose dirt and dry dust from many where there is open ventilation and minimal to the natural elements the site is normally rock surfaces. Next, we tried nylon-bristle intermittent cave life.] exposed to. brushes. Then we used steel brushes of vari- The most effective solvents were This Great care had to be taken to capture ous sizes, nylon or steel dental picks, and Stuff Works™ Multi-Master (containing potas- all runoff and washed-off debris so no paint elbow grease to chip away materials that sium hydroxide), Sensitive Surface Graffiti remains collected on the floor of the cave to readily dislodged from the rock. Battery oper- Remover™ (containing limonene plant oil), damage the site further. ated drills with rotating steel-haired brushes and Elephant Snot™ (active ingredients and Dremel drills with diamond-tipped bits unspecified by manufacturer). were effective on more resistant and etched Which of these would be most effec- Valuable Volunteers Trained on Site After an initial site assessment in April graffiti. tive on any given graffito was determined 2015, Dr. Loubser returned to mount the Outside of the cave, we used a tungsten- by testing first. A small cotton-wad poultice bulk of the restoration effort, with assistance tipped Paasche air eraser on eleven surface wrapped on a wooden stick was soaked with of USFS employees from multiple ranger sites. However, its efficacy was limited by the a solvent, then rolled over a portion of the districts throughout New Mexico, and a physical infeasibility of employing a portable graffito to gauge how much material was tremendous outpouring of volunteer support generator and compressor unit at the site. transferred onto the cotton by each solvent. from Site Watch, SWR, and Sandia Grotto, The carbon dioxide tank with pressure The most effective solvent was then and members of the general public from the gauge provided insufficient air pressure for applied either by the tedious cotton poultice Albuquerque area. most media. Containing the aluminum oxide method to remove media layer-by-layer, or particles blasted forth by the eraser proved problematic for use inside the cave.

2—Creek Water Rinse Required Even with these “dry” techniques, multiple creek water rinses were neces- sary to facilitate complete removal, and all 75 instances of graffiti that were removed from the site depended on the application of water. We employed many disposable rag cloths and sturdy low-lint paper towels to catch applied water before it flowed down rock surfaces. Pooling of any sort DStretch of prehistoric handprint on the was disallowed. Used rags and towels were ceiling, made in the yellow ocher that is Jannie Loubser and two volunteers use paper naturally occurring in the cave. Photo by transported off-site daily, and we brought towel poultices and steel dental picks to Mike Bilbo. along fresh, clean rags and towels for each remove acrylic paint. Photo by Pete Lindsley.

NSS News, April 2016 13 First chamber of Sandia Cave, pre-restoration. Layers of spray- First chamber of Sandia Cave, post-restoration. The natural painted graffiti on the walls and extensive smoke damage along the appearance achieved here has been greeting visitors since ceiling are evident. Photo by Pete Lindsley. July 2015, and to date remains unmarred by new graffiti. Scott Christenson in background. Photo by Pete Lindsley. with a paintbrush application to a small, Earth Pigments (dark umber, burnt sienna, work, and to get guided tours of the cave manageable area. The treated area was and light-yellow ocher), as well as charcoal from USFS Cave Specialist Jason Walz and then scrubbed with a steel brush and care- harvested from fires burned in the vicin- USFS Archaeologist Sandra Arazi-Coambs. fully rinsed repeatedly with water, employing ity–the carbon remains of the area’s natural Reporters from local news outlets covered special vigilance to catch all the rinse water vegetation. For each instance of graffiti, the the event, and the project was publicized containing solvent. color profile of the surrounding rock was in both print and television, enabling the Rinsing with creek water during and assessed and a customized combination of restoration effort to reach an even broader after removal with solvents was vital through- pigments was mixed. audience. out the site to ensure no solvent residue Creek water was applied to wet the splashed, sprayed, or remained on the rock. surface to be treated, and the pigment Encouraging Outcomes We completed each small area before moving mixture was combined with creek water to The results of the restoration work at and treating the next small area. make a paint-like liquid that could be applied Sandia Cave are both striking and enduring. Volunteers conducting the removal were to the rock surface with a fluffed paintbrush Since the end of the project in July, no new ubiquitously seen balancing a spray bottle or spray bottle. graffiti has appeared in the cave, lending of water, a cloth rag for blotting, a steel Charcoal was frequently applied dry, credence to the idea that graffiti attracts brush for scrubbing, and a small container and was especially effective in camouflag- more graffiti, and that a site that is clean and of solvent with paintbrush for application. ing etched graffiti inside the cave. While the well-maintained is more likely to remain so. The process was painstaking, repetitive, lighter pigments were used extensively on To protect the achievements attained and slow-moving, and involved treating the the lower surfaces of the cave and exposed during the restoration, Sandia Grotto volun- same area multiple times to remove graffiti trail rocks, a mixture of black manganese teers and USFS employees implemented layer-by-layer. This conservative approach, pigment powder and pulverized charcoal weekly monitoring of the site immediately while time-consuming, allowed for safe and was employed on the ceiling of the cave to following the restoration, and that monitor- controlled removal while preventing damage blend with the darker surfaces found there. ing continues today. Fewer than ten new to underlying rock and any markings of Volunteers followed protocols clearly incidents of graffiti have appeared along archaeological significance. defined by Dr. Loubser, first employing the trail since the end of the restoration. dry techniques, then moving through the These incidents are small in size, and have 4—Pro Camouflage Finishing after testing and removal strategies described been photodocumented and painted over Graffiti Removal above. All graffiti and markings in the cave or removed and camouflaged quickly after Post-removal camouflaging was required were photodocumented and tied to survey application. on more than half the instances of graffiti at points before any removal began. Historic The ongoing, visible presence of these Sandia Cave. Hard brushing and abrasive markings and potential cultural markings volunteers offers opportunities to connect techniques had the potential to remove not on the walls and ceilings were inventoried, with and educate the visiting public, and just unwanted graffiti but the outer skin of photodocumented, and marked off-limits for communicates that this is a site that is actively the rock as well. the duration of the restoration project. cared for and respected. Lighter-colored patches that were left A new standard of comportment in these instances required the application Public Outreach Information Event appears to be emerging at Sandia Cave, of inorganic pigment powders to visually One of the most valuable and enduring evidenced by a reduction in litter, partying, blend the treated area with the surround- aspects of the Sandia Cave restoration proj- and abuse of the site. Through the efforts ing rock. Many volunteers were surprised ect was the Cave Open House that was held of all who have contributed, Albuquerque’s to learn of this additive component of the on June 27th in the midst of the restoration “sacrifice cave” is becoming a place of educa- restoration process; graffiti was first removed work. For this single day the site was opened tion, awareness, and respect for our common and camouflaging was then applied with to the public, and over a hundred visitors natural and cultural heritage. For updates on artistic feathering and blending to achieve a had the opportunity to see the restoration in the continuing restoration of Sandia Cave, complete restoration. progress, to speak with volunteers from their visit Sandia Grotto’s Web site at http:// The camouflages used at Sandia were own communities who were carrying out the caves.org/grotto/sandia/Sandia_Cave/

14 NSS News, April 2016 Caverns of Sonora Cave Vandalism Case—Successful Prosecution Under New Texas Cave Law Melissa Perner, The Ozona Stockman

A felony conviction in a cave protected and preserved for future genera- vandalism case sets precedent in Texas tions. The removal of even the smallest items law! from the caverns damages the integrity and A San Angelo man was found guilty beauty of this natural wonder,” said Laurie in September of damaging the Caverns English, 112th District Attorney. of Sonora after a criminal bench trial held The law concerning damage to caves before 112th District Judge Pedro Gomez Jr. within Texas was modified in 2007 and the Adam William Garcia-Gallegos pled penalty was increased from a misdemeanor guilty to knowingly removing items from to a felony after the Caverns of Sonora the caverns and not guilty to knowingly sustained damage to the “Butterfly” which destroying, defacing, marring, or harming was the premier feature of the caverns. items of a cave. The Mayfield Family of Sonora and After hearing all the evidence, including the Wuest Family, owners of Natural Bridge testimony from eyewitnesses, Gomez found Caverns near San Antonio, Texas were Garcia-Gallegos guilty on both counts, instrumental in getting the penalty raised to according to a press release from the 112th a state jail felony. This is the first recorded District Attorney’s Office. prosecution in the State of Texas under this Gomez sentenced Garcia-Gallegos to statute. five years community supervision and to The amendment bill was filed in $9,480 in restitution for repairs to be paid the Texas Senate by then senator Jeff within 36 months to Gerry Mayfield Ingham, Wentworth, R-San Antonio, and a “mirror” one of the owners of the Caverns of Sonora, bill in the Texas House of Representatives This freshly broken speleothem was the release stated. If Garcia-Gallegos fails by then State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran recovered from the defendant’s pocket while still on the cave premises. Due to new cave to complete his sentence, he could be sent R-Kerrville. protection legislation in Texas, the felony to 730 days in a state jail per count. Seven Comal County District Attorney Dib prosecution was successful, restitution is hundred thirty days is the maximum sentence Waldrip drafted the amendment and spent being paid, and the stalactite will be repaired. for a state jail felony and five years is the several days at the Texas Capitol lobbying Photo by Betsy Knight Gonzales, Caverns of Sonora. maximum for a probated sentence on a on behalf of the caves. The bills would not state jail felony. have been filed without his help. For more information, visit www.cavern- Evidence presented during the bench The Caverns of Sonora was opened to sofsonora.com or call (325) 387-3105. trial included a 17-year-old eyewitness who the public July 16, 1960. It is located off of Reprinted with permission from Melissa observed Garcia-Gallegos break a stalactite Interstate-10, 15 miles southwest of Sonora. Perner, Editor and Publisher, The Ozona during their tour, the release stated. The The Caverns of Sonora marks the Stockman (325) 392-2551 (325) 392-2439 incident occurred on May 24, 2014. halfway point between San Antonio and Big fax [email protected] Louise Ingham testified that she asked Bend National Park. www.ozonastockman.com Garcia-Gallegos to empty his pockets and he pulled five items from his pocket. Along with the stalactite, Garcia-Gallegos had pieces of calcite from inside the cave along the tour trail. Bill Sawyer and the eyewitness were able to find the location from which the stalactite had been broken. Testimony was also presented by Sawyer concerning the process and costs which will be necessary for repairs to restore the stalactite. “This family decided to open the caverns for the education and enjoyment of the public and to preserve and protect the natural resource itself,” Ingham said. The Caverns of Sonora has been owned by the Mayfield family for five generations. A Sutton County Grand Jury indicted Garcia-Gallegos on September 9, 2014 on two counts for damaging the caverns, the release stated. “The Sonora Caverns represent a precious natural resource that must be Bryson Jacobs received a Merit Award for his image Eye in the Sky in the 2015 Photo Salon.

