2015 Proceedings

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

21st National Cave and Karst Management1 Symposium Proceedings Hidden Landscapes—Hidden Challenges Cave City, Kentucky

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Proceedings of the Twenty First Conference Hidden Landscapes—Hidden Challenges

October 19 through 23, 2015 Cave City, Kentucky

Cover photo: Byers Cave Photo credit: Alan Cressler

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Host Organizations Cave Research Foundation Mammoth Cave National Park Western Kentucky University

NCKMS 2015 Organizing Committee Co-chairs: Pat Kambesis, Rick Toomey, Jason Polk Registration: Leslie North Treasurer: Bob Hoke Logo: Jonathan Oglesby Publicity: Shannon Trimboli, Pat Kambesis Web page: Charles Fox Program/Proceedings Pat Kambesis Technical Session: Shannon Trimboli, Pat Kambesis Field trips: Rick Toomey, Shannon Trimboli, Jason Polk Session Chairs: Johanna Kovarik: Geology/Hydrogelogy Jerry Lewis: Biology Pat Seiser: Conservation, Education, Outreach, Tourism

NCKMS Steering Committee Jim Kennedy, Chair National Speleological Society (NSS) Chris Clark American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA) Jim Goodbar Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Roger McClure Cave Research Foundation (CRF) Bill Jones Karst Waters Institute (KWI) Gordon Smith National Cave Association (NCA) George Veni National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) Dale Pate National Park Service (NPS) Bill Walker The Karst Conservancy (TKC) Cory Holliday The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Cyndee Watson U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Cynthia Sandeno U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Jim Kaufmann U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

NCKMS 2015 Sponsors American Cave Conservation Association Cave Research Foundation—Eastern Operation area and Hamilton Valley Operation area Center for Human-GeoEnvironmental Studies Crawford Hydrology Lab EnSafe, Inc. Diamond Caverns Lincoln National Forest Mammoth Cave National Park Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning National Speleological Society The Nature Conservancy—Tennessee Western Kentucky University

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium Table of Contents

Welcome 1

Geology and Hydrology Discovery and management of Georgia Caves Asanidze Lasha, Tsikarishvili Kukuri, Lezhava Zaza, Bolashvili Nana, Chikhradze Nino 3

An Investigation of Groundwater Flow in the Vicinity of Patoka Dam, Indiana: Assessment Research to Support United States Army Corps of Engineers Dam Safety risk Lee Anne Bledsoe, Lee Anne Bledsoe, Chris Groves, Kenneth Henn and Jackie Row 4

Quantitative Dye Studies to Evaluate the Spill Response System for Mammoth Cave National Park JeTara Brown, Rickard Toomey, Rick Olson, D. Solomon, and Lonnie Sharp 6

Microgravity Methods- The National Corvette Museum, Bowling Green, KY Ric Federico and Brian Ham 8

Potential Application of Hugelkultur to increase water holding capacity of karst rocky desertified land Megan Laffoon, Dr. Albert Meier, Dr. Chris Groves 9

Isotopic Evolution and Epikarst Mixing in a Telogenetic Karst System: Implications for Contaminant Transport and Groundwater Movement Keegan McClanahan, Jason Polk, Benjamin Miller, Robert Schaefer and Carl Bolster 13

An Analysis of the Lost River Karst Aquifer’s Hydrometeorological Response to Storm Events for Flooding and Water Quality Management Logan Mitcheall, Jason Polk, Kegan McClanahan 15

Dripwater chemistry and land-use study at Diamond Caverns, Hart County, KY: Science and student engagement at a show cave Ethan Morgan, Andrew Wulff, Pat Kambesis, Chris Groves 17

Building Resilience Against Karst Hazards: A Case Study of the National Corvette Museum Sinkhole Jason Polk, Ric Federico, Brian Ham, Daniel Nedvidek, Kegan McClanahan, Leslie A. North,

Pat Kambesis, and Mike Marasa 20

Analyzing possible influecnes in karst regions contributing to Harmful Algal Bloom occurrences in Freshwater Lakes Robert Schaefer, Jason Polk, Kegan McClanahan 22

Contaminant Mapping and Refugia: Hidden River Cave, Kentucky Chris Smart and Caren Raedts 24

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Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Improving Stormwater Treatment Efficiency Based on Runoff Properties at Mammoth Cave National Park. Hung-Wai Ho & Rick Toomey 27

Origin of Jewel Cave and how it supports cave management decisions Mike Wiles 30

Biology

Managing the Spread of Pseudogymnoascus destructans and Conserving Bats Threatened by White-nose Syndrome in North America Jeremy Coleman ,Jonathan D. Reichard, Richard Geboy Christopher Servheen, Christina Kocer, and Mike Armstrong 35

Strip adaptive cluster sampling with application to cave crickets. Kurt Helf 40

Monitoring in-cave Resources with Reduced Impact and increased Quantitative Capacity: Developing Photogrammetry Methodologies for in Cave Environments Robyn L. Henderek John R. Wood Benjamin W. Tobin 41

White Nose Syndrome Decontamination Video for Canada Greg Horne 44

Karst wreckage: Subterranean fauna as collateral damage Jerry Lewis and Salisa Lewis 45

The Extirpation of a Population of the Endangered Illinois Cave Amphipod (Gammarus acherondytes) by an Exotic Species: The Wednesday Cave Debacle Jerry Lewis and Salisa Lewis 47

Genus-wide assessment of Bactrurus (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) informs conservation and management of groundwater habitats Matthew L. Niemiller and Steven J. Taylor 50

White-nose Syndrome response at Mammoth Cave National Park Rick Toomey 51

Conservation-Education-Outreach-Tourism

Conservation and touristic use in Ballet Cave, Brazil: history, present situation and future outlook Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura 56

Making Cave Lint Camps a Success Gretchen M. Baker & Ben Roberts 60

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Karst and Coastal Development: A digital cave survey tool for municipal and tourism planning in Quintana Roo, Mexico James G. Coke IV & Simon Richards 63

CAVEMONITOR: Monitoring show cave in Romania Silviu Constantin 66

Cave Management and Restoration Efforts at Coronado National Memorial, Hereford,AZ Jessica Garcia, Stephanie Kangas, Ryan Janway, Tess Wagner 68

An Education is Not All Derived From Textbooks”: A Century of Interactions Between Mammoth Cave and Western Kentucky University Chris Groves, Deana Groves and Weldon Hawkins 71

Modeling Cave Temperature to Prioritize the Assessment of Over-winter Cave Use by Bats in Grand Canyon National Park David Hejna, Benjamin W. Tobin, Janice Stroude-Settles 74

White Nose Syndrome Decontamination video for Canada Greg Horne 77

Missouri Cave Database Scott House 78

National Forest Cave and Karst Management Plans- the Need to include "How to" wording. Ray C. Keeler 81

A modern gate for Ezells Cave, Texas Jim “Crash” Kennedy 86

The National Forest Service Cave and Karst Program in 2015 Johanna Kovarik 90

A Multidisciplinary Project for Sustainable Management Planning in Karst, Chiapas, Mexico Johanna Kovarik 91

Caves and public use in the Southern Espinhaço Mountain Range, Brazil Vitor Moura and Luciana Alt 92

Can Monitoring of Microorganisms from Show Caves be used in Human Impact Assessment? Oana Teodora Moldovan, Silviu Bercea, Ruxandra Nastase-Bucer 96

How Cavers Became Allies Instead of Adversaries at Mammoth Cave National Park Rick Olson 97

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Introducing the Junior Cave Scientist Program Dale Pate 101

Long Term Protection for Carlsbad Cavern Dale Pate 103

Cave and Karst Resource Management at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis Chris Thibodaux 106

Cave diving as a resource for cave management Mark Wenner 108

Cave Conservation and Restoration Course in Brazil Val Hildreth-Werker and Jim Werker 109

Cave Research Projects help promote diversity in the Geosciences De’Etra Young, Shannon Trimboli, and Thomas Byl 114

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium Welcome The theme for this year’s symposium is “Hidden Landscapes...Hidden Challenges” which is reflected in the surface and subsurface landscapes of the Mammoth Cave Region and the challenges we face living on and above those landscapes. Mammoth Cave National Park and surrounding areas serve as a natural laboratory for enhancing our understanding of complex cave systems and the associated karst watersheds. Bowling Green, Kentucky exemplifies the challenges of living on karst most notably with the recent Corvette National Museum sinkhole collapse and how those challenges are addressed which is also featured in the remediations associated with the sinkhole. The 2015 National Cave and Karst Management Symposium has brought special focus on the problems and solutions inherent to living on, managing and protecting not only the Kentucky karst but also to the many other cave and karst areas of the world.

Editor: Patricia Kambesis Cave Research Foundation Center for Human-GeoEnvironmental Studies, Western Kentucky University

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Geology/Hydrology Johanna Kovarik, Chair

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Discovery and Management of Georgian Caves

Lasha Asanidze, Kukuri Tsikarishvili , Zaza Lezhava, Nana Bolashvili, Nino Chikhradze

TSU, VakhushtiBagrationi Institute of Geography, 6 Tamarashvili, 0177, Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgian caves, as natural phenomena, massifs. The abyss of Krubera, which is the have attracted many researchers for a long world’s deepest cave (2,197 m), was time. They were often mentioned in old discovered by Georgian researchers in 1960 Georgian chronicles literary sources under the leadership of Professors Levan (Juansheri-11th century, Rustaveli-12th cen- Maruashvili, Sarma (1,830m), and Ilyuzia- tury, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani-17th century, Tovliani-mezheni (1,753m). Therefore, the etc.) and also in the works of foreign re- world’s record of karst depth penetration is in searchers and the records of travelers Georgia, which was established in the Krubera (ArkanjeloLamberti-17th century, Diubua (Voronja) abyss by the De mompere-19th century, Eduard Alpred Ukrainian Speleological Association. Martel-20th century, etc.). An especially The karst and caves are of major im- notable geographer,Vakhushti Bagrationi portance to Georgia due to both their unique (18th century) wrote the encyclopedic work geomorphology and diversity. Many of them “Geography of Georgia,’’ in which there are have diverse and unique speleothems. Re- many interesting facts about Georgian karst searchers discovered the remains of primitive and caves. It can be said that the Georgian humans living and traces of their activity in cave survey began during the era of many caves. Kudaro, Tsona, Tsutskhvati, Vakhushti Bagrationi. Dzudzuana and Jruchula caves are of world The limestone area of Georgia extends importance as archaeological monuments and along the southern slope of the Caucasus at need to be managed and protected according- a distance of 325 km from the Psou River to ly. Over the years, scientists atVakhushti the east of the Ertso Lake vicinity and verti- Bagrationi Institute of Geography made im- cally reaches about 2,705 m above sea level portant discoveries through scientific study of (Speleologist’s Peak).The total karst area is Akhali Athoni, Sataplia, Tskaltubo 4,475 sq. km, or6.4% of the whole territory (Prometheus) and other cave systems. Their of Georgia.It is estimated that karst for- research contributed to tourism development mation occurs at a depth that exceeds 4,000 of these beautiful karst features, yet more meters. Due to such deep conditions of karst work is needed to full understand and protect formation, Georgia’s mountain karst is one the cave systems. Throgh the continued work of the unique karst regions on Earth.It can of researchers at the Vakhushti Bagrationi be noted that the first three deepest abysses Institute of Geography, the number of in the world are located in Georgia’s high documented caves exceeds 1,500 in Georgia mountainous, Bzipi and Arabika limestone and more work remains to be done.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

An Investigation of Groundwater Flow in the Vicinity of Patoka Dam, Indiana: Research to Support United States Army Corps of Engineers Dam Safety Risk Assessment

Lee Anne Bledsoe1 , Chris Groves1, Kenneth Henn2 and Jackie Rowe2

1Crawford Hydrology Laboratory, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky 2U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District, Louisville Kentucky

Several dams throughout the United States the Glen Dean Limestone, and spring hydro- have been built on karst terrains, where espe- graph analysis was performed to better un- cially soluble limestone bedrock has been dis- derstand local groundwater hydrology in the solved to form features such as caves, sink- vicinity of the existing water control struc- holes, and underground rivers. In such karst tures that include the dam, grout curtain, regions, subsurface hydrology can play an in- dike, and concrete cut-off wall (Figure 1). tegral role in the condition, operation, and The previous 2008 risk analysis identified safety of dams and should be considered dur- potential failure modes, one of which was ing risk assessment and subsequent dam safety abutment seepage and piping failure of the management. Patoka Dam, near Jasper, Indi- dike and therefore efforts were focused in ana, is situated on a well-developed karst land- this area. Results identified the general local scape/aquifer system, faces significant poten- flow direction as south to north and indicate tial challenges, and recently underwent risk that a limited amount of groundwater is by- assessment. A groundwater flow investigation passing the control structures in the vicinity using multiple fluorescent tracer tests, analysis of the cut-off wall (Figure 2). Groundwater of water table elevations, isopach mapping of travel times within the Glen Dean Lime-

Figure 1. Aerial view of study area

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium stone based on initial dye arrival were are 6 to groundwater divide, reviewing potentiometric 15 meters per hour; however, mean groundwa- surface variability, and spring discharge as it ter velocities based on quantitative sampling relates to pool elevation, it could be concluded were 2 to 3 meters per hour. Tracer tests, po- that groundwater flow in the vicinity of the tentiometric surface mapping, and interpreta- dike is diffuse and/or minimal, and therefore tion of geologic mapping helped to delineate the likelihood and extent of groundwater path- the recharge area for Robert Hall Cave Spring ways may be decreased. However, it should be (RHCS), a significant groundwater discharge noted that karst landscapes are dynamic and all point downstream from Patoka Dam, and con- results should be viewed as a ‘snapshot in firm the existence of a groundwater divide in time’ rather than a description of a static sys- the area of the dike. Since lake pool elevation tem. This groundwater investigation has of- is now at or above the elevation of the Glen fered a clearer characterization of the hydroge- Dean Limestone, Patoka Lake is now consid- ology within the vicinity of Patoka Dam and ered within the drainage basin for RHCS. How- provided some insight into the function and ever, based on spring hydrograph analysis and geometry of the local karst network that could potentiometric surface variability with pool ele- potentially provide subsurface pathways for vation, it appears that the lake, though it influ- internal erosion of unconsolidated dam materi- ences flow direction and hydraulic gradient, is als and affect the integrity of the dam and/or a minor contributor to the amount of flow at dike structures. The research as presented is RHCS. In this case, the lake should be consid- intended to assist managers at Patoka Dam in ered a secondary region of the drainage basin additional intrusive and expensive geologic in that it is hydrologically connected to RHCS investigations, increase certainty in the risk but drainage appears to be largely restrained by assessment of potential failure modes related to subsurface hydraulic control structures. In de- the karst environment in which the dam oper- lineating the RHCS basin, with an important ates, and inform dam management.