NSS News, April 2016 15 The Future of the Riviera Maya Stacey Chilcott, Green Collar Productions www.greencollarproductions.com What would you do if you were told Current waste management practices tion of cave systems, just north of the small an international airport was going to be allow for the sewage to be injected deep town, Tulum. The airport would destroy the developed over a cave system you love? into the flooded cave systems, creating cave systems, surrounding jungle, archaeo- Through a Save-the-Caves Conservation wide scale contamination of the freshwater logical evidence of previous inhabitants, and Grant, the National Speleological Society supply. Of course, with every hotel comes severely impact the culture and economy of is an official sponsor of “The Future of the the destruction of enormous tracts of land the area. Riviera Maya” conservation documentary and waterways as well as an enormous by Green Collar Productions (directed by 18-hole golf course, loaded with chemicals Action Stacey Chilcott). This essential and important and pesticides that also infiltrate into the After some contemplation of how to film recognizes the relevance of cave/karst porous limestone cave systems. bring exposure to the situation, I became conservation where tourism clashes with inspired to pick up a camera and make a cave preservation. First Dive in Mexico—Speechless film about what was going on. Having never Have you ever travelled to Mexico? If After several weeks working to protect filmed anything before, I captured as much you have, you may have visited the east coast these caves, I met Luis Leal – a resident cave footage as I could and interviewed a handful of the Yucatan Peninsula, or even Cancun. diver who invited me to experience my first of people in a short amount of time. Many know the area for its famous tourist dive in the Mexican waters. I remember being Upon my return to Australia, I discussed hotspots and all-inclusive hotels, but few awestruck by the majestic cave entrance. As the footage I had collected with a friend, venture into the lush jungles to stumble upon I approached the cave, I took a step over the Jesse Lee, who offered to help me edit it into the hidden caves and underground rivers. water and within a few seconds I was fully a short film. Together, we created a power- submerged. ful story that was shown at film festivals in Vital Karst – Lifeblood of the Following Luis, we left daylight and used Australia. Yucatan our torches to guide the way underground. My aim to spread international aware- When I say underground rivers, I don’t Luis would often point out stalactites and ness about the issue has been achieved, but I just mean a small, muddy, stagnant waterway stalagmites that decorated our path, draw- want the story to go further. My next idea was that no one ever sees or knows the loca- ing my attention with the light of his torch to contact the ABC (Australian Broadcasting tion of. I mean a pristine, interconnected, to structures that were particularly beautiful. Corporation), one of Australia’s largest majestic underground river system—flooded He pointed out fossilised sea animals that media outlets. with crystal clear waters that turn turquoise had been preserved in the rock for thousands The producer of the ABC’s Foreign through the light beam of a torch. of years. These are also the resting places Correspondent (documentary program) These waters are the lifeblood of the of skeletons from a pre-Mayan civilization; showed an interest in my documentary Yucatan Peninsula, weaving their way under- saber toothed tigers, bears, and ancient immediately, and for the next two years I ground through karst channels for thousands megafauna. Luis later informed me that a worked with Foreign Correspondent to pull of kilometers, nourishing the surrounding new skeleton is found at least every week in together a story they could use to influence ecosystems, wildlife, and communities living these underground chambers. the public. in the area. We continued to float underground like However, a week before the crew was It is relatively unknown that these astronauts until we resurfaced at the entrance scheduled to leave Australia, a new producer are some of the largest underground river point where we began our dive. Luis asked, took over the story and rang me to explain systems in the world. Stunning scenery of “So what do you think?” I didn’t know what that they had picked up another story about waterbirds resting on jungle palms adjacent to say, so I smiled and responded without a shooting in the USA—their filming sched- the Mesoamerican Reef provide an economic words—there simply were none. This was ule was going to clash with the pre-planned asset for sure, but at the peril of a burgeoning my first of many dives in these systems, and filming in Mexico. tourism and development industry. an important lesson in my understanding of As a result, I was informed that the the fragility of the landscape. production crew were no longer going to Inspiration and Contamination go to Mexico. My first visit to these caves was in 2010. Threats of Increasing Destruction Dismayed, I explained to the producer I was working as a freshwater biologist for The last thing you want to be told about that this production was the result of years SAVE (Save Akumal’s Vital Ecology): a something you have fallen in love with is that grassroots NGO that works directly with you’re going to lose it. Over the next few stakeholders and developers to preserve the months of my stay, I witnessed examples of ecology of the area. Enthralled by my work, destruction on a daily basis and was becom- I submerged myself deep into the advocacy ing increasingly disturbed by those who knew world, regularly writing letters to scientists, it was happening and looked the other way. authorities, even to the president of Mexico. Very few people with whom I spoke were My inspiration: hundreds of hotel devel- making an effort to reduce the impact tour- opments spattered along the coastline, the ist developments were having on the area. majority of which lack the infrastructure to Every day, the stories of destruction support the enormous amounts of sewage seemed to be getting worse. During my final their holiday-seekers produce. Sewage of week working with SAVE, I was informed such proportions cannot be contained amidst of the plans to develop an international this karst landscape. airport directly over the largest known junc- First dive in Dos Ojos, one of the largest cave systems in the Rivera Maya. Photo Luis Leal

16 NSS News, April 2016 The Veins of the Earth ABC Foreign Correspondent report, which aired in 2013. Jeronimo discusses the preserved skeletons found in the Riviera http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2013/s3713869.htm Maya, dating back to the last ice age. Photo Stacey Chilcott of consultations and was required to push protect an area that has been primarily wastewater management solutions and for the protection of these caves systems. I reserved for a booming tourism industry, the encourage the public to take action towards pleaded with him to work out a way to film area is unlikely to see any federal protection the Mexican government to force them to in the USA and also travel to Mexico. The in the near future—therefore unlikely to make a change in their zoning laws. This producer said he would think about it again become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. sparked a creative endeavor with the editor and would call me back within an hour. This stretch of coastline will continue to of our original documentary, Jesse Lee, and For a very long hour, I waited in antici- be opened up for development by foreign fellow environmental scientist, Django Van pation to hear his decision. When the phone investors while the residents continue to fight Tholen, to make a follow up documentary finally rang I picked it up in a heartbeat. for the protection of their caves and water to our original one. In a few short sentences, I heard that the supply. At present, locals are petitioning for We ran a successful fundraising decision has been made for the production the protection of at least one of the subter- campaign over several months and gained team to again head to Mexico to create the ranean river systems. the support of other organizations including report. I let out a sigh of relief, thanked the Healthy Reefs Initiative, The Thin Green producer and jumped straight back working Local Innovative Action Line Foundation, Razonatura and SAVE. out the logistics. While residents wait for the government Since the documentary re-make began, After the ABC team filmed in Mexico, to take action, local solutions are being we have gratefully accepted the support the Foreign Correspondent report ‘The innovated daily to handle the influx of waste- and sponsorship of SubFilms, the National Veins of the Earth’ was created and aired water. In places where the septic system is Speleological Society, Amigos De Sian several months later in Australia. Foreign too fragile for toilet paper, locals are using Ka’an and Luis Leal’s local sustainable dive Correspondent sell their documentaries composting toilets to avoid or reduce any center: Dos Ojos Dive Shop. This is now an overseas, which greatly increases the number contamination. international issue. of views for the program and within days, New homemakers in the jungles are By the time we arrived in Mexico, the the report was broadcast across the world. now choosing to seek the guidance of local wet season was well and truly underway architects who combine traditional housing and soon after our arrival, I and Django World Heritage Site Protection vs. techniques with new, appropriate, wastewa- fell victim to Dengue fever. At the time, I Booming Tourism Industry ter technologies to make sustainable housing was filming the 9th National Assembly of The situation in Mexico was even with minimal impact. Environmentally Affected Peoples in San addressed by the Australian Prime Minister, However, with inaction from both the Miguel De Allende, Guanajuato with Jesse Julia Gillard, in one of her speeches. Foreign Mexican federal government and UNESCO Lee. We captured interviews and filmed Correspondent also brought attention to the in protecting the water supply in the major people discussing water management issues neglect of UNESCO to protect this area, tourism districts, these efforts can only go in their hometown. which has at least 7 of the 10 values that so far. It was perfectly clear that mismanage- qualify it as a World Heritage Site or a group It is difficult to know where to go from ment of the water supply was happening of World Heritage Sites. here. One thing is for certain—Mexico needs all across Mexico, and most everyone were Many people from the area have writ- as much international attention as possible to challenging the authorities to make suitable ten to UNESCO asking for their support get the attention of the federal government. changes to infrastructure and developments. before the government permits the area to Nancy De Rosa represented the desper- be completely developed. Documentary Showcasing Sustainable ately needed protection of the caves in the Unfortunately, UNESCO has declined Solutions Yucatan Peninsula. any responsibility in protecting the area After being back in Australia for two We continued to pursue our film, because it has to be federally protected years, I was convinced I had to provide expanding into areas where people had little before they can designate it a World Heritage information about sustainable accom- exposure, such as the sustainable housing Site. As the government is reluctant to modation in the area, showcase the local development initiatives. We found ourselves

NSS News, April 2016 17 falling deeper into a story centered within the heart of the tourism industry and real- ized there was more to the story than we originally thought. Besides the obvious ecological issues attached to the contamination of the water supply, we also regularly heard interviewees refer to the tourism model as self-defeating. Some believe that the tourism model runs for approximately 30 years and then collapses, leaving the local residents disempowered while the tourism investors take their money and run to the next development hot spot. The current model on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula doesn’t seem too far off from this theory. It is destroying the ecosystems, transforming the economy so it is largely dependent on the income of the Diving through flooded caves to find ancient ruins. Photo BY Jeronimo Aviles Olguin Segovia. foreign-owned all-inclusive hotels, and has replaced the local culture with commercially owned foreign enterprises. The film has now become more than a conservation film to protect the largest subterranean river system in the world—it has become a humanitarian effort to protect local culture and sustain communities that already existed and survived along the Riviera Maya. We cannot continue to sit back and watch another case study of ecocide unfold before us. We are now living in a globalized Light penetrates the entrance to a cave. What lies beneath. Photo by FishEye society, where we not only have the ability Photo by FishEye Photography. Photography. to visit these stunning locations; we also have the ability to protect them. If you have read this article, you are in a position of power and can do something to help. Tourism and destruction do not need to go hand in hand. Instead, you have the power to contribute to an existing solution. Our current fundraiser is now running and we are looking for official sponsors and people like you to join the thousands of others that are in touch and engaged with this action to protect the Riviera Maya. We are looking for other sponsors to help us complete this film before it is too late. The largest subter- ranean river system in the world—do we have to destroy it? Get in touch at: www.greencollarproductions.com Official Trailer: https://vimeo.com/123817034 Like our Facebook page https://www. facebook.com/greencollarproductions Our documentary Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ groups/161588340693624/

18 NSS News, April 2016 2015 White Nose Syndrome Update Jennifer Foote, NSS WNS Liaison As of this writing, White-nose syndrome Rapid Response Fund at NSS Convention in Ely this summer. (WNS) has been confirmed in 26 states The White Nose Syndrome Rapid There is an e-mail list to share WNS and five Canadian provinces. The fungus Response Fund is still an important funding information among cavers. You can join the Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), source for researchers as federal funding is email list at http://lists.caves.org/mailman/ which causes the disease, has been detected limited to federal or state agencies. So far the listinfo/wns/ in four other US states, plus Europe and NSS has provided over $115,000 of fund- There is also a Facebook page for NSS China. The disease has been confirmed in ing for 22 research grants. Due to limits on WNS Liaison where I am posting news. seven bat species in North America, and the federal grants, our funds can fill in gaps. In Our webpage at caves.org/WNS/ is fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans has 2015 we awarded a grant for a study on another WNS information source. been detected on five other species in North tracking bats near Lake Ontario. We can America without causing the mortality associ- still award a few small research grants. Find Responsible Caving ated with the disease. application information at http://caves. For the last 75 years, the NSS has Though several species of bat seem org/WNS/application.shtml promoted conservation and responsible resistant to the disease, some species are caving. Responsible caving now includes seeing mortality of up to 98%. There is Education and Outreach clean caving, and it’s easy to do your part. some hope of resiliency in survivors and Two of my goals are to increase commu- Follow the decon protocols at http://caves. maybe even some hope of recovery. There nication on WNS issues to cavers and to org/WNS/resources.shtml#Decon won’t be a miracle cure for WNS, but there communicate the value of cavers to agen- is the potential to increase survival rates with cies. As the NSS WNS Liaison I have been several potential treatments being tested. participating with the WNS Communications Committee, Conservation and Recovery, Northern Long-Eared Bat Listed as and the Stakeholder Committee. I was able Threatened Due to WNS to submit comments on a revision to the Due to impacts from this disease, the USFWS Cave Advisory, which will be issued northern long-eared bat is now protected as soon. The decontamination protocol revision a threatened species under the Endangered is still being tested and I have not yet been Species Act http://www.fws.gov/midwest/ able to contribute to that revision. nleb/. Under the final rule, documented I attended the 2015 North American hibernacula for the species are protected Joint Bat Working Group Meeting in March year-round with “incidental take,” which in St. Louis, where I attended presentations includes unintentional harm or harassment on bat research and was able to discuss bat Rodriguez with Ratpenat Alzines Pere of bats, being prohibited within a quarter related issues with agencies and researchers. mile radius of documented hibernacula We had a WNS Roundtable and (information on documented hibernacula Presentations by USFWS and USFS at the is sometimes available through each state’s NSS Convention in Missouri this past summer. Natural Heritage Inventory database. http:// Kristen Alvey from Missouri Bat Census www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/ represented the NSS at the WNS Treatment mammals/nleb/nhisites.html workshop in July. I’ll be attending the next WNS Workshop in June. I’m hoping to have another WNS Roundtable and Presentations

NSS News, April 2016 19 Submit Abstracts for Conservation committee, subcommittee of a committee, A CTF may tackle a significant cave Tuesday at 2016 NSS Convention division, conservancy, expedition, project, vandalism problem, or it may work alongside in Ely, Nevada July 16-23 – 75 Year region, section, survey, taskforce, affinity landowners and civic leaders to clean up a Celebration! group, institutional member, or a subunit of groundwater pollution source. Any conserva- Calling for presentations, PowerPoints, any of the above. An Internal Organization tion or protection concern fits. workshops, or panel discussions to fill our IO, Group, or Grotto to be nominated for NSS CTFs make a difference in karst NSS Convention Conservation Day. Please these awards should be in good standing areas around the United States. Since pass- send Val Hildreth-Werker a quick email now with the NSS. For more info, see the NSS ing of the Federal Cave Resources Protection of your intent to present: werks@cunacueva. Conservation Web pages http://caves. Act of 1988, many CTFs are recognized com org/committee/conservation/conservation- by local federal agencies as primary repre- We invite abstract submissions for any awards.shtml sentatives of the caving community on Conservation, Restoration, or Management For consideration for either of the conservation issues in their areas. talks. Send abstracts by May 1, 2015 to two 2016 awards, please send a letter of Due to the ongoing efforts of CTFs, [email protected] application or nomination summarizing your caves are mapped and inventioried. Limit abstracts to 250 words or less. contributions to cave or karst conservation, Management plans are implemented. Include title of your presentation and the along with supporting documentation and Restoration and cleanups happen—cave authors’ names, professional affiliations, letters of support. habitats are restored. mailing addresses, and e-mail addresses. For Please send nominations to the Passages are cleaned up. Many caves no later publication in the Journal of Cave and Conservation Committee Awards Chair, longer have unsightly boot prints where they Karst Studies, abstracts must draw a conclu- Kathy Lavoie by May 31, 2016. lavoiekh@ don’t belong! Vandalized stalagmites have sion or explain the upshot of your study or plattsburgh.edu been rejoined! In some areas more caves project in a concluding sentence. are being restored than are being vandal- Equipment will be available for Victor A. Schmidt Conservation Award ized. Cave locations revealed on the Internet PowerPoint presentations. Please make The annual Victor A. Schmidt and through Social Media are disappearing special arrangements with us for any other Conservation Award recognizes one NSS because cavers are catching it and address- media-viewing equipment. For online details member who, over time, has demonstrated ing it and getting it offline—Conservation about sessions and abstracts, visit the NSS outstanding dedication to the conservation is gaining! Convention Web site: nss2016.caves.org/ of caves. Nominations for candidates are CTFs do outreach to residents in karst solicited by the NSS Awards Committee. areas, sharing the use of current best prac- Cave Conservancy Roundtable at NSS The recipient will be approved by the Board tices to curtail and prevent pollution and Convention of Governors upon recommendation of the excessive siltation of cave systems. Members Since many cave conservancies have Awards Committee. of CTFs are helping to manage caves on become well-established institutions, what do The recipient must have been a member behalf of public and private landowners. we do now to build permanent legacy and in good standing of the Society for at least extend the concept in perpetuity? Everyone two years immediately prior to his/her name Join an existing CTF interested in cave management is welcome being submitted as a candidate. The Awards http://caves.org/committee/conserva- to attend and share ideas so we can all learn Committee shall give preference to candi- tion/CTFS.shtml from each other. dates who have not received the Outstanding The Nineteeth Annual Cave Service Award or Honorary Membership. Establish a New CTF Conservancy Roundtable will be held at the To nominate a caver for a the Victor A. Create an NSS Conservation Task Force 2016 NSS Convention in Ely, Nevada. The Schmidt Conservation Award, please send to focus on local cave and karst conserva- session will start about 2:00 PM on Friday, complete resume and nomination letters tion issues. If your work would benefit from 23 July. Check NSS Convention Web site describing the caver’s contributions to cave/ CTF designation, contact CTF Coordinator, updates for exact time and place: nss2016. karst conservation over many years. Send Jonathan Beard: [email protected] or caves.org/ nominations by November 15 each year to: contact Conservation Division Chiefs, Jim Bob Vandeventer Werker and Val Hildreth-Werker: werks@ Group and Grotto Cave/Karst [email protected] cunacueva.com Conservation Awards 317-888-4501 Now accepting nominantions for 525 Lawndale Drive Save-the-Caves Conservation Grant Grottos or Groups in recognition of conser- Greenwood IN 46142-3904 The Conservation Committee is autho- vation activities. rized to award up to $5,000 annually from The NSS Conservation Division offers Conservation Task Forces: Making a the Save-the-Caves Fund to make grants two annual awards recognizing conserva- Difference of up to $1000 to Internal Organizations, tion efforts of Groups and Grottos. Winners A Conservation Task Force (CTF) is a Conservation Task Forces, Conservancies, will be announced at Convention, receive great way to gather like-minded people and or to individual NSS members for specific a certificate, and have their names posted make good things happen in cave and karst projects that involve cave or karst conserva- on a permanent plaque displayed at NSS conservation. tion, restoration, cleanup, or outreach. Headquarters. Some CTFs have a specific project that The Conservation Committee is respon- Candidates for the Group conservation may take a year or two to complete. Or it sible for establishing the application, review, award may be any of the following: an NSS may be an ongoing project that continues and award process. Recipients of these Conservation Task Force, NSS commission, and maintains conservation for many years. grants shall submit written reports to the

20 NSS News, April 2016 Society as stipulated by the Chairman of the NSS Conservation Web Pages and Conservation Committee. To be considered Cave Conservation Facebook Group for a grant award, applications must include All things caving encompass conserva- adequate description of one or more of the tion. The NSS Conservation Pages are online following: at caves.org/committee/conservation/ • scientific investigation of cave or karst We welcome input. Send to Val Hildreth- conservation problems; Werker [email protected] NSS Conservation Network • speleological research that will directly Through the efforts of John Durall The NSS Conservation Network contribute to cave or karst conservation; and John Wilson, we also have a Cave is an e-mail resource expressly developed • remediation of ecological problems in Conservation Facebook Group for cavers (at the request of Val and Jim) to quickly cave, karst, or pseudokarst areas; across the speleo spectrum! It’s a broad, disseminate important and often ‘short-fused’ • hands-on, in-cave efforts to restore quick,all-in-one, easy spot on Facebook to conservation-related updates to IOs and cave passages to a former ecological serve the global caving and cave-interest interested individuals. Send info bursts to state; communities! Join us, add members, repost, [email protected] and stevenlsmith@ • equipment and supplies for conserva- and share the site. usa.net tion or restoration projects that include https://www.facebook.com/ We emphasize that we’re not trying to hands-on participation from cavers; groups/257740784385806/ overload anyone’s email in-basket—notices • or public outreach to inform and raise Caving is drenched in deliberate conser- are sent out on an ‘as needed’ basis, with awareness of cave and karst values. vation choices with: often with months between notices, and Conservation Grants are awarded Every trip we take then suddenly a ‘hot’ topic can arise (think throughout the year, subject to availability of Every station we set WNS a few years ago) where there can be a funds and number of applications received. Every step we place flurry of notices fired out to keep the conser- Every speleo detail we learn vation community up-to-speed on what’s Save-the-Caves Conservation Grant Every cave or karst decision— going on. These notices are sent to an IO’s Application Process good, bad, or ignorant Conservation Chair (or overall Chair if the Awards are based on the nature of the Whether well-intentioned— IO doesn’t have a Conservation Chair), and project and available funds. For relatively or state-of-art-and-state-of-science also to any individual caver who asks to be uncomplicated grants to NSS members and Stewardship choices always kick in on the Conservation Network addressee list. activities, send an e-mail application that along the way, and all of caving is about While I strive to keep the addressee list includes the following points. Institutions and choices and acts of conserving! So let’s as up to date as I can, I don’t have a crystal foundations should submit the more formal make this Facebook Open Group Space ball! If I don’t get updates from IOs when a NSS grants application (insert link ). Priority work for us all! Chair or Conservation Chair changes due is sometimes given to conservation projects to elections/moving out of town/etc., it’s that provide quantitative research data. Support Cave Conservation — difficult for me to keep the IO list up to date… Please specify in your application: Donate to Save-the-Caves Fund I would appreciate it greatly if every IO • who the applicant is (name, address, The caves, cavers, and the NSS appreci- would keep me informed of whom within telephone number and other contact ate your financial support! their group should receive any Conservation information) Contributions are tax deductible, of Network notices, someone who will subse- • who the official grant recipient is to be course! quently forward to the individual members (name or organization, title, address, Please specify Save the Caves — find within that IO. etc.) fourth item in list after you click on blue link Also, individuals are welcome to be • what, specifically, the project and/or Donate via an online donation form. included in the overall Network addressee list. research will entail Donate via a PDF that can be completed However, every time I send out a notice, I get • what benefits are expected online and mailed or emailed in. at least a dozen ‘bounce-backs’ because of • when the work is to be done Use the comment area provided in links out-of-date or otherwise ‘unable to contact’ • dollar amount being requested from above to include a special note. email addressees. Thus, if you’ve received the NSS, including how that money Make a special tribute to a friend alerts from the Network in the past, but will be used or loved one with your Save-the-Caves have been wondering why they suddenly • a statement assuring the NSS that an Donation in Honor or in Memory … Your stopped showing up, it’s probably because article for publication, video, power- gift could look like this: you changed your email address and didn’t point, presentation, and/or other The National Spelological Society let me know! comparable account of the completed has received a gift in memory of C.K.Void If you want to keep a finger on the pulse project or research will be provided in and in honor of our friend Karsten Caver of important conservation issues that affect a form accessible to the membership to With this gift, caves on our Earth will us all, I again ask all IOs and individuals to account for expenditure of NSS funds receive conservation, restoration, and keep me up-to-speed on any changes to Please call or e-mail the Conservation protection email addresses. Grants contact person if you need more Save The Caves! Thanks! information. Your name, Your address Steve Smith, Val Hildreth-Werker Coordinator – NSS Conservation P.O. Box 207 Mailing address: Network Hillsboro, NM 88042 The National Speleological Society [email protected] (575) 895-5050 6001 Pulaski Pike [email protected] Huntsville, AL 35810-1122 USA (256) 852-1300 [email protected]