Figure 2. Inferred groundwater flowpaths from all traces

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Quantitative Dye Studies to Evaluate the Spill Response System for Mammoth Cave National Park

JeTara Brown1, Rickard Toomey2, Rick Olsen2, D. Solomon1, Lonnie Sharpe3 Acknowledgement: Tom Byl1,4

1College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209 2. Science and Resources Management, Mammoth Cave National Park, KY 42259 3College of Life and Physical Sciences, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209 4U.S. Geological Survey, 640 Grassmere Park, Suite 100, Nashville, TN 37211

Mammoth Cave National Park, an Inter- gust, October, (2014) and January (2015) in national Biosphere Reserve since 1990, is the conjunction with either the onset of storm world’s largest cave with over 400 miles of sur- runoff or as the storm was winding down. veyed passages and a cave ecosystem that is Prior to each dye release, the absence of dye linked to the surface through groundwater re- was verified by monitoring waters in the charge. Groundwater, the major component of cave streams a minimum of three consecu- the cave’s formation by causing erosion and tive storms before releasing the dye. The dissolution of limestone, still plays a vital role monitoring equipment was placed in the up- in the continued geomorphic processes that per and lower cave passages, Cataracts and form the cave and its ecosystem. However, the Cascade Hall area in Silliman Ave, respec- same hydrologic processes that form the cave, tively. make the karst system vulnerable to contamina- Continuous monitoring from June, tion. With over 500,000 visits per year, it is ex- 2014, through January, 2015, was accom- pected that occasional accidents and spills will plished using two portable field fluorome- occur on the surface. Recharge areas without ters. Additional monitoring for the second storm filters and containment basins risk expos- tracer study was achieved using 12 passive ing the cave ecosystem to spilled contaminants. charcoal sampling devices. For the first test The objective of this study was to determine if on August 31, 2014, the rainfall depth was a two temporary small check dams impede chem- 2.4 inch rain event and 180 milliliters (mL) ical transport from the surface into the cave. of Rhodamine were released on the rising The check dams were approximately 2 limb of the storm runoff. The two check feet high, 2:1 slopes, and located 100- and 500- dams were still in place along the surface feet below tracer release point. Three quantita- flow routes. There was a tracer breakthrough tive tracer studies tests were conducted to test in the upper cave passage 9.7 hours after the the effectiveness of the check dams. The pres- dye was released. Sixteen hours after the ence and absence of the check dams were the time of the release, approximately half of the main variables in the studies. The tracer release recovered dye (center of mass) had moved point chosen was from a potential contamina- past the monitoring station in the upper cave tion source on the surface and the dye was passage (Cataracts). The total amount of dye monitored at upper and lower cave passages. accounted for was approximately 4 mL out The surface flow channel used in this of the 180 mL released, which is less than study was approximately 1,500 feet in length 3% of the tracer used in this study. from the tracer release point to the sinkhole. We were unsuccessful at detecting Rhodamine WT-20 dye was released in Au- any dye in the lower level because of bad

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium placement of the second fluorometer. The sec- the dye used in the study. The maximum ond test was initiated on the evening of Octo- tracer amount recovered was 288 mL of dye ber 13, 2014 during a 2.1 inch rain event. Both which was 45% of the total amount of dye check dams had been removed for this study to released. Additional dye detections in estimate the amount of time it would take for subsequent storms had not occurred in the the dye to reach the cave with no obstacles. Al- previous two tracer studies. The tracer peaks so, 12 passive charcoal samplers were placed in associated with successive storms after the a variety of locations in the lower level of the third study were probably because of the cave. Rhodamine dye (600 mL) was released timing of the tracer release in the receding in the rising limb of the storm runoff. During portion of the storm runoff, resulting in trac- this study it took 4 hours for the dye to be de- er transport stalling along the flowpath. tected in the upper cave passage (Cataracts). Overall, these studies demonstrated that The total amount of dye accounted for placing the two small check dams along the via concentration and discharge was 262 mL surface flowpath resulted in lengthening the out of the 600 mL released (43%). Although time-of-travel from 2 hours to 16 hours. It the fluorometer in the lower cave passage also reduced the amount of dye entering the failed to detect any dye again, there were posi- cave by 90%. Lastly, the third study showed tive tracer results at 5 of the 12 passive sam- that a chemical released in the last quarter of pling locations. Therefore, the fluorometer in a storm, may be transferred faster into the the lower cave passage was moved to one of cave than chemicals released in the rising the locations with a positive hit before starting limb, with a portion prone to temporary stor- the third tracer study. In the final tracer test on age. January 3, 2015, 600 milliliters of Rhodamine Additional work is needed to account were released on the declining limb of the for the remaining tracer and to better under- storm (a 0.7 inch storm) and was detected in stand the transport and storage mechanisms. the upper cave passages within 50 minutes. Approximately 38% of the dye was accounted Acknowledgement: The 12 passive charcoal for in the upper cave passage. Trace amounts samplers were analyzed by the Crawford were detected in the lower level approximately Hydrology Lab at Western Kentucky Uni- 3.5 days later. Furthermore, subsequent storms versity, C. Salley and L. Bledsoe, analysts. produced additional tracer data in the upper cave passage that accounted for another 7% of

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

National Corvette Museum Microgravity: The National Corvette Museum Ric Federico and Brian Ham

EnSafe, 1148 College Street, Bowling Green, KY 42101

On February 12, 2014 a collapse opened aid in identifying other potential karst fea- beneath the “Skydome” of the National Cor- tures beneath the Skydome. Other ap- vette Museum in Bowling Green, Warren proaches/methods (e.g., ground-penetrating County, Kentucky where several classic Chev- radar, electrical resistivity, seismic refrac- rolet Corvettes were on display. The incident tion, air hammer drilling) were considered garnered global media attention, bolstered by but eliminated for reasons ranging from dramatic security camera footage showing depth or resolution limitations to safety is- eight of the Corvettes dropping into the void. sues associated with potential subsurface In the hours following the event, EnSafe per- instability. sonnel mobilized to the site at the request of Ultimately the Skydome was evaluated Museum management to work with Western using three investigative methods imple- Kentucky University (WKU) representatives in mented sequentially: water jet drilling initial assessment of the collapse feature. (during micropile installation for structural EnSafe also provided support in evaluating po- stabilization), a microgravity survey, and tential environmental and safety concerns at the cave mapping, with excellent correlation of Skydome during initial response activities. findings among the various datasets. EnSafe Based upon EnSafe’s experience evaluat- was responsible for designing and conducting subsurface karst features and application of ing a microgravity survey, interpreting and geophysical methods, microgravity was recom- presenting the resulting microgravity data, mended as a relatively low cost, high resolution and contributing a team member to enter and method to evaluate the extent of the void and map the cave after the microgravity data were collected.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Potential Application of Hugelkultur to Increase Water Holding Capacity of Karst Rocky Desertified Lands

Megan Laffoon, Dr. Albert Meier, Dr. Chris Groves

Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Globally, desertification has been identi- tion (Yuan, 1997). As a consequence, ex- fied as one of the most pressing environmental tensive areas have developed KRD and the problems due to its impact on agricultural impact of human activity is indicated as the productivity and water availability (Conceição primary driving force (Wang et al., 2004; and Mendoza 2008). Desertification is defined Xu et al. 2013). as “land degradation… resulting from various Poverty is widespread in KRD affected factors, including climatic variations and hu- areas. Increasing environmental pressure man activities” (Reynold et al. 2007). As a re- due to population growth and poor agricul- sult of erosion and vegetation loss, the ability tural practices on vulnerable soil on karst of these areas to sustain life is degraded. Alt- slopes exacerbates the cycle: poverty to hough climate change has been shown to influ- population growth to environmental degra- ence rates of land degradation, there is a strong- dation (Tang and Xia, 2001). Current re- er correlation with human activities (Harriman search efforts focus on breaking the cycle 2014). While the majority of desertification of degradation. takes place in arid and semi-arid environments, A conjunction of the words this is not always the case. Karst Rocky Deser- “permanent” and “agriculture,” the term tification (KRD) refers to areas where the soil “permaculture” first originated in a collab- loss has created extensive surface exposures of orative effort between David Holmgren and limestone bedrock, particularly widespread Bill Madison to describe an “integrated, through the vast karst area of rural southwest evolving system of perennial or self- China (Yuan, 1997) perpetuating plant and animal species use- In undisturbed karst systems, the ful to man” and as integrated design sci- epikarstic zone in the vicinity of the soil/ ence (Mollison and Holmgren 1978). In bedrock interface can provide significant stor- essence, permaculture is intentionally de- age of shallow water resources. When the soil signed through species selection and over- is lost, precipitation can immediately percolate all structure to mimic natural environmen- through the bedrock into deeper, less accessible tal relationships in order to sustain a com- areas of the aquifer. Without the soil to hold munity. water at the surface, plants and in turn human In the current study, we examined one populations can face desert-like conditions variation within the permaculture system even as groundwater flows beneath. called hugelkultur, an etymologically Ger- The Southwest China Karst, once well man word meaning “mound culture.” In his known for areas of old growth forest, covers book, Sepp Hotlzer’s Permaculture, 540,000 km2 of land with several provinces in Holtzer first describes these raised beds. southwestern China, principally Sichuan, Hugelkultur beds are made to imitate natu- Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and ral nutrient cycling found in wood decom- Yunnan. Large-scale deforestation and slash position and the high water holding capaci- and burn cultivation transformed the rural ties of organic detritus, while also improv- countryside, leaving it vulnerable to degrada- ing bed structure and drainage properties. The beds are, in essence, large, layered 9

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium piles of woody debris or other detritus under a To project the amount of water that could layer of soil (Holtzer 2011). be held in a 1 hectare field with hugels, if We propose that the high organic matter hugels were built to widths corresponding to content of the hugel beds will demonstrate a each test hugel and a footpath of equivalent higher water holding capacity (WHC), and en- width was left in between each hugel, the wa- hance soil development, in a way that may ter present per volume of soil core sample was show promise as a potential method to help multiplied by the volume of a hypothetical 100 alleviate problems of KRD. meter long hugel and the number of such hugels that could be built in a hectare. A simi- Methods lar formula was applied to the desertified sam- Soil samples were taken from hugels at ples. three different locations in Bowling Green Precipitation data was obtained through Kentucky, which has a karst landscape in ways Kentucky Mesonet (http:// similar to that of parts of Southwest China, www.kymesonet.org). beginning in April 2015. We sampled biweek- ly with a 1.5 cm diameter soil corer. Hugel Results cores, unless halted by wood, were taken to 30 Over the course of three months, the wa- cm. To determine the amount of water held in ter levels in the hugels stayed consistently a water saturated plot of desertified land, sam- high; the fluctuation in moisture reflected pre- ples were taken on land with similar character- cipitation levels (Figure 1). The saturated sam- istics to KRD sites i.e. an area dominated by ple taken on KRD land showed M = 7.74 ± 2.5 exposed bedrock in Bowling Green, Kentucky. SD cm of soil depth and was estimated to hold Soil cores were placed in Whirl-Pak sam- 154,000 kg/Ha. When compared to the mock pling bags and weighed on an electric balance, desertified area, the hugeled plot demonstrated and then transferred into a paper bag. The a much higher WHC M = 955,084 ± 51,038 samples were then prepared to be oven dried o SE kg/Ha. Even through the dry weather peri- overnight at 120 C. The samples were then ods, hugels contained more water than that reweighed to determine changes in soil mois- held in a water saturated KRD plot. ture. We used a modified formula for the Discussion volume of a cylinder to determine the volume Although hugels required a large amount of each hugel. Using the wet and dry weights of initial input of organic material (soil, com- to ascertain grams of water present per volume post, logs), they can be used for years after- of sample core, we multiplied the volume of ward as a lower maintenance agricultural sys- the hugel of origin by the amount of water per tem. This study suggests that hugel construc- volume of soil core to estimate the amount of tion could greatly increase water stored on water present in each hugel. KRD lands (Figure 1). One Ha of hugels con-

Location Sam- Date Es- Source Material (Lat/Long) ple tablished Name 36.972450, UUH1 May 2013 Onsite trees and soil, -86.462412 hay and leaves UUH2 May 2014 36.979561, EBH1 March Nearby trees, aged -86.416342 2014 firewood, onsite soil Table 1: Hugel location and details

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 1:Mass of Water in Hugels per Ha and Rainfall over Time

To project the amount of water that could Discussion be held in a 1 hectare field with hugels, if Although hugels required a large hugels were built to widths corresponding to amount of initial input of organic material each test hugel and a footpath of equivalent (soil, compost, logs), they can be used for width was left in between each hugel, the water years afterward as a lower maintenance agri- present per volume of soil core sample was cultural system. This study suggests that multiplied by the volume of a hypothetical 100 hugel construction could greatly increase meter long hugel and the number of such water stored on KRD lands (Figure 1). One hugels that could be built in a hectare. A similar Ha of hugels contains 3 to 10 times more formula was applied to the desertified sam- water than a flat plot of desertified land. In ples.Precipitation data was obtained through the same amount of land, farmers would be Kentucky Mesonet (http:// able to store and use more water, and use www.kymesonet.org). less irrigation, than if they depended on traditional row cropping. This has potential im- Results plications for future productivity of agricul- Over the course of three months, the water tural in areas affected by KRD. levels in the hugels stayed consistently high; Samples from December 2013 provide a the fluctuation in moisture reflected precipita- better demonstration of the benefits of tion levels (Figure 1). The saturated sample tak- hugelkultur using building methods of the en on KRD land showed M = 7.74 ± 2.5 SD cm sampled hugels more closing mimic the con- of soil depth and was estimated to hold 154,000 ditions in China. Those hugels were con- kg/Ha. When compared to the mock desertified structed using wood, mulch and limited soil area, the hugeled plot demonstrated a much obtained on site. Even with minimal treat- higher WHC M = 955,084 ± 51,038 SE kg/Ha. ment, samples taken from the hugels con- Even through the dry weather periods, hugels tained an average of 59% water by gram contained more water than that held in a water while the samples from the control, flat land saturated KRD plot. plots, contained 33% water per gram. Unfor- tunately these hugels were transferred to another owner and destroyed.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

In order to be applied in the KRD areas in the possibility of self-propagation through on- southwestern China, hugelkultur needs to be hugel tree cultivation increase the accessibil- effective in several arenas: practical building ity of productive hugelkultur systems. These methods, agricultural yield, and WHC. This systems could be established on the outskirt study demonstrates its effectiveness in WHC, of rural villages impacted by KRD using and research on the yield qualities of hugels is available soil in combination with assorted currently being studied. As for construction organic matter. Trees could be planted into practicality, flexibility in building materials and these hugels along with other indigenous edi- ble or economically valuable plants to create a sustainable, profitable system. References

Conceição, P. and Mendoza, R. U. 2008. Anat- Tang, J., Xia, R., 2001.Characteristics of wa- omy of the Global Food Crisis. Third ter and land resources and remedy World Quaterly 30: 1159-1182 measures of ecological environment in karst mountain areas of south Chi- Harriman, L. 2014. The future of the Aral Sea na. Carsologica Sinica, 20(2): 140- lies intransboundaryco–operation. 148. (in Chinese) UNEP Global Environmental Alert Wang, S. J., Liu, Q. M., & Zhang, D. F. Service (2004). Karst rocky desertification in southwestern Chi Holtzer, S. 2011 Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: na: geomorphology, landuse, impact and re- A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Inte- habilitation. Land degradation & de- grative Farming and Gardening. Chel- velopment, 15(2), 115-121. sea Green Publishing Xu,E., Zhang,H., Li,M.. 2013 Mining spatial information to investigate the evolu- Mollison, B., Holmgren, D. 1978. Permacul- tion of karst rocky desertification and ture One: A Perennial Agriculture for its human driving forces in Chang- Human Settlements. International Tree shun, China. Science of the Total En- Crop Institute USA vironment 458-460: 419-426.