NSS News, April 2016 21 NSS Conservation Regular and Send an Article for the Next Annual to Val at [email protected] by January Conservation Life Memberships Conservation Issue of the NSSNews! 15, 2017 (Drop-dead-line!) Gift the caves and yourself … or gift Submit articles for our Annual • We include conservation pieces from the caves and honor a friend or relative Conservation Issue each year before New one paragraph to several pages. with an NSS Gift Membership! Any type Year’s Eve! • Please do not exceed 2500 words (or of Membership can be gifted. Find all NSS Please send a note NOW to werks@ a 15,000 characters+spaces count). Member categories at http://caves.org/ cunacueva.com if you plan to submit. • Send only text in Word docs. Include info/membertypes.shtml The annual conservation-focused issue captions and bylines, but no photos in Regular Gift Membership – 18 of the NSS News accepts articles and Word doc. years and over; full membership privileges, photos, protection concerns, editorials, • Do not embed or place images into including an electronic subscription to the updates, cave/karst conservation activities, Word documents!! Send as separate NSSNews for a total of $35.00 conservation opportunities, and apprecia- files. Conservation Regular – combines a tion/kudo pieces highlighting individuals and • Send images as tiff or jpeg files to Regular NSS membership with electronic groups. [email protected] AND davebun- NSSNews, plus a donation to cave conser- The Conservation Issue provides [email protected] vation, to total $135.00 an overview of worldwide conservation • Send maps and illustrations in PDF Conservation Life – goes to endowed research, projects, outreach, evolving current format. funds for Life Membership in the NSS ($900) best practices, and networking efforts. Val • Please follow the NSSNews Submission plus a $1,000 donation to cave conserva- Hildreth-Werker serves as Conservation Guidelines and Style Sheet http:// tion, totaling $1900.00 Editor for the NSS News. Send submissions caves.org/pub/nssnews/style.html

Ichetucknee Springs Graffiti Removal Project text and photos by Kelly Jessop #40001FE The park engaged the North Florida Springs Alliance, which is a nonprofit park support organization, about performing removal of the graffiti. This presented a challenge because we found no existing documentation on damage-preventing graf- fiti removal techniques for submerged caves.

Testing Techniques and Process Thus, we divided the task into several steps. First, we examined the extent of damage and photo-documented all the graf- Some of the underwater grafitti fiti on the walls. In the second phase, we determined Xenia Mountrouidou cleaning off graffiti Blue Hole at Ichetucknee Springs, also appropriate tools to remove the graffiti; known as Jug Hole, is a unique submerged some was very superficial and some had cave system with a large cavern separated very deep gouges. We picked a 3x3-foot by small restrictions going into the cave. area and tested nylon scrub brushes with This cave system is located at Ichetucknee varying bristle stiffness, as well as a stainless Springs State Park, which is a crown jewel steel wire brush. We tested each instrument in the Florida State Park system. Before this for its ability to remove graffiti carved into became a state park, the site was visited by various depths in the limestone, making sure divers who explored its depths, but also left not to cause more harm with scratch marks some semi-permanent reminders of their and surface marring. visits by marking graffiti on the walls of the The test square was cleaned and imme- cavern. Some of this graffiti dated back to diately photographed, then photographed the 70s. again after three months to see whether it Mike Stine removing graffiti developed a “patina.” Once everyone examined the test area, we were given the green light to complete the project. Three divers worked on graffiti removal, and another diver served as a safety diver to observe and provide assistance. The dive took nearly two hours, and we were able to completely remove the graffiti. Thank you to personnel of Ichetucknee Springs State Park, North Florida Springs Alliance, Mike Stine, Bonnie Stine, Bobby Tools we used to clean the cave walls Franklin, Xenia Mountrouidou, Jim Womble, and Kelly Jessop. Bobby Franklin removing graffiti

22 NSS News, April 2016 Cave Delivered to Children at Catamount Institute Tracy Jackson; photos by Chris Aaby Catamount Institute, an environmental CO broke a record for the day, doing zero education non-profit in Colorado Springs, damage to the cave and its inhabitants. recently had a cave delivered to its backyard. Catamount runs after-school clubs at eleven CaveSim Mapping, Safety, Learning elementary schools in Colorado to teach 4th Dave Jackson, NSS member and and 5th graders about conservation. The creator of CaveSim, gave several students clubs, called Young Environmental Stewards the extra challenge of mapping the cave (YES) Clubs, are studying Underground without damaging the formations. CaveSim Ecosystems for the entire semester. To kick also had a squeeze box on hand for students off their study, about 150 students and their to find out just how small a space they families spent a day doing hands-on lessons crawl through, with many students slipping to learn about caves, bats, and geology. Most through a space of just five inches. Oh, to students had never been in a cave before, and be young again! roughly 40% come from low-income (Title 1) While visiting CaveSim, students also families. The event was free for students and learned to be prepared for caving by choos- of underground ecosystems, visit catamount- their families, thanks in part to the generosity ing between two bags of cave gear (one with institute.org. Catamount works with ~8,000 of Barb Bentzin and Bob Montgomery, both useful gear, and the other with a toothbrush, students a year through summer camps, NSS members. a plastic leaf, and a party mug). Students after-school programs, field trips, and school The first stop for families at the event helped to light carbide lamps and practiced partnerships, working to fulfill its mission was CaveSim’s mobile electronic crawl- cave rescue by carrying each other in a Sked of developing ecological stewards through through cave simulator, which travels across and talking on cave rescue phones that really education and adventure. the country for cave rescue trainings, NSS transmitted their voices! Conventions, and regional events. Students, CaveSim Continues Growth siblings, and parents crawled through Engaging Geology While these students continue to learn CaveSim’s branching cave passageways After caving, students and families about caves, the formations in CaveSim will while carefully dodging cave formations participated in hands-on geology lessons led continue to grow. Continued support from and trying not to disturb the bats and other by Catamount Institute staff. The rock cycle NSS member Dick Blenz is making it possible cave life. has never been so engaging ‒ kids danced for CaveSim to add new helictites and other CaveSim is a cave obstacle course the Rock Cycle Cha-Cha! They then applied formations to get CaveSim ready for the crossed with video game scoring where visi- their new knowledge by looking at rock 2016 NSS Convention in Ely, Nevada. Be tors are challenged to cave softly. CaveSim samples to decide if a rumor about Pikes sure to visit CaveSim at the high school detects careless caving with electronic Peak being a volcano has any merit. A care- during Convention. sensors behind each cave formation, arti- ful look at the rocks told the truth: Colorado CaveSim is also building a much larger, fact, and cave creature inside the mobile Springs is safe from impending doom from permanent cave simulator in Colorado cave. When damaged, objects beep, talk, our favorite peak; Pikes Peak is NOT a Springs (complete with a 40-foot pit and and light up, giving immediate feedback to volcano, despite the popular local rumor! constructed passage so realistic that people visitors. A computer tracks the progress and Students also learned to identify lime- have asked us if we dug it). skill of each person as they navigate the cave. stone in preparation for their upcoming visits To learn about bringing CaveSim to Results are displayed on computer monitors, to Cave of the Winds, where they will go on your event, or about having CaveSim build a which visitors review after exiting the cave. special “Bats & Caves” tours. These trips will cave for you, visit www.cavesim.com. Catamount Institute’s YES Club students include bat presentations, geology in Cave As always, thank you to the many NSS (and even many parents) bravely explored of the Winds’ underground laboratory, and members and grottos who have supported CaveSim, despite having never caved before. cave exploration inside Temple Mountain. CaveSim over the years. One student, Sadie, from Lake George, To learn more about the YES Club study

NSS News, April 2016 23 Partnership: Lick Creek Cave Restoration Project text by Taylor Woods; photos by Will McKnight cave’s deterioration. This history and first hand evidence of abuse gave way to the Lick Creek Cave Restoration Project. The cave was in serious condition. Thousands of feet of passage were riddled with graffiti, garbage, and debris. We had no complete detailed map. The extent of the hibernaculum was unknown. These problems instantly turned into goals. We quickly real- ized that we needed multiple organizations to undertake such a large project. Calls were Al Zepeda from Lolo Peak Brewery scrubs away graffiti. made and meetings scheduled. After months of phone calls, meetings, On October 10, 2015 over 30 people and planning sessions the project was laid made a trek up a steep mountain trail. We out. Over 40 cavers had signed up from all carried backpacks, ropes, survey equipment, over Montana and Wyoming. The USDA food, water sprayers, and tools. Months of Forest Service (USFS) was our first partner, preparation, dozens of conference calls, providing backpack sprayers, the use of an and the organization of numerous groups of entire campground, and 75 gallons of water people from all over Montana finally came for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. The together. Incredible events unfolded. Our next partners to sign on were the University team was on a mission and that mission was of Montana Cave Club, Northern Rocky the Lick Creek Cave Restoration Project. Mountain Grotto, and the Big Fork Cave Project Wildlife Biologist Ellen Whittle looks Just a handful of miles outside of Great Club. These caving organizations provided for bats. Falls, Montana, lies Lick Creek Cave. Lick all the people as well as the experience we Creek has been visited thousands of times needed for proper mapping, rigging, and of handlines, and installed interpretive signs and is one of the most widely known wild bat observations. and log books. We even aided a distressed caves in Montana. It is home to the largest We then started partnering with busi- group of cave visitors by leading them to underground rooms in Montana and is one nesses to provide gear, food, drinks, and the surface. of the largest bat hibernacula. However, funds. Lolo Peak Brewery provided funding, It had been a long day. Tired, battered, this notoriety makes it one of the most well- drinks, and one of the owners even joined and covered in mud, we made our way back known and disrespected caves in the state. us in the field for his first caving trip. The to base camp. Lucky enough, my parents After many cave trips over the last Missoula, Montana REI donated shirts and were incredible camp managers. By the couple years, Lick Creek Cave has always water bottles for project members. The time we returned, they had built a roaring been on my mind. It was my first exploration Montana Ranches at Belt Creek donated fire, cooked enough hot food for 40 people, and the original spark that got me hooked. everything we needed for our welcome BBQ. and provided a clean organized camp ready It has always been the “go-to” cave for new Everyone came together to achieve our for a night of celebration. cavers but with each trip we witnessed the common goals of conservation, preservation, In the end, we made great strides in and exploration. the restoration of Lick Creek Cave. More Saturday at 10:00 a.m. we entered importantly, we created and strengthened the cave. Over a period of six hours, we our relationships. The USFS stepped in as accomplished each goal that we set. Our a major partner and played a critical role teams removed over 100 pounds of trash that lead to the project’s success. We will and debris, surveyed and mapped 1,700 feet use such successes to move Montana caving of cave, observed 57 bats, removed over 50 forward and embrace our shared values of spots of heavy graffiti, replaced over 300 feet conservation, preservation, and exploration.

Part of the team looks up from the bottom of a pit.

Project leader Taylor Woods carries a backpack sprayer to the bottom of the cave.

24 NSS News, April 2016 Merlins Preserve Workday with the Boston Grotto Morgan Ingalls, NCC Trustee & Merlins Cave Perserve Co-Manager As a preserve manager, sometimes it sink line past the Dome 12 sink to the edge trail markers, and the group made good time can feel tedious putting together workdays. of the property, then loops back at the south staying ahead of me the whole way. Something about finding a date that works end of the preserve meeting back with the By mid-afternoon the new loop trail was for everyone, sending out lots of e-mails, main trail near the Merlins Cave entrance. cleared and we all met in the parking area for organizing what projects need to happen—it Eleven of us showed up with rakes, some snacks and to rehydrate. In the future, all can seem kind of boring when I’d really loppers, shovels, saws, and enthusiasm! we hope to install some interpretive markers rather be caving. On the way to the start of the new trail, we pointing out karst features, sinkholes, and Not so this time! As a weekend conser- cleared winter blow-downs and fixed water historic features such as the charcoal circles. vation project for the Boston Grotto, Ramon bars on the main trail, before reconvening All in all, we had a very successful work Armen organized a preserve workday at the at the Merlins Cave entrance. Here, we day! Thanks so much to Ramon and the Merlins Preserve. Perfect! All I had to do was put up a small wire fence around some Boston Grotto, and to everyone else who show up with a list of things I wanted done. fragile blue cohosh that the botanists from helped out: Mitch Berger, Larry Bernier, April even provided us with perfect the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology John Dunham, Logan Fortune, Tristen weather: sunny, but not too hot. The major Program asked us to protect. Miller, Chuck Porter, Mike Telladira, Zach project for the day was to cut and mark a Then we started in on the new trail! I Yarter, and Kourtney Yeamen. new loop surface trail that runs down the lagged behind putting up our yellow NCC

Larry Bernier (left) and Chuck Porter (right) with their respective Volunteers remove a log from the new trail. Photo John Dunham trail clearing tools. Photo John Dunham.

VCA Cleanup at the NCC’s Bentleys Cavern Preserve John Dunham and Jonah Spivak

The NCC’s Bentleys Cavern Preserve is activity or an additional activity, to a conser- a combination of surface trail clearing and located on 5 acres of land south of Berlin, vation project work day at a local cave or marking work, and graffiti and trash removal NY. The preserve was donated to the NCC in cave preserve. Such projects may include, in the cave itself. 2009 and is one of eight preserves managed but are not limited to: trash cleanup and On the third Sunday of March, despite by the NCC. Jonah Spivak has been the removal; graffiti removal; sinkhole cleanup; the bitter cold weather and –12 windchill, cave preserve manager since the creation surface trail construction and maintenance; of the preserve in 2009. The cave is locally landscaping; maintenance of informational well known and gets about 150 visitors a signs and kiosks; or any other work neces- year who sign in/out at the register (139 sary to protect caves and maintain cave in this past year). In early 2015, Jonah was preserves. The responsibility for organiz- asked by John Dunahm and the Vermont ing this work day yearly shall fall to the Cavers Association (VCA) about doing a cave current VCA President, VicePresident, and cleanup at the preserve. Conservation Chair, in collaboration with the According to John, at the February NCC Preserve Manager or land owner of the VCA Grotto meeting, the grotto voted to property in question.” approve a motion to get the VCA more The VCA decided to focus their first engaged in conservation activities. The text conservation activity on Bentley’s Cavern, of that motion was as follows: since the preserve was likely to see signifi- “The VCA shall dedicate one activity cant visitation during the Spring NRO in each year, which may be a regular monthly Hancock, MA. The preserve also offered Jacob removing paint in the big room

NSS News, April 2016 25 Graffiti before (L) and after cleaning Stream entrance before and after cleaning

the particularly tough cases. The amount ground to update the blazes, cut down fallen of graffiti in the cave, while not the worst trees, and remove brush along the trail. example of such things, was still significant All told, a total of 76 volunteer hours and noticeable. The worst area was the Big were spent in and around the cave as part Room, just past the water crawl. This area of the cave cleanup effort, plus 42.5 hours held the largest concentration of graffiti. The of travel time, and 1,672 travel miles. In entrance canyon and several corners were addition to the wonderful results of the actual also decorated with paint. Happily, with so work done, this donated time and mileage many people working, the group was able is used by the NCC as a match for future to clean more than 95% of the spray paint grant applications. off the cave walls, leaving only a few very Preserve Manager Spivak commented difficult places and around some historic that “This work by the VCA exemplifies the signatures and formations that we did not best in the caving community. I’m impressed wish to damage. that the VCA has made the move to include The whole cave was effectively cleaned regular conservation efforts as part of the in less than three hours—spray bottles were group’s mission, and I’m deeply grateful on especially effective, removing the top layer behalf of both Bentleys Cave and the NCC of mud film and the paint along with it with- for this work!” Spivak notes that this is the out damaging the underlying rock. Some largest single effort volunteer effort at the before-and-after photos, included with this preserve since its inception. article, show the restored interior of the Thanks go out to the VCA and every- a full 18 people showed up to help clean cave. Hopefully the clean walls will now not one who participated and the generous up Bentley’s, including three of the four encourage any future would-be vandals. donation of time and effort. An honorary newly elected offices of the VCA. Although While not an important cave for hiber- trail blaze was awarded as a thank you to about a third of the participants were VCA nating bats, particular care was made to each of the participants. With any luck these members, some local unaffiliated cavers and not disturb the bats that were found. Three efforts will set a good example for landown- some cavers from south and west of the area tricolor bats and three large brown bats were ers, locals, and cavers-to-be alike. also made the trip to help out. located, a similar number to that found in Inside the cave the group split into previous bat counts in the cave. several teams, each armed with spray In addition to the work in the cave, bottles, stiff brushes, and wire brushes for Jonah and Mike Telladira worked above

Overhung graffiti before removal Kara Pivarski with overhung graffiti after removal

26 NSS News, April 2016 Salts Cave Sinkhole Cleanup: A Small Grotto Can Make a Big Difference Brian “Grandpa Caver” Leavell Chair, Eastern Indiana Grotto

Crew was to return in early November so we planned to have the trash ready for removal by then. They could help load the refuse into a dumpster and give the sink a final once over. July 25, 2015: Eight EIG members gathered at the sink on this hot and sunny summer morning. Armed with bags, shov- els, hoes, picks, rakes, chain saws, and pry bars we confronted the sink to find the first thing The Scouts’ discovery. Photo by Brian Leavell. we needed was a weed The Shrine. Photo by Virginia White. How It Began: For several years BSA whacker and of course Troop 43 Venture Crew, from Diamondale, that was the one implement of destruction Several people removed pallets, boards, Michigan kept asking the Eastern Indiana we didn’t have! So it goes. and other wooden items that were scattered Grotto to find a conservation project they Virginia White was the first to dig in and around one of our pathways making access could participate in on their annual cave trip what is the very first thing she finds? A large hazardous and hiding a lot of buried refuse. with us. Year after year, nothing appropriate “NO DUMPING” sign! Of course the sign Another group swept the area and removed came up. was laying down on the job. We began by the remaining loose and mostly exposed In 2014 we took the Scouts to visit clearing two paths into and out of the sink. items. This made traversing the sink a lot Salts Cave in Lawrence County, Indiana. On Much of the easy stuff layering the safer. arrival, rather than simply escorting them surface along with several large items were The rest of us grabbed tools and began to the cave entrance, I handed the Venture removed and staged at the edge of an adjoin- digging around several large items that were Crew a compass and topo map showing the ing pasture. We created two piles for bagged visible but mostly buried. Mattresses, over- location of the cave. Pointing to the appro- trash, two for large or heavy items, and one stuffed chairs, plastic tarps, a couch, and priate dot on the map I instructed them to woodpile. The sink was littered with many enough vinyl siding to do a small home were “Go find it. Old school!” old wood pallets and boards of varied sizes. dragged up and out of the sink to our piles! Their search led us to a very large sink We also created a bit of a shrine from the We managed to expose the sink’s drain at the edge of a pasture, a few hundred feet no dumping sign, several dolls, doll heads, and were able to peer down about 4 feet into from the entrance. It was absolutely covered and stuffed animals. The heat finally took its a 2-foot-wide hole through buried wooden with trash that had obviously accumulated toll on us. Time Spent: 4.5 hours x 8 cavers planks and boards, revealing more trash at over many decades. I had never seen it = 36 hours plus project recon time, project its bottom! before but immediately recognized it as the prep time, and drive time. The ladies in our group seemed delighted source of bits of refuse that had been find- August 22, 2015: Another hot and to find a large cache of 70s- and 80s-era ing its way into the cave for years. “Boys” I sunny morning! Today fifteen volunteers makeup, compacts, purses, colognes, and announced, “I think you’ve just found your including members of the Windy City Grotto such. conservation project”. (WCG), Central Indiana Grotto (CIG), and Eventually the heat took its toll on us Can We Do This? We knew it would Bloomington Indiana Grotto (BIG) partici- and the WCG wanted to visit the cave before be a major undertaking. This trash had been pated. This time we started with those much deposited long ago during one or more needed weed whackers, and we were at it previous landowner’s stewardship and the again. current owner was delighted at the prospect of seeing it cleaned up. He had removed most of the recyclables but doing more than that was beyond his capability. Over the next couple months the Eastern Indiana Grotto (EIG) retuned to study the logistics of the endeavor and develop a plan. It was obvious this would not be a one weekend project! We decided it would take at least two or three preparation trips to stage the trash for removal, but it was doable! The BSA Venture Trash piles near the end. Photo by Brian August 22, 2015. Photo by Brian Leavell. Leavell.

NSS News, April 2016 27 Plan B: Our cavers worked at getting a few more buried items out of the sink, includ- ing that pesky swing set, while the scouts used a utility trailer to move the wood pile to a place where the landowner burned brush. Next they collected and loaded all the old tires into Jim Beasley’s truck. Jim had found a facility that would recycle the tires at no charge. I counted 22 tires so Jim was able to save us a fair amount of money! By 12:00 noon we were all ready for a break and the Scouts provided everyone with a fine lunch. During our break we looked around and The last day. Photo by Jonathan Annonson. Troop 43 Venture Crew. Photo by Brian Leavell decided we had accomplished more than expected and could move on to the cave. The After posing for a few pictures we leaving so we called it a day. Our junk piles Scouts, however, were anxious to get a little helped ourselves to some well-deserved liquid had tripled in size and our shrine of oddities more “service time” so they spent another refreshment while discussing the project and was beginning to look a bit macabre. Time half hour or more consolidating trash piles the possibility of returning next year to pick Spent: 4.5 hours x 15 cavers = 67.5 hours and giving the sink a light “once over.” up where we left off. (At the Eastern Indiana + prep and drive time. Our tour of Salts Cave led us under the Grottos January meeting we unanimously sinkhole where everyone took a critical inter- voted to return in 2016 and pick up where September 26, 2015: Hot again! est in the bottom of the sink’s drain. Looking we left off in 2015.) Time Spent: 3.5 hours Today would be our final prep trip. up from beneath, one peers into a gutted x 9 caver = 31.5 hours + preparation, Commitments, family affairs, and so on, appliance (dishwasher?) and other smaller documentation, and drive time + in-kind reduced our roster to five volunteers. We items blocking the way. Of course much talk contributions of equipment and services. each picked a spot and began digging out of opening another entrance ensued! Time Salts Cave has been a cavers’ favorite completely buried trash. Spent: 4 hours x 18 cavers = 72 hours + for many decades and thanks to the land- In one small area was bag after bag full prep and drive time. owner’s generosity, cavers have always been of everyday household garbage. Bags on Novemeber 14, 2015: It was a rare welcome to visit. We are thankful to be able top of bags buried under a layer of bricks, sunny and warm day for mid-November in to repay them in some way and for being landscape stones, and top soil … and under Indiana. I had been concerned that if we allowed to repair a human injustice to the all of that we discovered an intact backyard didn’t remove the trash soon it would have earth. Not many will ever see our accom- swing set for kids! We all took turns at the to wait until spring. With favorable weather plishment. It’s not on the way to the cave swing set but were unable to free it from the predicted, we ordered the dumpster and entrance but those who venture that way will overburden of landscape stones and soil. The made one last plea for volunteers. not be confronted with an unsightly dump … darn thing was laying on its side with its top Nine cavers with two utility trailers and Mother Nature’s karst system is certainly bar deeply interred in the side of the sink. gathered to begin shuttling the trash from the breathing a sigh of relief. We had mostly exposed two legs and a bit sink, several hundred feet to the dumpster. Over the course of five days totaling more. Most of the top bar was still 3-to-4 feet To everyone’s surprise we had all the rubbish 21 hours of sinkhole work, 34 volunteers into the earth/trash bags/stones. Digging loaded in the dumpster in only 2 ½ hours! donated their time and resources to the proj- was very slow. With time to spare, we trimmed over- ect for a whopping total of 227 caver hours Giving up on the swing set, four of us hanging limbs from the owner’s driveway, in addition to hours spent for project prep, decided enough was enough. Grabbing what the lane to his barn, and our usual parking documentation, driving, cost of the project, we could carry we headed up out of the sink area. and in-kind contributions. and called to Jonathan Annonson who had I had ordered a 30-yard dumpster and Monetary donations from the Central been working on the other side. The far side was nervous about it holding all the trash. Indiana Grotto, Evansville Metropolitan of the sink was relatively trash free with the In the end, we collected exactly 30 yards Grotto, Windy City Grotto and many indi- exception of several hundred feet of tangled of disposable trash! We all climbed atop viduals fully covered the nearly $500 cost semi-flexible plastic tubing. It had been slowly the dumpster to stomp and rearrange some of the project. The EIG would like to offer cut and removed on previous trips until only things so that nothing protruded above the everyone involved a very gracious Tip-O-The the most tangled parts remained. Jonathan top, but it fit! Helmet for a job well done! was on a mission and would not quit until it was completely evacuated. Twenty minutes later he emerged victorious. Time Spent: 4 hours x 5 cavers = 20 hours + prep and drive time. November 7, 2015: Today dawned cool and sunny but soon warmed to near perfect temps. With seven cavers and eleven Troop 43 Venture Crew and Leaders we were ready to put this project to rest. Except (long story) ... we had no dumpster! Our plan was to have everything cleared out by 1:00 p.m., leaving time for the scouts to explore the cave. Before and After. Photo by Brian Leavell.