Reynold, J. F., Smith, D. M. S.,Lambin, E. F., Yuan, D., 1997, Rock desertification in the Turner, B. L.,Mortimore, subtropical karst of south China. M.,Batterbury, S. P. J., Downing, T. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie. 108: 81- E.,Dowlatabadi, H., Fernandez, R. J., 90. Herrick, J. E., Huber-Sannwald, E., Jiang, H.,Leemans, R.,Lynam, T.,Maestre, F. T.,Atarza, M., Walker, B. 2007. Global Desertification: Build- ing a Science for Dryland Develop- ment. Science 316: 847-851

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Isotopic Evolution and Epikarst Mixing in a Telogenetic Karst System: Implications for Contaminant Transport and Groundwater Movement

Kegan McClanahan1, Jason Polk1, Benjamin Miller1, Robert Schaefer1, and Carl Bolster2

1Western Kentucky University, Department of Geography and Geology, Bowling Green, KY 42101 2USDA-ARS, 2413 Nashville Road, Bowling Green, KY 42101

There exists a limited understanding of hy- coli (E. coli) loadings, and excessive nutri- drogeologic flow and contaminant transport ents (nitrogen, phosphorus). Proper under- within karst aquifers, particularly in the epikarst standing of how these contaminants are in- zone, which is highly susceptible to natural and troduced to the karst aquifer and the subse- anthropogenic contamination, such as agricul- quent transport is critical to reducing con- tural runoff, due to the interconnected nature of tamination and improving future water the surface and subsurface. Understanding the quality. storage, flow, and transport dynamics through Crumps Cave in Warren County, south the epikarst is fundamental to protecting and -central Kentucky, is a shallow epikarst managing the water quality and quantity of cave underlying a large agricultural region karst aquifers. The epikarst is often where con- near the town of Smiths Grove. The taminants are located and also where mixing Crumps Cave Preserve, owned and man- can occur between meteoric and groundwater aged by Western Kentucky University, en- sources. compasses an approximately 200 meter di- Approximately 25% of the world’s popula- ameter sinkhole and the entrance to Crumps tion relies on karst aquifers for potable water. Cave. Crumps Cave consists of approxi- Currently, federal and state water quality regu- mately 2050 meters of surveyed passage lations do not recognize karst aquifers as and averages a depth of approximately 15- unique entities with enhanced vulnerability to 20 meters below the surface. This epikarst contamination. The National Pollutant Dis- cave offers a “snapshot” into the evolution charge Elimination System (NPDES) allows the and mixing of waters between the surface US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the deep regional aquifer more than 45 to regulate point source discharge (factory, meters below the surface. house, etc.); however, non-point discharge (e.g. While few tools exist to study the agriculture, forestry, mining, construction, etc.) “black box” nature of epikarst dynamics, is more difficult to monitor and regulate. Karst stable isotope hydrology offers an effective aquifers, especially in south-central Kentucky alternative to traditional karst investigative underlie vast agricultural areas and as such are techniques, such as dye tracing, to evaluate subject to a broad spectrum of natural and an- flow dynamics and water-soil-rock interac- thropogenic contaminants. These aquifers feed tions across a range of spatial and temporal local surface water bodies (rivers and lakes) resolutions, particularly with respect to re- that are relied upon for recreation, food, water charge over long periods. Using stable iso- supply, and income. Many surface water bodies topes of water (18O/16O and 2H/1H), re- in south-central Kentucky are under water qual- charge can be traced from meteoric sources ity study for harmful algal blooms, Escherichia through the epikarst, providing insight to

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium the pathways of recharge, flow, mixing, and While seasonal and storm pulses transport dynamics across multiple spatial and showed significant variation associated temporal scales in telogenetic karst systems. A with changing atmospheric sources, the secondary method performing base flow sepa- epikarst waterfall isotope signal remained ration of multiple discrete storms was used to constant across the dataset. This homoge- quantify epikarst storage by comparing re- nizing effect implies mixing occurs in the charge volumes with in-cave waterfall dis- shallow epikarst zone across both short and charges. long time intervals. Previous estimates of During 2011-2013, weekly isotope sam- baseflow separation of the waterfall indicat- ples were collected from rainfall and an ed that the epikarst storage is potentially epikarstic in-cave waterfall in Crumps Cave. two to three orders of magnitude higher All samples were collected in 10 mL screw cap than at regional springs, revealing that stor- vials with no head space and stored at 4°C. age in the epikarst can play a significant Analysis of all samples was conducted at the role in recharge and as a mixing zone for University of Kentucky’s Earth and Environ- contaminant transport. mental Science (UK EES) Stable Isotope Lab. The results found in this study im- Using the isotope data, along with 10-min in- ply contaminants introduced to the epikarst cave waterfall discharge, precipitation, and ge- during different seasons could mix at a rate ochemical data, the storm, seasonal, and annual that influences the contaminant signal transport dynamics of water through the throughout the year, particularly at epikarst were evaluated. Campbell Scientific baseflow. Contaminants introduced to the CR10x dataloggers with pH, conductivity, tem- system may remain in the epikarst for long- perature and pressure transducer sensors rec- er time periods, possibly multiple seasons, orded 10-minute water geochemistry data and and not flush through the epikarst into the discharge of the in-cave waterfall. In a field groundwater in shorter time spans. This has adjacent to the cave entrance, an Onset HOBO significant implications for the assessment U30 weather station recorded 10-minute mete- and execution of water quality monitoring orological conditions and precipitation. and regulation.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium An Analysis of the Lost River Karst Aquifer’s Hydrometeorological Response to Storm Events for Flooding and Water Quality Management

Logan Mitchell, Jason Polk, Kegan McClanahan

Center for Human-GeoEnvironmental Studies, Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101.

The purpose of this research is to exam- totals from Lost River Rise (LRR) and ine storm event induced flooding and hydro- Blue Hole Four (BHF), both outputs of the meteorological responses in the Lost Rive Lost River Karst Aquifer. (Figure 1) Karst Aquifer System. In order to achieve ASOS and COOP are both automated, this, precipitation totals from Automated quality-controlled weather networks ran by Surface Observing System (ASOS), Cooper- the National Weather Service. KYMN is ative Observer Program (COOP), Communi- also automated and quality controlled, but ty Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Net- is ran by the Kentucky Climate Center on work (CoCoRAHS), and Kentucky Mesonet WKU’s campus. CoCoRAHS is a manual, (KYMN) weather stations within the same volunteer-based weather network. All of drainage basin were compared to discharge

Figure 1 Monitoring locations

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium the major weather stations that are located in the Lost River Basin were used to make it possible to address the non-homogeneity of precipitation across the basin. Both daily and monthly resolutions were used so that individual storm events could be analyzed, while also focusing on comparison of the larger hydrometeorological responses by comparing those to the baseflow regime. Definite baseflow levels were found at both LRR and at BHF (Figures 2 and 3). Data were measured and collected for 20 continuous months, with evapotranspiration being accounted for at monthly resolution. Figure 2 Discharge and Recharge graph for HOBOWare and EcoWatch software were Lost River Blue Hole used to measure and record data, while Sig- maPlot was used for further statistical analysis of storm events to determine predictive flood modeling between the primary output (LRR) and the upstream conduit (BHF). A predictive storm model that helps explain the basin responses in the system to differing storm events was created. The results indicate there are critical thresholds at which the system responds to storm events and that seasonal influences are present. The next step of this research is to pair the geochemical data already being collected with the discharge values, displaying the flux in geochemical composition during storm events. It is also hoped to create a flood mitigation index to better prepare for future flooding events. This research has broader im- Figure 3 Discharge and Recharge graph for pacts in providing an increased understanding Lost River Rise. of karst-related hydrometeorological interactions within the Lost River Cave Aquifer Sys- tem, which pose the threat of flood risk, and possible application to better plan for development in the basin as well as others with similar characteristics.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Student Science in the Caverns: Characterizing Drip Water Chemistry at Diamond Caverns, Kentucky

Ethan Morgan, Andrew Wulff, Pat Kambesis, and Chris Groves

Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY

An investigation of spatial and temporal involved a hydrogeochemical study of the variations in the chemistry of cave drip waters H2O–CO2–Ca-Mg system in the vadose zone was initiated at Diamond Caverns, a private of Diamond Caverns. These specific data show cave near Mammoth Cave National and the resulting karst water model were Park, Kentucky during the period May 2007 to able to shed light on factors influencing the July 2008. As part of independent student re- microclimatic and geochemical aspects of search projects, undergraduate geology-major the cave. Data from this project add more students were central to fieldwork, data collec- broadly to the regional understanding of vation and in the lab analysis, in order to develop dose zone geochemistry. both technical experience and critical thinking The main objectives of this research skills. were: 1) Physical-chemical characterization Diamond Caverns, as a show cave with a of karst waters, and analysis in time and management team that was very supportive of space of parameters such as pH, tempera- student work and cave researc made an excel- ture, CO2 content, and electrical conductivi- lent research site due to easy access, security, ty; 2) Preliminary evaluation of the relation- and the ready outreach opportunities. Because ships between land use, the external atmos- we were allowed to sample during times while phere and soil cover, composition of drip- the caverns were open to the public, visitors waters, and the processes of precipitation were able to watch the collections and view and dissolution of carbonate minerals and the collection sites as part of the tours. A goal transfer of CO2, and 3) Involvement of un- of the study was to educate the guides in the dergraduate students in field research. basics of the collection process so that they Samples were collected approximately could answer visitor questions. A poster show- every three weeks for 13 months from fif- ing the process and some results was made teen sites extending approximately 0.7 km available to the management to be placed in from the mouth of the cave along, or adja- the lobby to further the goal of building the cent to, the tourist trail through the cave. relationship between the science and the fun The majority of drips came off the end of and engagement of the show cave. Tourist speleothems, and drip length varied from caves such as Diamond Caverns offer excep- centimeters to over a meter. After training, tional locations and opportunities for high- the students collected the samples and rec- visibility science that are accessible and inter- orded various parameters within the cave at esting to visitors curious about the relationship each site, including CO2 levels, temperature, between the natural underground that they are rate of flow (drips/minute), and date and exploring and the overlying surface environ- time. Water samples accumulated in fixed ment. Many questions they express about the positions below drips until a minimum of relationships between human activities and 300 mL was collected. Total volumes of water quality and the cave environments could dripwater were measured to estimate rates of be answered by tour guides using the sample infiltration drip at each location. Tempera- collection points as examples. ture, pH and alkalinity were measure at the Initially, the principal research questions time of or soon after sample collection, All 17

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium samples were analyzed by the students, again gy. For example, Na abundances and Na/Ca after appropriate training, at the Environmental were strongly correlated with areas close to Research and Training Laboratory (ERTL) at paved surfaces near the cave’s visitor’s cen- the University of Kentucky. The suite of ele- ter, roads, and parking lots, perhaps reflect- ments analyzed included Ca, Mg, K, Na, Ba, ing the use of salt on the roads during winter Sr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Si, Al, and Zn. These months. Strong drought conditions in 2007 data were used to establish a base composition introduced the possibility of sustained accu- for dripwaters from Diamond Caverns, identify mulation of heavy/base metals on surface outlier compositions, and compare these data roads and parking areas, which could be to both external (above-ground) and cave inte- washed into the cave during sporadic show- rior environmental variables. Spatial parame- ers. However, base metal (Zn, Cd, Cu and ters included CO2 levels and electrical conduc- others) concentrations were a less consistent tivity, potential groundwater flow paths, and indicator of overlying paved surfaces than external environmental conditions (e.g. prox- expected. Certain elements (e.g. Ca) did imity to paved and agricultural areas). There vary with precipitation, as higher Ca con- were some complexities involved in establish- centrations occurred during drier periods ing a baseline compositions for drip waters, while lower Ca concentrations were correlat- even at a specific site. These included: 1) rec- ed with wetter periods, particularly near the ord drought conditions coupled with a wet mouth and at the far end of the trail. winter; 2) complex interactions between mete- Various elemental ratios (Sr/Ca and oric waters and soils and bedrock; 3) variable Mg/Ca) were used to approximate residence dissolution and precipitation rates; and 4) evi- time for waters in overlying lithologies. dence of varying source lithologies in the va- Higher Mg/Ca in samples near the mouth of dose region. the cave suggests stagnation of waters in While the initial scientific questions asso- contact with dolomitic bedrock, while higher ciated with analysis of the dripwaters were of Sr/Ca indicate proportionally more calcite limited use to direct management of the cave, water/rock interactions. results also ended up showing relationships This project was designed as a model of between surface landuse and drip water chem- a longitudinal study that was executed en- istry that identified sources of potential, future tirely by undergraduate Geology majors. environmental problems. A detailed cave sur- The students set up a rotation for collecting vey facilitated the comparison of surface fea- the samples. They were trained by personnel tures to sampled sites below. Certain elemental at the ERTL lab at University of Kentucky abundances, while not at high concentrations and prepared and analyzed the samples un- (e.g. Cu, Cr, Zn, Fe, Al, Na) were correlated to der the supervision of technicians there. surface sources of anthropogenic contamina- Each student was able to present different tion, while elemental ratios (e.g. Ca/Mg and aspects of the research as the project pro- Ca/Sr) were used in conjunction with drip rates gressed, gaining important experience in dis- to predict which sites were direct conduits to seminating science at professional confer- the surface, and which had more complicated ences. These types of studies are ideal for vadose zone plumbing. Geochemical varia- long-term projects, which are difficult to tions were compared to meteorological param- resolve during the limited time available for eters at collected nearby. a graduate student. A series of undergradu- Elemental abundances varied over the du- ates will all gain valuable experience in exe- ration of sampling sometimes by a factor of cuting scientific procedures, while contrib- four or more at a single site. These variations uting to a large data base, also making the were compared to wet and dry periods, prox- entire project more cost-effective by limiting imity to paved surfaces, drip rates, and litholo- the need for graduate assistantships. The

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium presence of low impact sampling sites increases the next generation of environmental scien- the value of the visitor experience by demon- tists gets a direct insight into the relevant strating HOW scientists learn and contribute to processes in the scientifically appropriate, the information given by tour guides. yet accessible environment of a developed We cannot protect what we cannot under- show cave. This setting also presents a nat- stand. Often, groundwater in karst regions and ural opportunity public outreach and en- more generally is hidden away and out of site. gagement into environmental science. Sampling directly from caves can give direct access to this often hidden realm. In this case,

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Building Resilience against Karst Hazards: A case study of the National Corvette Museum Sinkhole

Jason S. Polk1, Ric Federico2, Brian Ham2, Daniel Nedvidek2, Kegan McClanahan1, Leslie A. North1, Pat Kambesis1, and Mike Marasa3

1Western Kentucky University, Department of Geography and Geology, Bowling Green, KY 42101 2EnSafe, 1148 College Street, Bowling Green, KY 42101 3Hayward Baker, Inc., 53 Century Blvd, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37214,