28 NSS News, April 2016 Restoration Cavers Drawn to Mammoth Cave Story and photos by Gary Gibula If you haven’t been to Mammoth Cave American Culinary Federation’s nonprofit recently, you should know there are some Chefs de Cuisine Association of St. Louis. neat opportunities for cavers to spend rewarding time underground while helping Day One—Wire Digs, Dust, Drainpipe the National Park Service. Monday morning dawned with a 7:00 It’s called ‘restoration,’ but I’d more a.m. breakfast of scrambled eggs and accurately call it light work underground. sausage. Fording the Green River via ferry NSS Resto Camps happen three weekends for the first of dozens of times throughout every year and the first full week of August— the week, the group of 24 then drove to the and here’s my report on what we did this Historic Entrance of Mammoth Cave and yearlast time. split into several work teams: those digging old wire out of the ground, the dust-bunny Gathering crew, and four people working on a drain- A couple dozen cavers, all familiar faces, age project. gathered once again at the Maple Springs Your humble narrator was part of the Research Station over the first week of third group, working at a site located a couple August to participate in the 2015 Mammoth hundred feet in from the cave entrance. Cave Restoration Field Camp. Years ago, it was thought that cave Cavers have been helping the Park airflow also could help cool the Mammoth Service for nearly three decades now, and Cave Hotel, located directly above the main that’s certainly a proud accomplishment that passage. A 10-foot-diameter ventilation shaft evidences the love, respect, and apprecia- was drilled and, for the first two or three tion we all have for the world’s longest cave months, the idea worked. But then, officials Caver Jonathon Lewis uses a drill to remove (according to the Cave Research Foundation, noticed that the moist air was causing mold lead anchors from a wall at the Great Relief the very latest mapped mileage of Mammoth to grow on all the wood in the hotel and the Hall. currently stands at 405). shaft was then plugged at the top. the Rotunda Room, he explained all about This year’s activities began with a nice The drilling had passed through a layer the saltpeter mining operation that took Sunday evening meal paid for and prepared of shale that routed a trickle of water that place in the 1800s. It was a wonderful educa- by the Mammoth Cave National Park even today continues to lightly rain down the tion, and we were honored to hear it from Association. Grilled burgers and watermelon shaft. Officials noticed that historic hollowed- the preeminent authority on this aspect of on a warm summer’s eve... perfect! out logs previously used for water pipes in the Mammoth Cave’s history. It was a welcome sight when profes- saltpeter mining operation (behind a railing, Our caver-manpower was needed to sional chef Mark Williams drove into camp. along the side of the passage) now were move some very large and heavy historic He and his good friend, caver Chuck starting to grow white mold, presumably logs from one side of the trail to the other. Shubert, made the week-long restoration from the humidity and moisture. By sizing up the average log, and by the camp commitment despite travelling directly It was believed that the water dripping grunts I involuntarily emitted while carrying from another week-long event (the Great down the ventilation shaft was not helping them, we figured each log weighed nearly a River Rumble). Thanks, Mark and Chuck, the problem. Although the now-useless shaft quarter-ton. One by one, we carefully lifted for your commitment and sacrifice. reportedly had a brass drain at the bottom, more than a dozen of the monsters and This was Mark’s third year planning we were told it was buried in sediment. The transported them a few hundred feet to their the menu and running the kitchen at Resto water had been forming a shallow pool at the designated new locations. Camp. A true pro and one of the nicest guys bottom of the shaft and gradually dissipating you’d ever meet, Mark is a member of the into the ground. Day Two—Tackling a Gate Leave it to the resto crew to attack the While most of the resto cavers returned problem! With a few rudimentary tools, Brian to the cave, some of us joined NPS staffer Hunsaker, Scott McGlamery, Ken Dejonge, Eric Ford on a mission to ridgewalk through and I went to work. After nearly an hour of thick woods, locate a small lesser-known digging while under a constant shower of cave, and get the gate open. With Ken, water, I voiced my skepticism that the drain Brian, John Kirk, and handheld GPS units, even existed. But it was Brian’s dogged we used our machetes to hack our way perseverance that finally uncovered the prize: through the thick, jungle-like foliage, avoid- a shiny brass drain-head, about 18-inches ing slithering anacondas, wild boars, and below the surface. Truly an “ah-ha” moment. swooping predators… OK, actually, it only Way to go, Brian! was some light woods with a few spiderwebs. It took a couple hours, but we got ‘er Saltpeter Works, Historic Logs done. After the evening meal, about 17 cavers returned to the Historic Entrance where Wall Anchors, Light Fixtures, More Resto cavers ‘package’ cut lengths of old wire Park Archaeologist, respected researcher, for transport out of Mammoth Cave. Funds Huge Historic Logs from the sale of recycled copper are returned and University of Kentucky professor Dr. After lunch, we drove to the Historic to the park. George Crothers met us. As we walked to Entrance and hiked to Great Relief Hall to

NSS News, April 2016 29 Chuck), the entire resto crew drove through overgrown woods and brush covering a nice blacktop-paved single-lane road to Wondering Woods Cave, a former commer- cial operation, long ago closed, and now owned by the Park Service.We geared-up and hiked up the hill, and found the steel door entrance. But it was ‘not to be’ that day, as camp director Bill Copeland had been given the wrong key for the cave gate. He tried and tried, but it just wouldn’t open. We did an about-face and drove back through the over- foliated road. Resto cavers helped move large hollowed-out But the non-cave-trip and now-diminish- logs that once were used as water conduits for saltpetre mining operations in Mammoth ing drizzle could not dampen our spirits. We Cave. The logs then were spray-treated to headed back to the Mammoth Cave Historic resist molding. Entrance and split into three crews (lint, wire, and wall anchors), and headed underground. remove embedded anchors that held old I joined those who were being super- Caver Ken DeJonge, from the ESSO Grotto wiring to the wall. vised by Roy Vanhooser (former resto camp in Michigan, chips away to remove plaster Due to his experience at Wind Cave, director) hiding and removing wire near the that concealed old electrical wire in Boone Jonathon Lewis was in charge of supervising trail leading down from the feature known Avenue. the procedure. as the Giant’s Coffin. We’d also received the go-ahead to Next was a return to the Great Relief and John clambered up the hill at the end install a light fixture at the end of a live elec- Hall, where some of us removed wire from of the cave and (re)discovered a small back tric line that ended at the same location. With a maintenance area located behind the room. Meanwhile, Bill, Ken, and I held an the expertise of caver Larry Matiz, a fully- bathrooms. After that, we removed a few impromptu on-site cave photography work- qualified and certified electrician, the light got wall anchors from a low-ceiling area near the shop and shot a bunch of tripod photos. hooked up and provided extra illumination bench seating area at River Hall. Our official purpose in being there was to for tourists descending the concrete steps at This also was time when the group evaluate what it would take to remove any the end of the Fat Man’s Misery stoopwalk. posed for the annual camp photo of partici- existing old wire, prior to an environmental Nice job, Larry! pants. (Photo by Ken... well done!) assessment and possible future re-opening Following a tasty dinner of meatloaf and While some cavers then returned under- of the cave. ‘taters back at Maple Springs, we returned ground for an ‘educational trip’ to see Miller After an hour or so in the cave, the to the Rotunda to help George with more Avenue, a few of us stayed topside to see a group ascended to the Mammoth Cave eleva- logs. The job was slightly different this time, slide show and lecture from Ranger Kennetha tor entrance patio for lunch, then hiked down as several logs of varying sizes needed to be Sanders at the campground amphitheater. to Boone Avenue to improve areas where transported up several hundred feet from Her talk was excellent! Kennetha electrical cable had been plastered to the cave their current display spot to an area where explained about the history of the many wall in a less-than-aesthetic fashion. Using they would be examined and treated for families who resided in and around the hammers and chisels, we chipped away mold. George and his three university assis- Park, showed photographs from her own plaster and mesh screening, removed a bit tants all were grateful for our team efforts. personal collection, and finally revealed to of old wiring, and pried away some non-lead the audience of 30 people that she herself anchors that were in the walls. Day Three is a fifth-generation Guide. Wow. The group exited the cave some hours After a tasty breakfast of Mexican There was another ‘wow’ when we all later, and a couple of us met George and scrambled eggs, served with slices of fresh returned to Maple. In gratitude for everyone’s Park Ecologist Rick Olson at the cave’s Violet pineapple (thank you again, Chef Mark and help with the logs at the saltpeter works, City entrance. The drizzle rain had returned, George brought a couple cases of beer for but we made a ‘grid search’ and I was able the cavers to enjoy. And it wasn’t just the to spot the USGS benchmark marker that cheap stuff ... there was Summer Shandy, was located about 30-feet into the woods Guinness, and Budweiser. George added, off the roadway. “For cavers, beer is the ‘universal currency’.” Back at camp that evening, it was a Thanks again, George! When you need help Mexican dinner with chicken enchiladas, with other tasks, just whistle! steak tacos, and a delicious apple empañada dessert. Day Four Food, to me, was a major factor of Day Five the week-long camp—we ate another Grits and eggs for breakfast—my favor- great breakfast of French toast and bacon ite—I love grits. on Thursday morning before Bill obtained Bill announced that Friday was a light the proper key and we all drove back to day of work that would end before mid-after- Wondering Woods Cave. Caver Dave Ruth of the Pittsburgh Grotto noon. We parked at the elevator entrance, saws old electrical cable into manageable It’s only a couple hundred feet long, pressed the “CL” (cave level) button on the lengths for removal from Mammoth Cave. but the cave is very nicely decorated. Brian elevator keypad, and descended.