Sinkholes are a common part of life in building and threat of further damage and south-central Kentucky, but when a major col- safety concerns, a multi-disciplinary ap- lapse occurred on February 12th, 2014 at the proach was used to collaboratively bring National Corvette Museum (NCM) in Bowling cave and karst geoscience, geology, engi- Green, (Figure 1) residents and the media alike neering, hydrology, construction, and geo- took notice as it received significant attention physical methods together to investigate and around the world. The collapse occurred inside explore the sinkhole and underlying cave the Skydome portion of the building (Figure 2), passage. where eight rare Corvettes fell into the hole that During this time, Western Kentucky opened in the concrete floor. The Museum im- University (WKU) worked with the City of mediately began to provide details to the public Bowling Green, Warren County, and the and made the decision to share information for Museum to disseminate information to the the sake of transparency and invite help from public about the sinkhole. This included ed- the community to deal with the unexpected ucating people that it is not uncommon for event. Investigation of the sinkhole collapse landforms like caves, sinkholes, and springs began immediately while the Corvettes were to be found in locations where many people extracted from the void. Due to the complex live and thrive everyday. In fact, more than nature of the sinkhole’s location inside the 6,500 sinkholes were reported in the United

Figure 1. The Skydome is located near the contact between the Ste. Gen- evieve and St. Louis limestones on the Pennyroyal sinkhole plain. Data from the KGS Map Information Service.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

States over the last 60 years, with many occurring in Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, Virginia, and elsewhere. The NCM sinkhole was a less common type of sinkhole, offering a chance to explore and document its investigation and remediation from start to finish. WKU worked with the City of Bowl- ing Green to provide information through its joint UnderBGKY groundwater awareness campaign, which provided an avenue by which the public could learn more about karst landscapes and the role and formation of sinkholes. To date, the team has created a series of educational resources, including a website, infographics, short videos, and karst visualizations, along with written descrip- tions of various aspects of living on karst terrains. There were over 8.5 billion media hits on the NCM sinkhole, which provided an opportunity to engage the public and pri- Figure 2, Collapse at Corvettte Museum Skydome vate sectors in a conversation about sinkhole hazards, including the implications for build- bust investigation of the sinkhole collapse has ing codes, insurance, and storm water man- provided additional data about its formation, agement in several major karst areas of the impacts, and remediation. U.S. and abroad. Several talks, documen- WKU is working with the Museum and taries, and other events were held to engage an outside consultant to develop a highly de- the public and interested stakeholders in tailed, unique, interactive educational exhibit learning more about karst hazards and their about the sinkhole and karst landscapes that mitigation. Researchers from WKU are also will provide visitors an opportunity to experi- using this trigger to initiate research on ways ence firsthand how sinkholes form and get ac- to learn more about the most effective tools curate scientific knowledge about karst land- and techniques for educating about karst scapes. landscapes, since they are often widely mis- Collectively, this has highlighted the understood. importance of collaborative karst geotechnical Through collaborative work within investigations to better understand and remedi- the NCM sinkhole team, a thorough and ro- ate karst hazards, such as sinkholes, and the

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Analyzing possible influences in Karst Regions Contributing to Harmful Algal Bloom Occurrences in Freshwater Lakes

Robert Schaefer, Jason S. Polk, Kegan McClanahan

Center for Human-GeoEnvironmental Studies, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101 United States,

HABs, or harmful algal blooms, are oc- Rough River Lake (Figure 1) were placed curring in lakes in central Kentucky, which under advisory. These lakes play important is a large karst region. These HABs consist roles for the local communities as sources of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), which of water, recreation, income, and flood con- can bloom in high enough densities to pose trol as well as serving as the communities’ a threat to human health and ecosystems economic centers. The HABs pose a threat through the production of cyanotoxins. Dur- to these communities, yet little has been ing the year of 2013, several Kentucky lakes done to study their formation or spatial dis- and reservoirs were placed under water tribution, particularly within the context of quality advisories by the United States Ar- karst groundwater inputs. Interestingly, my Corps of Engineers (USACE) in regards these lakes have had HABs form in winter to high cell count densities of cyanobacteria, months, a rare occurrence. This winter per World Health Organization (WHO) bloom phenomenon has not yet been stud- guidelines. Both Nolin River Lake and ied, though understanding why it occurs is

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 2: The cell count data collected during 2013 for each lake. The graphs show HABs occurring throughout the seasons, including winter. A dangerous bloom is one that has a cell count over 200,000 cells/mL, by WHO standards.

important due to the health threats presented occurrence of HABs in these karst influ- by these HABs. The USACE monitored the enced lakes, particularly in the winter. Fur- cyanobacteria cell counts in the lakes for the ther qualitative analysis using GIS analysis last two years, but the lakes were sampled on involving the landuse, hydrogeology, and different schedules and different selection cri- population densities surrounding the lake teria were used to select the sample sites. Cur- when paired with the historic bloom data rently, monitoring is being done on a bi- revealed interesting results (Figures 1 & 2). weekly basis for multiple parameters, which The peaks of the blooms seem to correlate include pH, SpC, temperature, nutrients, and with certain landuse practices that may have N isotopes with sampling sites near karst in- an effect on their occurrence. These blooms puts. Together, these data will be used with are seemingly occurring during time periods the existing data in a GIS to spatially analyze in which karst influenced groundwater is the the possible karst influences on HAB occur- likely source of nutrient contamination. The rences in the two lakes being studied. A spa- nutrient laced karst groundwater also maybe tial analysis of the historic sample sites and the cause of the winter blooms. cell count data for 2013 were entered into a Figure 2: The cell count data collected geodatabase and examined utilizing the in- during 2013 for each lake. The graphs show verse distance weighted average tool from HABs occurring throughout the seasons, Desktop or ArcGIS 10.2.2. Results indicate including winter. A dangerous bloom is one possible contributions from karst groundwater that has a cell count over 200,000 cells/mL, inputs may be contributing to the timing and by WHO standards.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Contaminant Mapping and Refugia: Hidden River Cave, Kentucky

Chris Smart and Caren Raedts

Department of Geography, Western University, London, ON N6A 5C2 Canada

Hidden River Cave has a long history sects and analysed using spectrofluorometry of exploitation as a power and water re- (synchronous scans at delta lambda 20 and source, as a tourist attraction and as the re- 90 nm). Fluorescence spectra were cipient of industrial waste and untreated smoothed and normalised to the median fluo- municipal sewage, culminating in metal rescence intensity (I(med)λ by wavelength ( I contamination, eutrophication and anaero- (norm)λ = Log (Iλ/ I(med)λ)) such that rela- bic conditions in the cave stream in the late tively high contamination was indicated by 1970s. Upgraded treatment and construc- values > zero, and relatively clean water by tion of a trunk sewer in the early 1980s re- values < zero. Specific fluorescence peaks lieved the cave of the contamination, and also indicate particular fluorophores imply- water quality was restored along with the ing the contaminant source. remarkable return of a variety of cave fau- The narrative, observations and water na, particularly the blind cave crayfish quality revealed ongoing chronic and acute (Orconectes pellucidus). The geography of contamination associated with specific inlets the contamination and recovery indicated and channels in the cave. These are summa- that much of the recovery arose from a rela- rised in table 1. Some contaminants were tively pristine upstream tributary (Wheet observed every year and are classified as River) that apparently acted as a refugium chronic, others were delivered as on-off epi- when much of the cave was contaminated. sodes and are characterised as acute likely a The catchment area of the Hidden Riv- rising through accidental spills, although res- er Cave has been gradually industrialised in idues were often persistent. Other acute subsequent years, and the blind crayfish events were repeated suggesting more rou- populations have reportedly declined or tine release. The annual survey method pre- been eliminated in response to undocu- vented accurate time demarcation of contam- mented contamination events. In collabora- ination episodes. tion with the America Cave Museum and The nature of the contaminant was used American Cave Conservation Association, to establish a putative land use, while the the annual Kentucky field course from the location and distribution was used to define a University of Western Ontario has under- likely surface catchment area. Assuming a taken a longitudinal survey of cave contam- fairly direct link between the surface and un- ination, with the objective of identifying derlying contaminant source allowed pro- contaminant source and pathways, and pos- specting for the respective land use using sible amelioration and protection. Narra- Google Earth and Streetview. These sites tive accounts of pollution episodes were were then investigated in the field to test the used to loosely characterise the contami- inferences arising from mapping. nant and its source tributary or inlet. The A number of distinctive, but relatively cave upstream of the entrance was surveyed low impact contaminants proved easy to for blind crayfish populations and evidence track down. For example a trail of mulch de- of contaminant residues. Water samples bris running from the bin into an adjacent were collected from inlets and stream tran- sinkhole draining into the headwaters of

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Similarly, the plastic beads (#1, commonly ry reveals the forecourt of the plant being called nurdles) are stock material used in plas- hosed down with runoff draining towards tic forming and injection molding. They were the well. Field inspection shows trucks be- largely found downstream of “Main Corridor”, ing washed with contaminated runoff drain- the tributary that had carried the historical sew- ing into the drainage well. The on-site set- age effluent into the cave. A major plastic tling pond is not functional. packaging plant lay immediately south of the The waterfall inlet has very distinctive inlet sinkhole, with a line of stock hoppers ar- contamination with steady flow (regardless rayed in the catchment area of the sinkhole. No of drought conditions), very low ambient runoff control or filtration protection was evi- fluorescence and odor of chlorine implying dent. An accidental spill of the plastic beads is a drinking water source, but with the persis- inferred to have been washed or carried in run- tent presence of a distinctive fluorescein off into the adjacent sinkhole and into the cave. peak (512nm). The most likely source for The organic waste events (#3, reported as this is a nearby carwash. Streetview and foul smelling effluent with LNAPL blobs) are field inspection reveal runoff entering a found in the Wheet River, but have an impact drain that is inferred to soak away into on all downstream reaches of the cave river. groundwater. Various fluorescent dyes are Various industrial plants occupy the upper used in Car wash soap solutions to increase Wheet River catchment, but the most likely the apparent brightness of the finish. source is a regional wastewater treatment plant Oil and fuel contaminants in other in- established to handle waste from a bakery and lets through the midsection of the cave may condiments factory. The plant removes grease be from local garages, or a somewhat chaot- and solids (that are carried away by truck), di- ic recycling yard that drains into a series of gests the high BOD waters and passes the par- collapsing sinkholes. tically treated water to the regional sewage Kneebuster contamination presents treatment plant. The Google Earth historical problems as this tributary has served as an imagery reveals that this plant was created important refugium and educational re- around 2008, but has expanded with the addi- source. A blob of DNAPL was observed in tion of runoff control and a waste lagoon in 2008, with dead crayfish on top. The most 2011. Informal narrative accounts indicate that recent event occurred in summer 2015, excess load or mechanical failure lead to re- when an oily black ooze entered from a side lease of untreated or partially treated waste. passage, eliminating all crayfish from the Before construction of the lagoon, this waste passage. These episodes are interpreted as would have entered a closed depression up- “legacy” contamination sequestered in sedi- stream of the Wheet River headwaters. Even ment deposited in the 1970s. Unfortunately, after construction of the lagoon, field inspec- these materials retain their potency through tion has revealed collapses in the floor, and any many years waste entering the lagoon is left to discharge to The final source of contamination is a the sinkhole, albeit at a reduced rate. Plans small inlet that exhibits slimy overgrowths have been made to line the lagoon to reduce the and a persistent peak at 410nm suggesting risk of collapse. laundry brighteners in domestic sewage. The cave stream is lost under breakdown in The source of such contamination cannot be the midsection of the cave, but a number of in- narrowed down, although the regional trunk lets convey contaminants that are seen in the sewer runs just overhead of this point in the downstream river. The most egregious source cave. of contamination is a 6” drainage well that is The sinkhole plain topography means inferred to open on the surface where it drains a that surface runoff will inevitably drain into pre-mix concrete operation. Streetview image- sink points in their respective closed drain-

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium age basin, with any ponding bypassed by be ameliorated if not prevented by construc- construction of enhanced injection wells or tion of runoff controls such as screens or oil- bedrock soakaways that ensure recharge of grit separation tanks. This does not appear unfiltered water. There is little prospect of to have been a priority, although many in- taking surface runoff elsewhere. However, dustries are keen to establish their environ- many of the sources of contamination could mental responsibility, and would likely support such protection.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Improving Stormwater Treatment Efficiency Based on Runoff Properties at Mammoth Cave National Park.

Hung-Wai Ho*1, and Rick Toomey2, Acknowledgement: Thomas Byl1,3

1College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209 2Science and Resources Management, Mammoth Cave National Park, KY 42259 3U.S. Geological Survey, 640 Grassmere Park, Suite 100, Nashville, TN 37211

Mammoth Cave National Park is the the correlations between pollutants from home of the longest cave and one of the most storm runoff and the surrounding environ- biologically diverse cave species and biotic ment of different locations. Range of con- cave communities in the world. With more than centration of three major pollutants deter- half a million visitors are attracted annually, mined from first-flush samples are as fol- anthropogenic contaminants from human activ- lows.: Zzinc concentrations ranged from 0.0 ities,and vehicle traffic and development can be to 0.72 mg/L and copper concentrations carried by storm runoff into groundwater and ranged from 0.9 to 31.4 mg/L. Zinc and into the cave. , and Contaminants in the storm copper are commonly found in vehicle tires, runoff can threaten the aquatic habitat of rare brakes pads, aged rood, and drainage pipes. and endangered species. The objectives of this These two pollutants are also abundant in research waeres to determine the amount and the nature, but they are toxic at high concen- sources of major pollutants, analyze the treat- trations. Quaternary ammonia compound ment efficiency of the current stormwater treat- (QAC) concentration rangeds from 0.071 to ment system, and provide improvement solu- 0.206 mg/L, and it is can be found int deter- tions to increase the stormwater treatment effi- gentcleaners, sanitizer, Lysol®,WNS biose- ciency. curity stations (2011-13) and disinfectants In this research, preliminary sampling was in RV recreational vehicle sewage tanks. performed to get a betterrief understanding of Data compiled from several sites and the storm runoff. Natural and simulated storm storm events were used to run regression samples were collected and analyzed with grab correlations based on the length of dry peri- sampling. YSI datasondes equipped with spe- od between precipitation eventss and, the cific conductivity and turbidity probes was also basin size and contaminants. A strong corre- used to optimize the sampling strategy. The lation was found between the length of dry result from preliminary sampling indicated that periods and the increase in specific conduc- most of the dissolved constituents and suspend- tivity, as well as, and the concentration of ed solids were accumulated during the dry peri- copper. It should be noted that tThe correla- od and carried into the drainage system during tion does not imply cause and effect. How- the first-flush of storms. Based on this observa- ever, it is reasonable to assume long dry pe- tion, passive first-flush samplers were de- riods allow greater accumulation of poten- signed, constructed and installed at the storm tial dissolved solids such asand heavy met- drain inlets. Concentration of pollutants collect- als from the parking lot runoff. The amount ed from the samplers between 2011 and 2013 of zinc and QAC in the first-flush samples were used in regression analysis to determine and the basin sizes also showed a strong