30 NSS News, April 2016 kitchen to be ‘closed,’ he sat down, and Bill Boone Avenue cleaned; identified live elec- began the Awards ceremony. trical wires and installed one light fixture in the Great Relief Hall; opened the gate at Day Six that small, wild cave; evaluated wire removal Saturday was a day for ‘reward trips,’ at Wondering Woods Cave; helped move including a visit to Great Onyx Cave, led heavy logs at the saltpeter display; drain by Bill Copeland, and a longer trip to the work in the ventilation shaft; drain work at seldom-visited Salts Cave (which is connected the camp bathroom showers; and removed to the Mammoth system). of about 1,000 feet of old wire. Nicely done, Participants on the Great Onyx Trip everyone. That’s quite a list! included Bill, John, Roy, Jonathan, Larry, All in all, it was another great restoration Dave Ruth, and Brian Lantz. According to camp. In the five years I’ve participated, I’ve Bill, “we basically followed the tour route up observed that each camp always has new Edwards Avenue till we got to the rimstone elements: from swinging a sledgehammer, dams, then down Cox Avenue. Larry showed to helping at sinkholes and other area caves, everyone where the tour took off to do the to picking up candy wrappers and lint. As in-cave boat ride. We were in the cave for cavers, it’s very fulfilling to be part of this. Professional chef and American Culinary 2.5 hours.” It makes us feel good knowing that we’re Institute member Mark Williams donated Ranger Rick Olson (who also is a NSS helping the cave, helping our National Park his abilities to feed cavers participating in and CRF member) led four others on a Service, and setting an example for visitors the week-long Mammoth Cave Restoration seven-hour trip to Salts Cave. According from across the country and around the Field Camp. to Brian Hunsaker, “It was a great trip with world who come to see this ‘grand, gloomy, Some cavers had expressed interest in stories about Native Americans who lived and peculiar’ place. returning to the unfinished work in Boone and mined the cave as well as info about Avenue, but another group wanted to follow Pike Chapman, who created an entrance NSS Resto Camps at Mammoth Cave Roy for the one-hour walk down to the Echo that collapsed on him. I also got a chance National Park River. I opted for the Boone Avenue tasks. to try and climb the ‘Un-climbable Wall.’ We If you’d care to get involved, annual The work itself was not too strenuous. saw ‘Mummy Valley’ and the spot where restoration weekends are scheduled over I positioned a ladder along the wall, climbed the remains of ‘Little Alice’ were recovered the first weekends of March, May, and up and chipped away at the ugly plaster. beside a large rock with a story scratched November. The week-long camp is always It was a good thing we were told to wear in cursive writing, very difficult to read. The the first full week in August. On-line regis- safety glasses, as there were plenty of plaster beginning and the destination had visitor tration begins on the first day of the month chunks and nasty dust thrown in all direc- trails, but the middle section did not, since preceding the event. Go to www.restore- tions. We positioned a tarp at the bottom work there was abandoned when the Pike mammoth.com/ for more information. of each work area to catch the detritus and Chapman entrance collapsed. swept-up any crud that splattered off to the Gary Gibula is a grotto chair, NSS Life side. Before long, it was time to clean up Recap Member, and NSS News assistant copy and say good-bye to Mammoth Cave for Bill summarized the work done through- editor who also writes for the Chicago the week. out the week: four bags of lint picked Tribune. The entire group was out of the cave by strand-by-strand from speleothems by 2:00 p.m. Having the afternoon ‘off,’ some the ‘dust bunnies;’ a dozen lead anchors chose to see the Visitor Center, others took removed; three or four plaster sections in a shower, and some enjoyed a well-deserved afternoon nap. After a dinner of pork chops, asparagus, salad, and strawberry shortcake, we pitched in to help clean the kitchen and mop the floor. When Chef Mark finally declared the

The 2015 Restoration Field Camp group photo

NSS News, April 2016 31 In this nicely illustrated and well-written This book is part of the PowerKids book, Christine Honders explores the many Press’ Out of the Lab - Extreme Jobs in facets of a career as a speleologist, especially Science series. Other titles in the series a cave geologist. In doing so, she introduces include Antarctic Researchers, Astronauts, young readers (grades 4 - 6) to one of the Astronomers, Forensic Detectives, most remarkable jobs in science. In fact, it’s Oceanographers, Marine Biologists, hard to determine from her descriptions Paleontologists and Archaeologists, which is more exciting: the work that cave Climatologists and Meteorologists, and geologists do or the places where they do it. Rocket Scientists. Full-color photographs of caves and The various titles in this series highlight cavers complement the text, and a series of the many unconventional science jobs avail- boxed inserts (Science in Action) provides an able to those adventurous enough to pursue array of interesting facts about cave geology. them. In taking science out of the laboratory A short glossary is a valuable addition. and into the field, they will help to motivate Life as a cave scientist isn’t for everyone, young readers towards a unique and reward- Honders explains. In addition to having to ing career in science. Academia doesn’t have learn how to be a scientist (which involves a to be synonymous with classrooms, libraries, lot of time studying in school), one also has or uninteresting homework assignments. to be adventurous, and not afraid of dark and Learning about real-world applications of sometimes narrow places. Special skills and classroom skills will help to fuel an interest CAVE GEOLOGISTS equipment are also needed to safely work in non-traditional career choices among (2016) by Christine Honders. PowerKids underground. students as well as educators. Press, The Rosen Publishing Group. New Danny A. Brass York. Hardcover, 32 pages, 8¾ “ x 11¼ “ format, ISBN 978-1-5081-4515-8. Available for $26.25 (library binding)/$10.00 (paperback). young readers and stimulate an interest in the animal world. When you think of a scientist, you This book is a simplified version of probably think of someone in a laboratory, a previously published picture book. The or lab, wearing a white coat and looking unabridged edition of this book, originally into a microscope. To some people, being published in 2008, was the recipient of a a scientist doesn’t sound like a very excit- Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. This ing job. award recognizes distinguished books for In fact, nothing could be further from beginning readers. the truth. Scientists work in venues all over Other books in this series include Hello, the world. Field scientists conduct impor- Baby Beluga and Hello, Mama Wallaroo. tant research in some off the most extreme Danny A. Brass environments imaginable, from high atop mountains to the darkness of the ocean deeps, from the heat of sand-covered deserts HELLO, BUMBLEBEE BAT to the lush jungles of the Amazon. Scientists (2016) by Darrin Lunde and illustrated are as diverse a group as the subjects they by Patricia J. Wynne. Charlesbridge. study. Watertown, MA. Hardcover Board Book, 14 One group of scientists, the speleolo- pages, 7” x 7” format, ISBN 978-1-58089- gists, study the unique environment of caves. 526-2. Available for $6.95. Traveling deep underground to places rela- tively few people ever see, speleologists study This concise, easily understood ques- one of the most extreme environments on tion-and-answer board book will introduce Earth. Some may be interested in the animals beginning readers (preschool to second to be found in caves, the prehistoric fossils to grade) to the fascinating world of natural be unearthed, evidence of early use of cave history, as they learn about the life and by ancient humans, or incredible geological habits of the tiny bumblebee bat (the small- treasures found nowhere else on the planet. est-known bat and, possibly, the smallest One of the most interesting aspects mammal). Children will learn about what this A LITTLE BROWN BAT STORY bat looks like, where it lives, what it eats, and (2015) by Melissa Kim and illustrated by of speleology is geology. Cave geologists Jada Fitch. Islandport Press. Yarmouth, how it sleeps. study different mineral formations found in Maine. Hardcover Board Book, 22 pages, caves, the flow of water across the face of The principal strength of this publica- 7” x 7” format, ISBN 978-1-939017-70-3. our planet, the stability of land in cave-rich tion lies in its exquisite collection of full-color Available for $10.95. regions, ancient climates, and even help to illustrations, each one beautifully depicting unravel hidden clues that help explain how the answer to a particular question. These In this heavy-duty board book, Melissa the Earth was formed. images are sure to grab the attention of Kim describes a typical day in the life of a

32 NSS News, April 2016 little brown bat living deep in the forest. interactions. The first title in this four-part about the basic biology of bats and disease. The author follows the activity of one series was A Snowy Owl Story; a third title As a result, medical researchers and public- bat, as it flitters through the forest consum- about the endangered Blanding’s turtle is health authorities are turning a critical eye ing insects. As dawn approaches, the bat scheduled for release in the spring of 2016. towards understanding the epidemiology seeks out the shelter of a cave in which it This book will be a nice addition to the of many emerging infectious diseases, and will hibernate. It will spend the long and cold home library for young readers, especially especially any potential association with the winter months huddled with other bats deep that of budding, young naturalists. It is sure natural history of bats. underground. to open a world of new ideas for parents and In this multi-authored work, a panel But something is wrong this year. For children to explore together. of experts provides a broad overview of some reason, there are far fewer bats in the Danny A. Brass our current state of understanding of the cave than there should be. And some of the association of bats and select zoonotic bats that are there periodically wake up and viruses (including rabies and the rabies- fly out of the cave…never to be seen again. related lyssaviruses, SARS coronavirus, The little brown bat is fortunate not to be Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Hendra virus, among those afflicted. and Nipah virus, as well as a host of others), While the little brown bat “sleeps away” with emphasis placed on relevant aspects the winter deep in its cave, scientists are of epidemiology, ecology, virology, patho- shown collecting samples and gathering biology, immunology, genomics, disease information, as they try to figure out what surveillance, host/pathogen co-evolution, is making the bats ill. viral diagnosis, disease modeling, and meth- In A Little Brown Bat Story, Melissa odology. Information is considered from a Kim introduces young readers (pre-school global perspective. through second grade) to some of the Recent work in this field is critically ecosystem services provided by bats (e.g., reviewed, with ample discussion of the limita- consumption of insects) and to the ravages tions, pitfalls, and biases inherent in studying of white-nose syndrome (WNS), the fungal the epidemiology of viral diseases in bats. disease which has had such a devastating These include issues related to study design, effect on populations of little brown bats, specimen sampling, and interpretation of most notably in the northeastern United findings. The importance of ecosystem States. This is a delightful tale―beautifully services provided by bats is stressed, and illustrated by Jada Fitch’s full-page, full-color the need to reconcile conservation efforts illustrations, which are sure to appeal to with protection of human and animal health young readers. (including development of research strategies A brief list of “Fast Facts” and a short that not only benefit human and domestic “About Little Brown Bats” section provide BATS AND VIRUSES: A NEW FRONTIER OF animals, but that also help to protect vulner- some interesting information on the natural able bat populations) is highlighted. history of little brown bats and the potential EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES The underlying roles played by various (2015) by Lin-Fa Wang and Christopher dangers faced by hibernating bats due to Cowled (eds.) Wiley-Blackwell. Hoboken, bats—particularly species-specific impor- WNS. The author emphasizes the fact that NJ. Hardcover, 368 pages, 6¾” x 9¾” tance and controversial concepts of bats as WNS is currently the most significant threat format, ISBN 978-1-118-81873-2. special reservoirs of disease—in the epide- to bats in North America. Accordingly, she Available for $149.95. miology of many viral pathogens of both writes, “While bats are often unfairly associ- medical and veterinary significance remain ated with rabies and vampires, the public Over the course of the last two decades, to be clearly defined. Elucidating the natural image of bats is not their biggest obstacle.” it has been increasingly recognized that reservoirs of viral pathogens and unraveling In this regard, it should be noted that the majority of emerging human infectious the mechanisms of both intra- and interspe- bats provide important ecosystem services diseases are zoonotic in nature, originating in cies transmission is fundamental to prospects and are critical components of various animals and spilling over into human popula- of disease control in animal and human ecosystems. However, it is also important to tions. The occurrence of many novel disease populations. recognize that bats are significant reservoirs outbreaks is frequently driven by a range This scholarly work will be of consider- of rabies virus in this country. And while of anthropogenic activities. These include able interest to epidemiologists, virologists, the prevalence of this disease is extremely continued destruction and fragmentation of medical professionals, and bat researchers low in healthy-appearing bats captured in habitats (including deforestation and agri- working in the field of disease ecology of the wild, it is considerably higher among cultural expansion), increased urbanization bats. bats that have interacted in some fashion associated with continued encroachment Danny A. Brass with people or pets and which have been of human civilizations on wild areas, and submitted to public-health facilities for test- the sale and consumption of bush meats. ing. Educating people, especially children, Dangers are compounded by the relative about the dangers of handling bats is a critical ease of travel on a global scale. component in changing the public image of Evidence for a role of bats as important these animals. reservoirs of various emerging viruses contin- A Little Brown Bat Story is the second ues to accrue. Some of these pathogens title in Islandport Press’ Wildlife on the Move have been associated with significant disease series. The series is meant to provide young outbreaks in humans and/or animals. The children with information about wildlife increasing attention paid to bats has brought migration, conservation, and animal-human into specific relief how little is actually known