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium correlation in which both the amount of These results can be explained by the compet- zinc and QAC increased with the increase itive effects between metal ions in the solu- in basin size. This correlation can be ex- tion. Once the adsorption site is occupied, it plained by the landuse distribution of the will not be available for further adsorption. targeted basins that are consisted of mainly For QAC adsorption, it wais found to fit the parking lots and developmentwalkways. Freundlich Adsorption model which indicates The increase in human and vehicle traffic that the adsorption process is mainly by filtra- and on the development impervious surfac- tion and intermolecular attraction forces be- es increased the potential and the amount of tween QAC and ZPG™. Multilayers of QAC contaminants to be carried by storm runoff. form on ZPG™ which agreed with the experi- Currently, a stormwater filter system is mental results that percentage of QAC remov- used for treatment of storm runoff at Mam- al increases with the increase in initial QAC moth cave National Park. The system was concentration. The increase in amount of designed in 2003. The main treatment QAC bound onto ZPG™ increase the availa- mechanisms of the system involve filtration ble improves the surface area for adsorption. and adsorption of pollutants with filter ma- Adsorption capacity of Cu(II), Zn(II) and terials or adsorbents in the filter cartridges, QAC was found to be 8.83×10-3 mg/g, 0.256 and filtration of debris by hydrodynamic mg/g, and 8.93×10-2 mg/g respectively. With separators. The suggested lifespan of the the annual loads estimated from the runoff treatment system before maintenance by studieswith the capacities, 2 year precipitation the manufacturer is about 2 years. This re- intensity and average pollutants concentra- search studied the treatment efficacy of the tions found from field water samples, the adsorbents, ZPG® and determined the lifespan of ZPG™ was estimated to be at least lifespan of the treatment system based on 2.82 years based on the performance of Zn(II) local conditions. The filter material, ZPG®, adsorbed onto ZPG™. consists of Zeolite, Perlite, Granular Acti- The result from the filter material tests vated Carbon (GAC), and is collected from indicated that the efficacy of the filter systems the Stormwater Management StormFilter® decreased with time. The decrease in efficacy for this study. Each sorbent has its specific also followed withmay be due to leaves clog- treatment strengths, and a combination of ging of the filter flowpath. Furthermore, or- media can constitutes a more effective con- ganic some pollutants can be washed off by figuration than single media, and to meet a strong intense flush events because of the wide range of treatment goals. weak intermolecular force. Problems also BThe batch method was used in the found at the hydrodynamic separators in experiment to determine the adsorption iso- which large amount of leaves andplant debris therms, rate and capacity of ZPG®. Ad- detritus were accumulated which caused clog- sorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) were found to ging of drainage pipes every deciduous sea- fit the Langmuir Adsorption model which sonimpaired flow, especially in the fall. Be- indicates that the adsorption of Cu(II) and cause of the short lifespan and high mainte- Zn(II) are by filtration with the micro-sized nance cost and frequency, an alternative treat- pores in ZPG™ and cationic exchange with ment solution should be considered for future the metal ions on the surface of ZPG.™ stormwater systems. EPA indicates that bi- The adsorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) were orRetention pondsarea is an ideal stormwater found to have rapid initial rate and became management BMP for parking lotsin conjunc- stable within 24 hrs which indicated that tion with storm filters may provide the better the adsorption rates decrease with time.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium service and increased life spans. Bioretention maintenance costs. The approximate con- areas utilizes soils, and both woody and herba- struction cost suggested by EPA is about ceous plants to remove pollutants from storm $6500 for each bioretention area. runoff by sedimentation, soil adsorption, natural degradation, and plant adsorption. The re- Disclaimer: Any use of trade, firm, or moval effectiveness of different pollutants with product names is for descriptive purposes this method are found to be 43-97% for copper, only and does not imply endorsement by the 64-95% for zinc, 52-67% for total kjeldahl ni- U.S. Government or Tennessee State Uni- trogen, and 92% for ammonium. Bioretention versity. utilizes the natural area to treat stormwater, which saves construction, filter material, and

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The Origin of Jewel Cave and how it supports cave management decisions

Mike Wiles

Jewel Cave National Monument South Dakota, USA

Introduction a continuous flow path, and 5) an energy With over 175 miles of passages, Jewel gradient (elevation difference between re- Cave is the third longest cave in the world. This charge and discharge areas). paper documents the intimate relationships between the cave and present-day geologic struc- Geomorphological Framework ture, contacts, and topography. It presents a Jewel Cave stays in the upper 250 conceptual model for further investigation of feet of the Pahasapa Limestone, which is the origin Jewel Cave. locally 430 feet thick. Its passages strongly correlate with the modern surface topogra- Principles of Cave Development phy: they are large and mazy beneath the Carbonate caves typically form in three hillsides, but diminish in size and complexi- stages: 1) fracturing, 2) phreatic dissolution, ty as they approach the drainages; so the and 3) vadose enlargement. Vadose activity processes that shaped the topography must only occurs after the cave drains and begins to also have been responsible for forming the pirate surface streams – something which didn’t cave at the same time. occur in the Black Hills area. Moreover, the Also, the cave exhibits a strong cor- dissolution of caves depends on the existence relation with the geological structure, as it of a natural mass transfer system. Movement of exists today. Hell Canyon is aligned with mass from location to another requires: 1) a the axis of a south-plunging syncline, and solute (limestone), 2) a solvent (acidic solu- the cave itself wraps around a curved strike, tion), 3) a transport medium (groundwater), 4) dipping toward the plunge of the syncline.

Figure 1 - Large caves are found only beneath the Minnelusa cap.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 2 - Cave passages form a lens shape that thins where it approaches surface drainages.

Additionally, nearly all cave passages in outcrops at Pass Creek and Teepee Canyon – the southern Black Hills lie beneath a Minne- assumed recharge areas, and at lower elevations lusa cap (Figure 1), so it is obvious that the in Lithograph and Hell Canyons – assumed dis- Minnelusa once played a role in forming the charge areas. passages. There no large caves (remnants of Carbonic acid is assumed to be the so- large cave systems) in the uncapped portions of lute. Because the sandstone aquifer was con- limestone, and none are greater than 500 feet in fined, the carbonic acid wouldn’t lose its ag- length. Therefore, the large cave systems could gressiveness through degassing. Therefore, it not have formed until after the Minnelusa cap could maintain full aggressiveness over the en- eroded back to its present configuration. tire distance from recharge to discharge. Addi- Finally, the shape of the solutionally tionally, the effective permeability of sandstone enlarged fractures is a lens that thins out as it is 3-6 times greater than the cave-sized permea- approaches the surface drainage at each end bility in the limestone. So the dilution of the (Figure 2). Throughout the Black Hills, it is acidity in the sandstone, caused by the depleted common for cave passages to diminish in com- water returning from the limestone, would be plexity and rise up when they approach surface minimal. drainages. Sequence of Events Paleohydrology Stage 1 - Because the sandstone is much The Englewood Limestone underlies the more permeable than the initial state of either Pahasapa, but the lower 15 feet is actually im- limestone (above or below), the water would permeable red shale, which prevents water ris- first flow almost exclusively through the sand- ing from below. The presence of 15 feet of red stone. However, it could circulate down into shale above the Pahasapa precludes the direct the discontinuous fractures in the Pahasapa infiltration of meteoric water into the fractures Limestone, and back up into the sandstone, as of the Pahasapa. However, a 40-foot subunit of long as it emerged at a point of lower energy permeable Minnelusa sandstone rests on top of gradient. (See figure 3a.) the Pahasapa Limestone. A 50-foot subunit of Minnelusa limestone with interbedded clastics Stage 2 - The discontinuous nature of the lies immediately above, and is overlain by the fractures would result in isolated cells of disso- basal shale of a third Minnelusa subunit. Based lution, which would begin to coalesce as the on literature, the basal sandstone is assumed to nascent cave passages were enlarged. The basal have a permeability of about 10%, and could Minnelusa sandstone would sometimes collapse have served as an initial confined aquifer, sup- into the still-developing cave passages. (See plying water to the developing cave system. It figure 3b.) This model anticipates the fill entering contemporaneously with cave development, 31

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

3a- Stage 1 of cave development 3b - Stage 2 of cave development

3c - Stage 3 of cave development 3d Stage 4 of cave development

Figure 3. Stages of cave development

rather than 300 million years earlier, so the fill Timing is best described as neofill, rather than Using known physical parameters paleofill. and estimating hydrological and chemical properties, a calculation estimates 1.1 mil- Stage 3 - Once Hell Canyon (and Litho- lion years as the minimum amount of time graph Canyon) had cut all the way through the for the cave to form. The deposition of cal- sandstone aquifer, the sandstone would drain cite spar essentially marked the end of cave and stop functioning as a confined aquifer, and development. A pair of U/Pb dates at sug- the water remaining in the Pahasapa would be gests that the spar began forming later than essentially stagnant. Unenlarged fractures may 26 ma, probably around 15 ma. Since the have slowly drained water from the cave. CaCO3 equilibrium is controlled by dis- Once air entered the aquifer, the water would solved CO2, once the CO2 was removed, the begin to degas. This would cause cave water precipitation would have become irreversi- to become supersaturated, and precipitate the ble, and might have taken only a few hun- ubiquitous calcite spar on cave surfaces. (See dred years. Depending on the nature of the figure 3c.) older dated substrate, the cave could have formed as recently as 15 million years ago. Stage 4 - As the water drained, buoyancy Orthoquartzite clasts are found along was removed, and many of the larger rooms the western and southern flanks of the Black collapsed into piles of breakdown. (See figure Hills, but no local source has been found. 3d.) With further draining, air connections be- The clasts are scattered across 1,500 square came more integrated, and barometric air flow miles around western and southern flanks of became more prominent. the Black Hills, from 7,000 to 3,700 feet ele- 32

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium vation. They crosscut several stratigraphic Conclusions units, so are one of the newest features of the The model is geomorphically compati- landscape. Three clasts have been found in ble with surface and cave features. It explains Jewel Cave. One is beneath, and therefore old- the development of cave passages with 1) no er than, the spar. This supports a geological direct recharge from meteoric water, 2) no hy- recent origin for the cave. drothermal recharge from below, and 3) no paleokarst origins. The cave could have formed in as little as 1.1 million years, as recently as 15 million years ago.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Biology Jerry Lewis, Chair

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Managing the spread of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans and conserving Bats threatened by White-Nose Syndrome in North America

Jeremy T. H. Coleman1, Jonathan D. Reichard1, Richard Geboy2, Christopher Servheen3*, Christina Kocer1, and Mike Armstrong4

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 1 Hadley, Massachusetts; 2Bloomington, Indiana; 3 Missoula, Montana; 4Frankfort, Kentucky

Bats in North America face numerous durations in the absence of bat hosts (Lorch challenges, including habitat loss, climate et al. 2013, Hoyt et al. 2014), and conspicu- change, environmental contamination, and ous longer distance jumps to heavily visited energy development, but none is as immediate caves before detection at large bat hibernac- a threat to multiple species as white-nose syn- ula close by. The fungus infects torpid bats drome, a fungal disease that is responsible for resulting in physiological and behavioral unparalleled rapid declines in bat populations. impacts, often leading to mortality. Popula- White-nose syndrome (WNS) was unknown tion declines exceeding 90% have been doc- to science before discovery in New York in umented in affected hibernacula during win- January 2007 (Blehert et al. 2009). Since that ter surveys (Turner et al. 2011), and corrob- time the disease has spread to at least 26 states orated by estimates of colony size and activ- and five Canadian provinces, and the fungus ity during summer. The international re- causing the disease, Pseudogymnoascus de- sponse to the disease has been rapid, and structans (Pd, Lorch et al. 2011), has been has resulted in considerable advances in our documented in three additional states: Minne- understanding of the pathogen and the dis- sota, Mississippi, and Oklahoma (see current ease to the extent that we are beginning to map: www.WhiteNoseSyndrome.org). Genet- see progress in the development of potential ic analyses indicate the fungus is likely not tools and strategies designed to better man- native to North America and that human activ- age Pd and the impacts of WNS on bats. ity may have led to its introduction. P. de- In the United States, WNS research, structans may have originated in Europe management, and conservation activities are where the fungus has been detected on 13 bat coordinated through a common collabora- species, 11 of which have been confirmed tive strategy outlined in: A National Plan with WNS based on our current case defini- for Assisting States, Federal Agencies and tions. There have been no documented deaths Tribes in Managing White-Nose Syndrome of European bats from WNS, however. in Bats (USFWS 2011). The U.S. national From what appears to be a single point of plan is mirrored in Canada by a sister plan: introduction to North America, Pd has spread A National Plan to Manage White-Nose rapidly, propagated largely by bat-to-bat or bat Syndrome in Bats in Canada (CWHC 2015). -to-environment-to-bat contact. Human- Despite the advances made in our under- mediated transmission also may have contrib- standing of the mechanics of this epizootic, uted to the spread based on the potential for including pathology, transmission, dynam- the fungus to be carried between caves on ics, and ecological requirements of Pd, the clothing or personal gear (USGS 2009), the best tools currently available are still those ability of the fungus to remain viable for long

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Table 1. Bat species on which white-nose syndrome (WNS) has been confirmed based on approved case definitions, or on which at least one individual has tested positive for Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) using molecular identification techniques

Positive for WNS Pd Present North America Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)1 Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis)2 Eastern small-footed bat (Myotis leibii) Southeastern bat (M. austroriparius) Gray bat (M. grisescens) *endangered Silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans)2 Indiana bat (M. sodalis) *endangered Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) 2 Little brown bat (M. lucifugus) 1 Virginia Big-Eared Bat (C. townsendii virginianus) *endangered Northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis)1 *threatened Tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus)1

Europe Greater mouse-eared bat (M. myotis)3 Whiskered bat (M. mystacinus)5 Daubenton's bat (M. daubentonii)4 Lesser mouse-eared bat (M. oxygnathus)6 Bechstein's bat (M. bechsteinii )4

Natterer's bat (M. nattereri)4 Brandt's bat (M. brandtii)4 Geoffroy's bat (M. emarginatus)4 Pond bat (M. dasycneme)4 Northern bat (E. nilssonii)4 Barbastelle (Barbastellus barbastellus)4 Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus)4 Lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros)4 1 - Blehert et al. 2009; 2 - Bernard et al. 2015; 3 - Pikula et al. 2012; 4 - Zukal et al. 2014; 5 - Martinkova et al. 2010; 6 - Wibbelt et al. 2010 that reduce the risks of human-mediated best in cool, wet conditions (growth range transmission of the pathogen and reduce between ~ 1 and 19°C, Verant et al. 2012). disturbance to bats during hibernation. Such conditions are common for caves In North America, seven bat species and mines across the continent (Perry have been confirmed with WNS, and five 2013), and hibernating bats in every state additional species have been detected car- may be found using these same cool and rying Pd (Table 1). P. destructans is a psy- humid conditions. Like most fungi, Pd chrophilic (cold-loving) fungus that grows produces spores and hyphae (filamentous

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Table 2. Evidence and supporting publications or sources providing evidence that human actions may contribute to the spread of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) and affect survival of bats affected by white-nose syndrome (WNS).

Evidence Supporting publications and reports

Pd can persist and grow in the absence of bats. Lindner et al., 2011; Lorch et al., 2012; Lorch et al., 2013; Peuchmaille et al., 2011a; Reynolds et al. 2015

Spores of Pd can remain viable outside of subterranean environ- Puechmaille et al., 2011b; Hoyt et al. 2014 ments.

Spores of Pd can cling to clothing and footwear and can be inad- J. Okoniewski, unpublished data; H. Barton, vertently transported out of contaminated sites. unpublished data; USGS - National Wildlife Health Center, unpublished data

Pd may be present on bats or in bat roosts without being visibly Dobony et al., 2011; Langwig et al., 2015 detectable.

Spread of Pd may be slowed by geographic or biological barriers Miller-Butterworth et al., 2014 to bat movements that may not be barriers to human movement.

Repeated and/or prolonged human disturbance during hiberna- Boyles and Willis, 2009; McCracken, 1989; tion is detrimental to bats, especially bats already stressed by Mohr, 1972; Reeder et al., 2012; Thomas, WNS. 1995; Tuttle, 1979

If done correctly, current decontamination procedures have a Shelley et al., 2013 high probability of significantly reducing the risk of spreading viable Pd. vegetative growth), and is capable of asexual vegetative structures to bats or naïve environ- reproduction through spores and hyphal frag- ments. mentation. The spores can persist for extend- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service devel- ed periods in suboptimal conditions, including oped guidance for decontamination proce- wide temperature and humidity ranges (Lorch dures (Decontamination Protocol, 2008) as et al. 2013). Fungal material can adhere to well as recommendations for regulation or substrate, fur, hair, clothing, shoes, etc. restriction of human activities likely to pose a (collectively referred to as “fomites”), and risk for spreading Pd (Cave Advisory, 2009). thus, can be moved large distances by bats, These documents were developed in consulta- humans, or other carriers. As a consequence, tion with state and federal partners that would human visitation to caves and mines increases later join together formally under the collabo- the risk of contributing to the spread of WNS rative national response plan. The national to uncontaminated areas through inadvertent plan provided further support for the im- transport of Pd. The containment strategies portance of containment strategies for manag- developed for WNS include: 1) cleaning and ing infectious agents, and describes the ways treating (hereafter, decontamination) of gear, in which universal precautions are implement- clothing, footwear, and any other surfaces that ed to reduce incidence of disease by prevent- might have been exposed to Pd and may sub- ing infections and breaking chains of trans- sequently come in contact with hibernating mission. The Decontamination Protocol has bats or their habitats, and 2) the reduction or been revised regularly in response to research prevention of opportunities for people to en- results that further our understanding of the counter, transport, and transfer Pd spores or compounds and procedures known to effec- 37

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium tively kill spores of Pd (e.g., Shelley et al. agencies engaged in the national response. 2013), and to include a wider variety of ap- Updated versions of the National Decon- plications. The Cave Advisory has also tamination Protocol and National Recom- been reviewed regularly, and has been the mendations for Managing Access to Subter- focus of considerable discussion within the ranean Bat Roosts (replacing the Cave Ad- WNS response community, but had not been visory) will be released in coming months. formally revised until recently (revision un- Dedication and commitment of the der final review). While some have ques- many individuals, institutions, and govern- tioned the risks associated with human- ment agencies who have engaged in this mediated spread of Pd, the weight of scien- issue and lent their support has produced tific evidence in support of these protocols both great progress in our understanding of and recommendations continues to grow WNS and ability to respond to it, and signif- (Table 2). Additionally, members of the icant contributions to broader scientific ad- WNS Steering Committee have agreed to vancement. Healthy bat populations con- endorse the most recent versions of the two tribute to strong ecosystems and provide documents as national guidance, so they beneficial ecosystem services, thus our ef- now represent an agreed upon set of recom- forts to control and reduce the impacts of mendations from state, federal, and tribal WNS on North American bats is of the highest priority. References Fisher, M. C., D. A. Henk, C. J. Briggs, J. S. Bernard, R.F. J.T. Foster, E.V. Willcox, K.L. Parise, Brownstein, L. C. Madoff, S. L. McCraw, & S. and G.F. McCracken. 2015. Molecular detection J. Gurr. 2012. Emerging fungal threats to ani- of the causative agent of white-nose syndrome mal, plant and ecosystem health. Nature on Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus 484:186–194. rafinesquii) and two species of migratory bats in Hoyt, J. R., K. E. Langwig, J. Okoniewski, W. F. the southeastern USA. Journal of Wildlife Dis- Frick, W. B. Stone, & A. M Kilpatrick. 2014. eases. 51:519-522. Long-Term persistence of Pseudogymnoascus Blehert, D. S., A. C. Hicks, M. Behr, C. U. Meteyer, destructans, the causative agent of white-nose B. M. Berlowski-Zier, E. L. Buckles, J. T. H. syndrome, in the absence of bats. EcoHealth Coleman, S. R. Darling, A. Gargas, R. Niver, J. 1612-9202. DOI: 10.1007/s10393-014-0981-4. C. Okoniewski, R. J. Rudd, & W. B. Stone. Langwig, K.E., W.F. Frick, R. Reynolds, et al. 2009. Bat white-nose syndrome: an emerging 2015. Hibernation drives seasonal dynamics of fungal pathogen? Science 323:227. a fungal disease. Proceedings of the Royal So- Boyles, J.G., and C.K.R. Willis. 2010. Could local- ciety B. 2015 282 20142335; DOI: 10.1098/ ized warm areas inside cold caves reduce mortal- rspb.2014.2335. ity of hibernating bats affected white-nose syndrome? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environ- Lindner, D.L., A. Gargas, J.M. Lorch, M.T. Banik, ment 8: 92-98. J. Glaeser, T.H. Kunz, and D.S. Blehert. 2011. Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC). DNA-based detection of the fungal pathogen 2015. A National Plan to Manage White-Nose Geomyces destructans in soils from bat hiber- Syndrome in Bats in Canada. Saskatoon, Sas- nacula. Mycologia 103:241-246. katchewan. Lorch, J. M., C. U. Meteyer, M. J. Behr, J. G. Ac- mann, J. T. H. Coleman, D. N. Redell, D. M. cessed September 10, 2015. Reeder, & D. S. Blehert. 2011. Experimental Dobony, C. A., A. C. Hicks, K. E. Langwig, R. I. von infection of bats with Geomyces destructans Linden, J. C. Okoniewski, & R.. E. Rainbolt. causes white-nose syndrome. Nature 480:376- 2011. Little brown myotis persist despite expo- 378. sure to white-nose syndrome. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 2:190–195.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Lorch, J.M., D.L. Lindner, A. Gargas, L.K. Mul- ods on the viability of Geomyces destructans, the ler, A.M. Minnis, and D.S. Blehert. 2012. A fungus associated with white-nose syndrome in culture-based survey of fungi in soil from bat bats. Acta Chiropterologica 13:217-221. hibernacula in the eastern United States and Reeder, D. M., C. L. Frank, G. G. Turner, C. U. Met- its implications for detection of Geomyces eyer, A. Kurta, et al. 2012. Frequent Arousal destructans, the causal agent of bat white- from Hibernation Linked to Severity of Infection nose syndrome. Mycologia. doi:10.3852/12- and Mortality in Bats with White-Nose Syn- 207 drome. PLoS One 7: e38920 Lorch, J. M., L. K. Muller, R. E. Russell, M. Reynolds, H.T., T. Ingersoll, and H.A. Barton. 2015. O'Connor, D. L. Lindner, & D. S. Blehert. Modeling the environmental growth of Pseudo- 2013. Distribution and environmental persistence of the causative agent of white-nose gymnoascus destructans and its impact on the syndrome, Geomyces destructans, in bat hi- white-nose syndrome epidemic. Journal of Wild- bernacula of the eastern United States. Ap- life Diseases 51: 318-331. plied and Environmental Microbiology Shelley, V., S. Kaiser, E. Shelley, T. Williams, M. 79:1293-1301. Kramer, K. Haman, K. Keel, and H.A. Barton. Martínková, N., P. Bačkor, T. Bartonička, P. Blažková, J. Červený, et al. 2010. Increasing 2013. Evaluation of strategies for the decontami- incidence of Geomyces destructans fungus in nation of equipment for Geomyces destructans, bats from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. the causative agent of white-nose syndrome. PLoS One 5:e13853. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 75: 1–10. doi: McCracken, G. 1989. Cave conservation: special 10.4311/2011LSC0249 problems for bats. The NSS Bulletin 51: 47- Thomas, D.W. 1995. Hibernating bats are sensitive to 5. nontactile human disturbance. Journal of Mam- Miller-Butterworth, C. M., M. J. Vonhof, J. malogy 76: 940-946. Rosenstern, G. G. Turner, & A. L. Russel. 2014. Genetic Structure of Little Brown Bats Turner, G. G., D. M. Reeder, & J. T. H. Coleman. (Myotis lucifugus) Corresponds With Spread 2011. A Five-year Assessment of Mortality and of White-Nose Syndrome Among Hibernacu- Geographic Spread of White-nose Syndrome in la. Journal of Heredity 105:354-364. North American Bats and a Look to the Future Mohr, C.E. 1972. The status of threatened species Bat Research News 52:13-27. Tuttle, M.D. 1979. Status, causes of decline, and of cave dwelling bats. Bulletin of the Nation- management of endangered gray bats. The Jour- al Speleological Society 34: 33-47. nal of Wildlife Management 43: 1-17. Perry, R. W. 2013. A review of factors affecting cave climates for hibernating bats in temper- United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). ate North America. Environmental Reviews 2011. A national plan for assisting states, federal 21:28-39. agencies and tribes in managing White-Nose Pikula, J., H. Bandouchova, L. Novotny, C. U. Syndrome in Bats. Hadley, Massachusetts. Meteyer, J. Zukal, et al. 2012. Histopatholo- Accessed Au- Europe. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 48:207– gust 17, 2015 211. United States Geological Survey National Wildlife Puechmaille S.J., G. Wibbelt, V. Korn, H. Fuller, Health Center (USGS). 2009. Update on white- nose syndrome. Wildlife Health Bulletin 2009– F. Forget, et al. 2011a. Pan-european distri- 03. 11 December 2009. Accessed 1 October 2014. 10.1371/journal.pone.0019167 Verant, M. L., J. G. Boyles, W. Waldrep JR., G. Wibbelt, & D. S. Blehert. 2012. Temperature- Puechmaille, S.J., H. Fuller, and E.C. Teeling. dependent growth of Geomyces destructans, the 2011b. Effect of sample preservation meth- fungus that causes bat white-nose syndrome.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Strip Adaptive Cluster Sampling with Application to Cave Crickets

Kurt Lewis Helf, Ph.D., Ecologist

National Park Service, Cumberland Piedmont Network P.O. Box 8, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259

Adaptive cluster sampling (ACS) is a strat- 2-stage extension to standard ACS designs, egy for sampling rare populations and can pro- to estimate population sizes of these rare vide more precise estimates for population endemics and considered both the practical means and totals than other designs such as and statistical performance of these ap- simple random sampling (SRS). Adaptive sam- proaches relative to SRS. We demonstrate pling responds in real-time to conditions on the its practical implementation and briefly dis- ground and allows sampling effort to increase cuss issues such as plot set-up and data where clusters of observations of interest occur. management, computation of population This is a case study involving cave crickets in estimators and confidence intervals. Mammoth Cave National. We used strip ACS, a

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Monitoring in-cave Resources with Reduced Impact and increased Quantitative Capacity: Developing Photogrammetry Methodologies for in Cave Environments

Robyn L. Henderek1, John R. Wood2, Benjamin W. Tobin1

1Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon AX 86023 2Geologic Resources Division, National Park Service

Introduction vironments if it’s limitations can be mitigat- Photogrammetry is a methodology devel- ed. Here we present developing techniques oped to use photographs in order to accurately for performing photogrammetry in the measure the size, location, and context of 3D unique conditions of caves in order to im- objects (Mikhall et al. 2001). The use of photo- prove our ability to document and monitor grammetry is becoming an increasingly popular resources in these environments. tool to document geologic resources. Most uses of this technique have occurred in surface envi- Methodology ronments with very few studies documenting The National Park Service has been resources in low-light, sub-surface environ- leading the efforts to adapt these methodol- ments. Those that have been conducted in cave ogies for in-cave use. Recent software de- environments often involve use of other related velopments allow for reduced field equip- technologies, such as Terrestrial laser scanning ment in order to create accurate 3D models, (Lerma et al. 2010) to develop these 3D mod- however dark and damp conditions can els. These added methodologies increase cost, hamper the quality of the model output need for technical expertise, and amount of (Tsakiri et al. 2007). In order for photo- gear needed to document resources. Photo- grammetry to provide the necessary infor- grammetry, as a stand alone methodology, mation, these two factors need to be ad- holds the possibility of decreasing the impact dressed. Newer digital cameras can mini- while increasing the quantitative nature of both mize the impact of dampness on the final research and monitoring efforts within cave en- model, however lighting needs to consistent and bright to provide the data necessary for the software. Additionally, the remote nature of many in cave sites, means lightweight and compact options are necessary to provide this lighting. At Grand Canyon National Park, modifications to minimize weight while maximizing light have included using common caving/hiking equipment to reduce the weight of materials brought into the caves (Figure 1). Trekking poles are often used as light stands and caving lights are used in conjunction with lightweight video lights to maximize the amount Figure 1: Image of an entrance area photogram- of light available. To further adjust for re- metry set up at GRCA. To reduce the amount of duced light in the cave environment, camer- equipment brought into the cave, the authors use as are set to a slower shutter speed, with a trekking poles and caving lights to illuminate the wide focal range, set on a timer, and placed site. 41

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 2: Proximal tibia photographed in cave is illuminated using a lightweight, portable video light (above). Resulting 3D model of the tibia (right).

Figure 3: Photo of a monitoring site in GRCA (left). Resulting 3D model of this monitoring site (right)

on a tripod to reduce camera movement. In resources in Oregon Caves National Monu- order to collect enough data for the models, a ment. minimum of 30 photos are taken for small, individual objects (see Figure 2) and 50 or Conclusion more photos are taken for larger monitoring Due to the inherent nature of conduct- sites (Figure 1 and 3). ing research in caves within a national park setting, it is preferred to leave all resources in-situ while still providing as detailed doc- Results umentation of these resources as possible. Examples of preliminary in-cave method- Additionally, long-term monitoring is often ologies have been used to produce models of necessary to determine the impact of human paleontological resources (Figure 2), archeo- use and improve protection of these re- logical artifacts, and as a method for estab- sources. Photogrammetry provides a means lishing quantitative photo monitoring (Figure of quantifying this change over time by 3) . Additional models have been created for comparing models created at different time

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium periods to determine differences in preser- metry for 3D Archaeological Documen- vation and protection of these resources. tation: The Upper Palaeotithic Cave of These methods are relatively low impact, Parpalló as a Case Study. Journal of Ar- when compared to typical resource- chaeological Science, 37, p 499 – 507. focused studies, such as paleontological Mikhall, EM, Bethel, JS, McGlone, JC. digs, and provide a means of documenting 2001. Introduction to Modern Photo- impacts and change over time that is much grammetry, John Wiley & Sons, New more quantitative than standard photo York, NY. monitoring efforts. Additionally, the lightweight nature of these developing method- Tsakiri, M, Sigizis, K, Billiris, H, Dogouris, ologies provide a means of getting high S. 2007. #D Laser Scanning for the Doc- quality data while increasing feasibility umentation of Cave Environments. In: and minimizing impacts of data collection Underground space: Expanding the in remote cave environments. Frontiers, Proceedings of the 11th Annual ACUUS Conference, September 10 – References 13, 2007, Athens, Greece: 403 – 408.