NSS News, April 2016 33 Jason Richards posted (Facebook, Brian Williams (Facebook, February 15) ture, pH, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity. January 31) a topo overlay of a cave passage jotted a few thoughts after Valentine’s Day Graduate student Alex Dalla Piazza is doing running under a building site to illustrate exploration and survey in newly discovered his thesis on the origin of manganese coat- successful efforts to convince developers Zipper Pit in Montgomery County, Virginia, ings on the rocks and walls of Cove Creek to change their plans so as not to affect with Steph Petri and Jon Lillestolen. It was in Maxwelton Cave. Others on the team Military Spring and Cow Crap Cave in freezing cold going in and snowing hard included Kelsey Budahn, Nick Wander, and Rutherford County, Tennessee. In this and getting out of the loose-rock virgin pit. A Hunter Campbell. a February 4 post, he related that one of good bolting job by Lillestolen kept the rope the buildings that would have been above off the edges and the boulders in place. Mark Hodge (Facebook, February 21) the cave had been moved, a stormwater wrote that about 30 cavers went to Butler pond threatening the Military Spring Cave Andy Pitkin (Karst Underwater Cave, Bath County, Virginia, as five distinct entrance was relocated, and a planned cave Research Web site, February 15) posted project groups. Hodge’s group of seven went gate was replaced by a fence. He thanked all a Google Earth overlay map of the cave to the Air Dig to resurrect it after a multi- who helped put the pressure on. and a missive about a dive into a lead in year hiatus, digging for nine straight hours Weeki Wachee Spring Cave that he and and making ten feet of progress. There was Matt Vinzant related (Facebook, Brett Hemphill discovered during 2012. very good air flow but only intermittently, as February 4) that he and Andy Pitkin did an Following a series of progressively longer it was windless outside, and they pushed the exploration dive in Twin Dees Cave to look and more complex dives during which tunnel to over 160 feet long. As they were at a south lead in the connecting passage open circuit bailout gas was placed, Pitkin considering quitting, Nick Socky arrived with between Twin Dees and Weeki Wachee and Matt Vinzant prepared to explore the another hardy group, cold from swimming Spring Cave, both in Harnando County, lead, 7,500 feet out, 5,000 of which was at in the Froshing Sloth, that then did more Florida, discovered in 2014 by Brett Hemphill about 300 feet deep. They dropped stages work at the dig face. The two groups pulled and Pitkin. After only 300 feet, it took a hard and a backup scooter at its entrance and 101 buckets of sediments out of the tunnel. left and ended at a depth of 320 feet, earn- tied and lined in. They quickly came to a ing the name of Deister’s Disappointment room with its floor covered with piles of flat Maureen Handler (Cavers Paradise in recognition of tireless efforts as a support rocks like paving stones. A lead appeared to Facebook, February 21) posted before and diver. They checked another lead behind the left of the main conduit, which curved after photographs of a cleanup at Run-to- F-Well, tying it into the connector passage around and back to the main passage. The the-Mill Cave watershed. The group of 34 after several hundred feet. Total run time tunnel opened up into a spectacularly large worked four hours and collected four tons of for this dive was 713 minutes with a max room with huge breakdown boulders scat- trash and 80 tires. depth of 329 feet. Eric Deister, Howard tered among a jumble of flat slabs. Rooms Smith, and Derek Ferguson provided support like these often signify a transition in cave Brett Hemphill and Matt Vinzant and Kirill Egorov, Bob Beckner, and James morphology. Exiting the room, the passage (Facebook, February 28) jotted a few bullets Draker did photo dives. Andy Pitkin took them to minus 310 feet and led them on a physically demanding 16-hour cave dive (Facebook, February 15) posted a video of to another large breakdown room, and then into Weeki Wachee Spring Cave. Their the connection passage. another large room. Ascending the room’s average depth during exploration was 360 breakdown, a small opening down and to feet! They were rather tired the next day but Three crews entered Lowmoor Cave, the right and another ahead of them sloped suffered no DCS symptoms. They ended up Alleghany County, Virginia, on February down into another potential passage. They connecting within 200 feet of Hemphill’s 6. Ed Saugstad (Facebook, February 7) on had almost exhausted all the line on that 2007 end-of-line at Mount Dooms White drool bucket, David Socky sketching, Dave reel, so Matt tied off while Pitkin checked Room and then added 400 feet of line Collings drawing cross sections, and Brad the lead ahead, concluding that it looked beyond it. Blase doing front shots netted 400+ feet in possible but not particularly inviting. They 18 stations. It was slow going because they surveyed 883 feet on the return swim, stop- had to do a lot of digging in very sticky clay ping to check a couple of other leads on the mud. There was one 54-foot shot down a way. Their max depth was 329 feet and they crawlway that still needs to be dug out. surfaced after 12.5 hours underwater. The support cave divers were Eric Deister, Derek Mark Long (Facebook, February 11) Ferguson, Kevin Leonhardt, David L. Jones, noted that he and Tom Morris helped a Charlie Roberson, Brett B Hemphill, AJ French team doing a documentary about Gonzales, Brian Richardson and others: the Floridan Aquifer. Paul Heinerth was tinyurl.com/ze3685v. the diving coordinator and safety diver and Morris and Long were the on-camera talent Dave Socky (Facebook, Feb 19) took for the cave diving portion of the show as a group of geologists from the University of the “science team.” They filmed in Buford Akron into Maxwelton Cave, Greenbriar Spring, Eagle’s Nest Cave, Orange Cave, West Virginia. They spent 6.5 hours Grove Sink, Peacock Spring Cave, in the cave collecting water samples and vari- Devil’s Eye Spring Cave, and Ginnie ous measurements from about ten different Spring Cave, the first two in central Florida locations in Cove Creek. Three different and the last four in north Florida. instruments were used to measure tempera-

34 NSS News, April 2016 accomplished structural geologist and karst His family and friends will miss him. hydrogeologist, both in practice and in teach- Gifts in his memory may be made to the ing. He published many scientific papers Ralph Stone Research Award Fund, which throughout the years. Two exceptional ones can be accessed at https://secure.caves.org/ in the area of karst dealt with the movement nssapps/donate.shtml. of sediments in caves (1), and the importance Walter F. Ebaugh & Ira D. Sasowsky of thin carbonate beds for groundwater and contamination movement (2). Footnotes (references) He loved to cave, and was active in (1) Jancin, M., and Clark, D., 1993, many areas across the US. He was on Subsidence-sinkhole development in light the July 1972 trip to Q87 in Flint Ridge, of mud infiltrate structures within interstratal a precursor to the Mammoth-Flint Ridge karst of the Coastal Plain, southeast United connection later that year. He caved exten- States, in Beck, B. F., ed., Applied Karst sively in the Dougherty Plain of Georgia, Geology: Rotterdam, A.A. Balkema, p. and throughout the central and southern 29-36. Appalachians. He had a commanding pres- (2) Jancin, M., and Ewart, J., 1995, ence when speaking before a room full of Prediction and testing of hydraulic param- Mark Jancin after a science expedition people, which came from the depth of his eters in the interstratal karst of the Valley and in Lechuguilla Cave (I. D. Sasowsky) knowledge and from meticulous preparation. Ridge Province, Pennsylvania, in Beck, B. F., He also would enliven virtually any situation, ed., Karst Geohazards: Engineering and Mark Douglas Jancin, PhD, NSS from a geologic field camp to a meeting with environmental problems in karst terrane: st 13011, died on Oct. 21 2013 at age 59. government regulators, with spontaneous Rotterdam, A.A. Balkema, p. 125-130. He had been an NSS member since 1971. quips and aphorisms, delivered to the delight He was trained and worked as a geolo- of his audience. gist, bringing to bear his excellent powers of observation to understand the geology of many areas. He earned an undergradu- ate degree in geology from Franklin and Marshall College (cum laude) and a PhD from Penn State. His dissertation research Project: Caver Villages: Community, John M. Wilson, Project Investigator, at work included geologic mapping, done Sense of Place, and Conservation of the [email protected] while camping out in an unnamed rugged Underground María A. Pérez, Project Investigator, and roadless peninsula east of Eyjafjörður CAVERS: Do you live or have ever lived Assistant Professor, Geography Program at in north Iceland. in a community of cavers? We are interested West Virginia University, at maria.perez@ He taught geology at Georgia in studying what for now we call “caver mail.wvu.edu Southwestern College for a time, and villages.” These are caver communities that Ian M. Robinson, Research Assistant, worked many years as a consulting geologist usually, but not always, form above or near Geography Program at West Virginia on groundwater projects at sites across the a cave system. We’d love to hear from you. University, at [email protected] ) United States including Florida, Georgia, Please contact either of us: Kentucky, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and in Trinidad. He was an

2016-17 Scholarships SPELEOBOOKS.COM 518 295 7978. Cave and Read about the continuing adventures of the bat gifts, books, clothing and jewelry. Prompt marooned Jarl Hawkins in his quest to get off personal service since 1973. the planet Vanir in Kiska, the second of the Vanir Doctorate: $15,000 The Breathing Cave Monograph is available trilogy novels by George Dasher. $19 paperback for sale. This is a Virginia Speleological Survey and $4 kindle at Amazon 5‑ Masters: $5,000 publication. The price is $25 per copy. The map West Virginia Cave Books is printed on 16 pages. In addition to many B&W www.WVASS.org Undergraduate: $5,000 photos, there are 54 color photographs including both sides of the front and back covers. It is 88 www.caveconservancyfoundation.org pages in length. You can pay by check. Make it www.caveconservancyofthevirginias.org payable to Rick Lambert and send to — P.O. Box 151, Monterey, VA 24465. 4

Telephone: 804-798-4893 AD RATES: 50 cents per word, with a 10% discount for prepaid ads running three months or longer. These count as one word each: P.O. box #; street address; city; state & zip; phone number. E-mail or web addresses exceeding 10 characters count as two words, less as one word each. Payment must precede publication, but copy should Cave Conservancy be e-mailed to the editor ([email protected]), to reserve space. Copy should be received one month prior to publication date (e.g., by May 1 for a June issue). Make checks payable to the National Speleological Society Foundation and send to: Att: NSS News Advertising, 6001 Pulaski Pike NW, Huntsville, AL35810.

NSS News, April 2016 35 or at the NSS 2016 Convention inEly, Nevada! Visit us onlineat www.WesternCaves.org environmental degradation. protecting thecaves fromdevelopmentand that permitsreasonable publicaccesswhile manage theseunique environmentsinaway government andprivate landowners,wehelp By providingourexperienceandresources to outright purchase. easements, managementagreements and The WCCprotectscavesthroughconservation by populationgrowthandurbanexpansion. exploration andstudyareseverelythreatened Out inthewest,opportunitiesforcave Annual CaveConservationIssue Western Cave Conservancy West’s LastFrontier Protecting the

April 2016

Whipple Cave, Nevada. Photo by Matt Leissring