Lerma, JL, Navarro, S, Cabrelles, M, Vil- laverde, V. 2010. Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Close Range Photogram-

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Karst wreckage: Subterranean fauna as collateral damage

Julian J. Lewis and Salisa L. Lewis

Lewis and Associates LLC Cave, Karst and Groundwater Biological Consulting

In the course of our consulting work we Called by some the “Poster child for environ- have encountered the aftermaths of too many mental racism”, the TCE was released into the catastrophic events, where subterranean com- groundwater supply for a small, predominant- munities were destroyed and species driven to ly black community in a county that is over the brink of extinction. Some of these disasters 95% white. The toxic chemicals in the water are limited to relatively small geographic areas, produced cancers that inevitably killed people. while others cut swaths across our landscap The site of the NCKMS 2015 in Cave City, Not one, but two, catastrophes have oc- Kentucky sits atop the groundwater basin of curred at Indiana University (IU) on the Hidden River Cave, where over the past cen- Bloomington and New Albany campuses, tury the cave and its fauna have suffered from where insecticides annihilated entire groundwa- the effects of massive groundwater degrada- ter communities. tion (Lewis, 1996). In the 1960’s the cave’s At the main campus in Bloomington, Jordan main stream received the effluents of the Cave Hall (the biology building) was built over a City and Horse Cave sewage treatment plants, spring used as the water supply for laboratory including waste from a metal plating plant and studies of cavefish by Dr. Carl Eigenmann. A creamery. After the development of a region- community of subterranean invertebrates lived al sewage treatment facility water quality im- in the spring, e.g., Jordan’s groundwater isopod proved markedly, but the report of the rebirth (Caecidotea jordani), but the community com- of Hidden River (Lewis, 1993) was probably position will never be known since the habitat premature. The sewage worms that once lined was poisoned to eradicate termites invading the the edge of the Hidden River are gone, but the building. Specimens of the endemic ground- Southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) water amphipod Bactrurus cellulanus were not and cave crayfish (Orconectes pellucidus) discovered in the university collection until seen today by visitors on the cave tours only long after the community was eradicated, and occur in significant numbers at the confluence the species was extinct at the time of its de- of a relatively unpolluted tributary with Hid- scription in 2001. On the campus of IU South- den River. New research (Lewis et al., 2015) east in New Albany the groundwater isopod showed that the fish and crayfish emerge into Caecidotea teresae and an undescribed amphi- the main river from a side passage called pod Stygobromus met a similar fate from insec- Blindfish Alley, then disappear downstream ticides. from the confluence (figure 1). There the an- Those events only touched geographic pin- imals apparently succumb to toxins, e.g., re- points, but other disasters involving chemical sidual heavy metals in the substrate remaining poisoning stretched across larger karst land- from years of receiving plating plant effluent. scapes. At the Dickson, Tennessee landfill A pollution event in the spring of 2015 killed tetrachloroethylene (TCE), an industrial sol- much of the fauna in Blindfish Alley, demon- vent, was dumped on karst and poisoned an strating that no place in the system is safe. entire groundwater ecosystem (we were involved as part of the Natural Resource Defense Council’s (NRDC) team of expert witnesses).

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

35 30 Figure 1. Results of a census of total numbers of the 25 Southern cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) and cave crayfish (Orconectes pellucidus) in the main stream in 20 Hidden River Cave on 30 September 2014. Most of the 15 animals occurred in a large pool at the confluence of the Blindfish Alley and the main stream. The histogram 10 shows the abundance of the fauna at the large pool at 5 the confluence, then the disappearance in the next three sections of the stream over a distance of about 500 feet 0 pool at confluence downstream downstream downstream (Lewis, et al., 2015). section 1 section 2 section 3

was tested: ranging from artillery rounds to In the southeastern Indiana karst the rockets, almost anything that could be shot, ordnance industry wreaked havoc with the dropped or thrown on a battlefield was tested karst environment. Lewis (1995) described there. At the peak of activity, 175,000 rounds operations at the Indiana Army Ammunition per month were fired at JPG. In addition to Plant (INAAP), where starting during World conventional weapons, from 1984-1994 War II nitrocellulose propellants were manu- 100,000 depleted uranium (DU) tank penetrator factured by combining nitric acid with cot- rounds were fired. Despite recovery operations ton. The waste product of the process was over 150,000 pounds of DU remained on the nitric acid laden with explosive nitrocellu- impact fields, along with 1.5 million rounds of lose particulates and other toxic chemicals conventional unexploded ordnance (UXO). like sulfuric acid, nitrobenzene and aniline. After JPG was closed in 1995, over 50,000 This effluent was discharged into the envi- acres containing UXO was dedicated as the Big ronment at an average rate of 22,500 gal- Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (BONWR). A lons/minute, at a temperature of 80° F and bioinventory of caves, springs and wells on pH of 2.3. Released into Jenny Lind Run, BONWR by Lewis and Rafail (2002) showed the limestone floor of the creek was en- that some sites were devastated by ordnance trenched by the acid as much as 8 feet deep impacts and UXO contamination. A follow-up and 10 feet wide. The effluent spread project in 2015 to conduct cave stream census- through underground channels, enlarging es compared cave communities in UXO and existing caves and creating new ones where DU impact fields with others in relatively unaf- none existed before. Needless to say, no fected areas. Results indicated that Isaiah Irwin cave animals can exist in rivers of nitric acid Cave had been damaged by ordnance impacts and the subterranean fauna was extirpated. and the cave stream community was sparse, In the adjacent counties from mostly comprised of surface species. Stream INAAP, the U.S. War Department created communities in other caves within the impact the Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG), where fields were unaffected, as were those outside of starting in 1941 a great variety of ordnance ordnance testing areas (figure 2).

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

25 Figure 2. Histogram of cave stream censuses indicating 20 total numbers of animals in three sites at BONWR. The fauna of Irwin Cave, contaminated by UXO, is sparse 15 and mostly comprised of non-cavernicolous species. Despite being in the DU area, the fauna of 3 Raiders 10 Cave is diverse and appropriate for the area. Chandler Cave is in an area little affected by UXO contamination 5 (Lewis and Lewis, 2015).

0 Isaiah Irwin Cave (24 3 Raiders Cave (24 Chandler Cave (20 Jul 2015) Jul 2015) Aug 2015)

surface stygophile stygobite

To summarize, the scars are irreparable: Lewis, Julian J. 1996. The devastation and re- entire subterranean communities poisoned by covery of caves affected by industrialization. toxic chemicals; karst landscapes with acid roceedings of the 1995 National Cave entrenched streams, pocked with shell craters Management Symposium, October 25-28, and caves collapsed by explosions. Entire 1995, Spring Mill State Park, Indiana: 214- cave faunas extirpated by sewage, heavy met- 227. als and other toxic cocktails. In some caves varying degrees of recovery has occurred Lewis, Julian J. and Salisa L. Lewis. 2015. through re-colonization by some subterranean Comparative community censuses in caves species (Lewis, 1996). In tragedies like the of the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge. Dickson, Tennessee landfill the NRDC ob- Final Report to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Ser- tained millions of dollars in mitigation, but vice and Indiana Department of Natural money does not restore lives nor create quick Resources, Natural Heritage Program, 43 fixes for the environment. The only solution pages. seems to lie in the axiom “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” Lewis, Julian J. and Salisa L. Rafail. 2002. …to prevent catastrophes before they happen. The subterraean fauna of the Big Oaks Na- tional Wildlife Refuge. Final Report References: to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Indi- ana Department of Natural Resources, Nat- Lewis, Julian J. 1993. Life returns to Hidden ural Heritage Program, 77 pages. River Cave: The rebirth of a destroyed cave system. National Speleological Society Lewis, Julian J., Lewis, Salisa L. and Peggy News, (June) 208-213. Nims. 2015. Observations on the Ecosys- tem of Hidden River Cave: Bioinventory, Community Census and Water Quality Analysis. Final Report for the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund, 59 pages.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The Extirpation of a Population of the Endangered Illinois Cave Amphipod (Gammarus acherondytes) by an Exotic Species: The Wednesday Cave Debacle

Julian J. Lewis and Salisa L. Lewis

Lewis and Associates LLC Cave, Karst and Groundwater Biological Consulting

The Illinois Cave Amphipod (ICA or lation in Reverse Spring Cave, also in the Gammarus acherondtyes) is an obligate in- Annbriar basin. Wednesday Cave was thought habitant of cave streams of southwestern to be a fairly protected population, since the Illinois. This crustacean was listed as a fed- cave was a small “side passage” of the Annbri- eral Endangered Species in 1998 due to the ar Groundwater Basin, less susceptible to pol- encroachment of civilization into its habitat- lution than the groundwater trunk stream. cave streams with gravel substrates. In Wednesday Cave’s population was monitored 1998, the range of the species encompassed as a second tier site, due to its potentially pro- four cave systems in Monroe County and tected habitat and smaller population. one in St. Clair County, although the popu- The first sign of problems at Wednesday lation in the latter had been extirpated by Cave occurred during a visit on 6 July 2001. septic pollution of the groundwater. After As we walked down the steep sinkhole slope to listing, The Nature Conservancy commis- the entrance, we smelled a strong phenolic sioned a project to identify new populations odor, characteristic of the polydesmid Green- of the endangered species. This project re- house Millipede, Oxidus gracilis. This species sulted in the discovery of several additional was thought to have originated in Japan cave populations distributed through four (Hoffman, 1999), but now occurs in North groundwater basins where the species was America and is rapidly becoming a noxious not previously known (Lewis, et. al 2003). exotic species in caves. Once we crawled The United States Fish and Wildlife through the body-sided hole and slid down the Service (USFWS) recovery plan for this en- breakdown slope to a walking height passage, dangered species required periodic popula- we encountered the small stream with a gravel tion monitoring. We conducted the popula- substrate flowing across the cave floor. Twen- tion monitoring that was done about every 3 ty feet into the cave, the stream fell from a rim- years in one or more caves within all of the stone dam three feet high, beyond which was a known groundwater basins where the ICA broad pool spanning the passage to the cave’s still occurred. Locations with larger popula- end. On that day it was impossible to avoid tions took precedence over those with small- crawling over dozens of the millipedes, many er, less important populations. of them in copulating pairs. The millipede One of the new sites for the ICA was swarm covered the floor; every surface of the Wednesday Cave, a 30 foot long cave in the riparian zone and every piece of gravel above Annbriar Spring Groundwater Basin. De- water. We crushed hundreds of them while spite a diverse aquatic community including progressing through the cave, resulting in a G. ancherondytes, monitoring of Wednesday smell so great that we wondered if it might be Cave was eclipsed by the much larger popu- toxic to the ICA.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

As incredible as this may sound, polydesmid the stream had disappeared under the mud. millipedes are known to swarm in numbers so Only one ICA was found in the census. The great that they stop trains (Marek and Sierwald, community diversity had fallen from seven 2014). Every year we receive inquiries from species in 2007 to four in 2011. State and cavers who have sighted one of these swarms federal officials were notified of the problem of chestnut colored, inch long Greenhouse Mil- and the need for immediate action. Safe lipedes covering the floor and walls of some from groundwater pollution, and seemingly cave. The odor arises from a chemical com- unharmed by the exotic millipedes, the ICA pound secreted from dorsal glands on the milli- was under attack from an exotic species out- pedes, contains phenol (which is toxic as well side of the cave. as soluble in water), hydrogen cyanide and ben- The culprit? Bush Honeysuckle. Of the zaldehyde (Habermehl, 2012). 14 species of honeysuckle in Illinois, 13 are On the next trip, in October 2007, we found exotic species not native to the state (all in a healthy population of the ICA with nine of the genus Lonicera). Four of the exotics are the amphipods in a transect of 10 linear feet in bush honeysuckles and have in common a length (table 1). We also discovered that the height of 15-20 feet, paired flowers and fruit, farm on which the cave was located was for hollow stems and long, dark green lance- sale and informed Diane Tecic, the Regional shaped leaves (Haupt, 2015). These honey- Heritage Biologist for the Illinois Department suckles out-compete native plants and create of Natural Resources (IDNR). Based on the mono-culture hedges in forests. Allelopa- importance of the endangered species popula- thy, i.e., the production of chemicals toxic to tion in Wednesday Cave, the large tract con- other plants, has been demonstrated in L. taining Wednesday Cave was purchased by The maackii (the dominant species in the area Nature Conservancy and subsequently trans- around Wednesday Cave) and is suspected in ferred to IDNR as a state nature preserve. The others (Gould and Gorchov, 2000). habitat of the ICA seemed secure. Three years passed. Entering the Concerns about the toxicity of the millipede sinkhole on 9 August 2014 we fought our swarms in Wednesday Cave were over- way through a tangled understory of Bush shadowed by more pressing concerns during Honeysuckle, with few other plants on the our population census visit in 2011: the en- bare soil of the forest floor. We came pre- trance had disappeared under mud washing pared for the worst and carried a shovel with down the sinkhole wall. Using a GPS location us. It proved necessary as the entrance was and our recollection of the site, we identified buried even deeper than before under mud the entrance and dug it open. Sliding down the slumping, a result of the Bush Honeysuckle muddy slope, we saw that most of the gravel in

Table 1. Population censuses of a 10 foot (3 meter) transect in Wednesday Cave, Monroe County, Illinois between 2007 and 2014 (Lewis and Lewis, 2014).

Gammarus Gammarus Caecidotea Caecidotea Sphalloplana Physella Bactrurus acherondytes troglophilus brevicauda packardi hubrichti sp. brachycaudus

13 Oct 2007 9 10 11 1 1 1 1 26 Mar 2011 1 14 14 0 1 0 0 9 Aug 2014 0 24 66 0 0 0 0

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium crowding out native plants that would normally was believed that if the main stream suffered retain the soil. The picture in the cave was even a significant environmental insult, it could grimmer. The stream habitat had been reduced be repopulated by the ICA population in the to mud and leaves. The Illinois Cave Amphi- relatively isolated Wednesday Cave, protect- pod was gone, and only two species remained, ed in a dedicated state nature preserve. an isopod and an amphipod which occur in Unfortunately, the stewardship of the caves as well as surface streams in the area. land was not up to the task, and the Illinois Wednesday Cave had been purchased with Cave Amphipod was extirpated by sedimen- the hope that it might serve as a refugium for tation of the critical gravel habitat. Now the the Illinois Cave Amphipod. Unlike Reverse cave is buried under the mud…a “million Stream Cave, Wednesday Cave as a relatively dollar mud-hole”… abandoned to one of the small in-feeder of the Annbriar Groundwater few things perhaps still interested in using Basin, was not susceptible to disturbances to the cave…Greenhouse Millipedes. the trunk stream of the groundwater system. It

References Lewis, Julian J. and Salisa L. Lewis. 2014. The2014 census of Gammarus Habermehl, G. 2012. Venomous animals acherondytes and their toxins. Springer-Verlag, Ber- Communities in southwestern Illinois. lin, 195 pages. Final Report, Endangered Species Pro- gram, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Haupt, J. 2015. Invasive Species – Bush Endangered Species Program, Illinois Honeysuckle. An Illinois River Alma- Department of Natural Resources, 40 nac, University of Illinois Extension, pages + appendices. http://web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/ eb322/entry_10085/ Lewis, Julian J., Philip Moss, Diane Tecic and Matt Nelson. 2003. A Conserva- Hoffman, R. L. 1999. Checklist of the mil- tion focused inventory of the subterra- lipeds of North and Middle America. nean invertebrates of the southwestern Virginia Museum of Natural History Illinois karst. Journal of Cave and Special Publications 8: 1–553. Karst Studies, 65 (1): 9-21. Marek, P., Tanabe, T. and P. Sierwald. Gould, A.M.A and Gorchov, D.L. 2000. 2014. A species catalog of the milli- Effects of the exotic invasive shrub Lo- pede Family Xystodesmidae nicera maackii on the survival and fe- (Diplopoda: Polydesmida). Virginia cundity of three species of native annu- Museum of Natural History, Special als. American Midland Naturalist, 144: Publication 17, 140 pages. 36-50.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Genus-wide assessment of Bactrurus (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) informs conservation and management of groundwater habitats

Matthew L. Niemiller and Steven J. Taylor

Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1816 S Oak St., Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA,

The genus Bactrurus is comprised of eight respectively) land cover were also common, species of eyeless subterranean species found suggesting a variety of human impacts on in caves, springs, and other shallow groundwa- these rare species. Of the four species that ter habitats across twelve states the Midwest- are more widely distributed, land cover for ern United States. We re-evaluated patterns of B. mucronatus (88 sites) is heavily dominat- distribution in this genus and reviewed threats ed by cover classes representing human in the course of reassessing the NatureServe modification, including croplands (68.8%) global and state conservation ranks and con- and developed lands (16.6%). Only B. pseu- ducting the first IUCN Red List conservation domucronatus is little affected by human status assessments for each species. We exam- activities, with 85.6% of its cover in forest. ined land cover and human population density Combined human altered lands (developed, within 2.5 km buffers around each occurrence. pasture, crops) comprise 89.2% and 90.6%, Four species (B. angulus, B. cellulanus, B. spe- respectively, of the land cover for two speleopolis, and B. wilsoni) are known from ≤3 cies (B. cellulanus and B. mucronatus), 43.0 localities and very restricted distributions. -46.1% for three species (B. brachycaudus, Dominant land cover varied among the eight B. hubrichti, and B. wilsoni), 23.1-24.6% for species. For the possibly extinct and single-site two species (B. angulus and B. speleopolis) endemic B. cellulanus, land cover was domi- and only 11.15% for B. pseudomucronatus. nated by developed lands (86.8%), Land cover These data suggest a wide range of impacts around the three B. angulus occurrences is and vulnerability across species, pointing dominated by forests (58.3%), but pasturelands towards the need to develop management are also common (15.3%). Fecal coliform en- strategies aimed at conservation at the spe- richment may contribute to degradation of cies level instead of at the generic level. groundwater habitat of this species. Land cover Based on both NatureServe and IUCN Red for B. speleopolis and B. wilsoni, was also List conservation criteria, half of the Bac- dominated by forests (62.7% and 44.0%, re- trurus species are at significant risk of ex- spectively), but pasture (24.6% and 29.0%, re- tinction, while the other four species are spectively) and developed (9.9% and 7.9%, wide-ranging and not currently threatened.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

White-nose Syndrome response at Mammoth Cave National Park

Rickard S. Toomey, III

Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning. Mammoth Cave National Park and Western Kentucky University

Since it was first identified in the Unit- were taken included decontamination, bag- ed States in 2006, white-nose syndrome ging items, or disallowing items from the (WNS) in bats has become an important is- cave. This type of pre-visit screening ended sue in the management of caves and bats at in spring 2014, when bats in major tour are- Mammoth Cave National Park (MACA). as of the cave were found to have WNS. First the threat of its arrival and later its ac- Starting April 2011, when WNS was tual arrival and effects have led to interven- first identified in Kentucky, MACA began tions with both the visiting public and re- requiring visitors to walk over a biosecurity searchers, restrictions on access to colonial mat after taking walking tours of the cave. bat roosts, increased monitoring of bat pop- This measure was taken to reduce the possi- ulations, support of scientific studies, and bility that MACA visitors could take the upgraded interpretation on bats, wildlife dis- fungus away from the cave with them, even ease, and public health. Table 1 contains a before it had not been detected in Mammoth timeline of activities and responses related Cave. The biosecurity mats consisted of a to WNS that the park has undertaken. 12-foot run of outdoor carpet (to physically The most visible response to WNS at remove dirt and spores) followed by a six- MACA has been the interventions with visi- foot-long wet walkover mat with a cleaning tors to prevent first human-caused arrival of solution. From April 2011 through Septem- the fungus in the park (before Spring 2014) ber 2012, the walkover mats used a Lysol and later (after April 2011) visitors poten- solution. In September 2012, the park tially leaving with the fungus after a tour (or stopped using Lysol solution mats, because research). This is a very important aspect of the use of Lysol in mats was deemed to be WNS response at MACA, since over off-label use. From September 2012 400,000 people visit caves at the park each through June 2013, the park used only the year. Beginning summer 2009 park staff twelve-foot lengths of plastic outdoor carpet screened cave visitors to prevent accidental to physically remove spores from the soles introduction of the fungus by visitors. of shoes. The carpet was decontaminated Screening methods included public an- daily to kill spores that might accumulate nouncements, pre-tour briefings by guides, on it. In July 2013 MACA began using a and printed posters in the Visitor Center. Woolite solution in the walkover mats. Visitors were asked if they have been in a This solution will help clean spores from cave since 2005. If so, they are asked about shoes, it is also deemed safe for contact whether they were wearing or carrying with people’s skin and can be used on foot- things that have been in a cave. If they had wear. things that had been in a cave, park staff Intervention for people on caving tours worked with them to reduce the potential is more intense. Visitors on those tours are for bringing in fungal spores. Measures that required to use park supplied gear that is only used on park. Their shoes undergo a

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Date Response or existing activity modifications May 2009 Colonial bat roosts closed year-round (except approved WNS and bat research); Decontamination required of incoming gear for researchers June 2009 Screening of incoming tour visitors and intervention (decontamination, disallowing items, etc.). Park WNS intervention station and displays start Winter 2009-10 Enhanced monitoring of caves for WNS, biennial counts of Corynorhinus hibernation roosts August 2010 Begin requiring decontamination between caves and after cave trips for researchers January 2011 Park releases original WNS Response Plan Winter 2010-11 Enhanced monitoring of caves for WNS, biennial counts of Myotis hibernation roosts, no evidence of WNS seen April 2011 KY (non-park) site confirmed with WNS; Tours began post-visit decontamination with walk-over mats containing Lysol solution Winter 2011-12 Enhanced monitoring of caves for WNS, biennial counts of Corynorhinus hibernation roosts August 2013 Tri-colored bat swabbed during fall trapping at Colossal Cave tests positive for Pd. Analy- sis occurred after WNS found on park. First evidence of Pd on park. Sept. 2012 Post tour walk-over mats changed to dry carpet due to restrictions on Lysol use Fall 2012 Filming for NPS series on bats and WNS on park January 2013 WNS confirmed at park in Long Cave Winter/Spring WNS found in all six colonial Myotis hibernation sites known on park. Biennial counts of 2013 Myotis roosts show normal count numbers and no evidence of increased mortality. July 2013 Post tour walk-over mats changed to Woolite solution; Filming on park for Battle for Bats: Surviving White Nose Syndrome. Winter 2013-14 Enhanced monitoring of caves for WNS, biennial counts of Corynorhinus hibernation roosts; WNS identified in three largest Corynorhinus hibernation sites (in other species); WNS located on some park cave tour trails; prior cave visitation screening of incoming visitors ceases Spring 2014 Increased human bat contacts on cave tours. Increase training and preparation on human- bat contact and rabies issues. March 2014 AP and WKYU stories on WNS impacts at park Sept. 2014 Filming of bat research and WNS discussion for CW Network Fall/Winter 2014- Develop enhanced human-bat contact procedures with Public Health Service and state as- 15 sistance Winter/Spring Biennial counts of Myotis roosts indicate significant decreases in little brown, Indiana, and 2015 tri-colored bat counts. Numerous dead and dying tri-colored bats recovered along Historic Tour Route. Elevated bat-human contacts and rabies intervention. Increased bat surveillance. WNS at all tour entrances. February 2015 Louisville, Bowling Green, and Glasgow stories on WNS impacts at park April 2015 Relaxed decontamination procedures between Pd+ sites on park May 2015 Seasonal (summer) reopening of WNS+ hibernation sites for research and education

Table 1 – Timeline of Mammoth Cave National Park WNS-related Activities and Responses

more thorough cleaning than those of people tours, research permits, or special use permits. on walking tours. WNS did cause some changes in access re- Although even prior to WNS all 400+ strictions to caves on the park. Prior to WNS caves in Mammoth Cave National Park were response, colonial bat hibernacula on park closed to human access except via ranger-led 52

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium were closed in the winter and maternity col- and regional television programs, video pro- onies were closed during the summer to pro- ductions, and print and web media stories. tect bats when they were in sites. In spring Additional bat and WNS related messag- 2009, all colonial bat caves on park were ing became necessary at the park beginning in closed to access for all activities except Spring 2014. WNS caused unusual bat num- those related to WNS and bat research. In bers and behavior near toured cave entrances May 2015, access restrictions were eased on at the park. This led to increased bat-human sites that are known to have WNS or the contacts on cave tours. The increases affected fungus that causes it. These sites reverted both visitors and park staff. Several people to their previous seasonal closures, since required rabies post-exposure inoculations as a there is no longer a danger that off-season result of bat-human contacts. The park assist- visitation will introduce WNS to these sites. ed by a NPS Disease Outbreak Investigation WNS has also led to gear restrictions Team developed a series of responses includ- for park caves. Beginning in May 2009 peo- ing improved messaging and increased moni- ple entering caves under research and spe- toring for unusually behaving bats. cial use permits have been required to de- When WNS arrived in the northeast Unit- contaminate all gear using current approved ed States, many agencies lacked significant national decontamination protocols before baseline data on healthy bat populations. Be- entering park caves. In August 2010 decon- ginning in 2009, MACA increased surveil- tamination requirements were added be- lance and monitoring of its bat roosts (both tween caves on the park (if they are visiting hibernacula and summer roosts) to gather multiple ones) and after visiting park caves. baseline data, detect the arrival of WNS, and In April 2015, decontamination require- to document potential population changes. ments between caves were eased to allow This monitoring includes biennial hibernation gear to go between WNS+ sites on park counts, summer emergence counts, and sum- without decontamination. The park contin- mer acoustic mobile transects. Disease surveil- ues to require decontamination following lance includes regular entrance checks of bat cave trips before going to any cave off-park roosts, targeted winter visits to bat roosts to and before visiting any parkcave with un- check for signs of WNS, and cave entrance known WNS status. acoustic monitoring. In 2014 the park added With over 400,000 people taking cave additional monitoring for dead and dying bats tours each year, MACA has a great oppor- along tour routes in response to concerns tunity to inform people about the importance about bat-human contacts. of bats and the threat posed to them by Biennial hibernation counts of colonial WNS. Before WNS, information on bats Myotis sites in 2015 showed significant de- was part of our interpretive message, but creases in several bat species. Preliminary since WNS that messaging has increased counts indicate little brown bat (Myotis lucifu- greatly. People are informed about WNS gus) declines slightly above 80%, Indiana bat and bats at the beginning and end of every (Myotis sodalis) declines of nearly 80%, and tour. The post-tour walk over the biosecuri- tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) declines ty mat provides an important message that near 70%. On the other end, gray bat (Myotis WNS is an important threat, and that people grisescens) and Rafinesque big-eared bat have a role in keeping it from spreading. (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) numbers continue Sometimes visitors have even had the op- to be stable or increasing on park as of this portunity to see bats with WNS symptoms year. Mist netting on several projects suggest along tour routes. The park has also partici- that northern long-eared bats are greatly de- pated in numerous media projects on bats creased on the summer landscape in the park and WNS. These have included national in 2015.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The park has also supported a wide range coming out (pre- and during WNS outbreak). of bat and WNS related research by NPS sci- WNS and its effects have led to a dynamic entists, researchers from other federal agen- management environment for parks with caves, cies, and from academic researchers. Some of and in particular for parks with large show these studies have been supported through ac- cave operations. The need to prevent the cess to sites, assistance with sample collection, spread of WNS tempts managers into simply or direct staff assistance in research. Other closing sites to prevent people from coming in studies have been funded by the NPS to assist contact with the fungus (or to prevent them in gathering information needed for manage- from introducing it to places it has not previ- ment of affected bat species and caves. These ously been found). However, the opportunity studies have included work on such topics as to provide strong messaging on bats and the bat physiology; roosting behavior; WNS fun- threat that WNS poses to them also provides a gus prevalence and distribution;, decontamina- drive for managers. At Mammoth Cave, we tion techniques; bat and insect distribution and believe that strong intervention with both visi- abundance before and during WNS outbreak; tors and researchers can sufficiently reduce the and bat condition going into hibernation and threat to allow access while protecting bats and caves.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Conservation-Education-Outreach-Tourism Pat Seiser, Chair

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Conservation and touristic use in Ballet Cave, Brazil: history, present situation and future outlook

Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura

Brazilian Karst Institute (Instituto do Carste) and of the Bambuí Speleological Research Group (Grupo Bambuí de Pesquisas Espeleológicas).

Ballet Cave is among the most im- that was not enough to stop the vandalism. At portant archaeological and speleological sites the beginning of the new millennium, the cave in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Ballet style1 can conservation status was pitiful. There was a be one of the oldest rock art styles identified in significant amount of scattered garbage, many South America, with relative dating of at least broken speleothems and cattle feces covered 10,500 AP (Neves et al., 2012) 2. Ballet Cave large areas of the floor. At that time, besides is about 150m long, and is located in the Pri- the graffiti, several changes on the pictorial vate Reserve of Natural Heritage - PRNH panels were found, i.e. nests and hives of in- Fazenda Bom Jardim3, which in turn, is part of sects, animal droppings, mineral deposits the Environmental Protection Area Lagoa San- (probably caused by successive applications of ta Karst. In 2002, the infrastructure project water to “enhance” the visual quality of the and its installation were carried out, as well as paintings), dust accumulation (possibly conse- an extensive conservation work on the cave, quence of trampling over sedimentary layers), which comprised the restoration of rock art as described by David & Moura (2002). To panels. This “nationwide first” project was co- protect Ballet Cave and other human and natu- ordinated by Helen David, speleologist, PhD ral heritage places, the creation of PRNH in conservation and restoration. This article Fazenda Bom Jardim was mandated by envi- presents the results of this study and the cur- ronmental agencies, and among other actions, a rent situation of the site and the future pro- Visitation and Conservation Project for Ballet spects. Cave/ 2002 that was coordinated by Helena David. Visitation and Conservation Project The Visitation and Conservation Pro- at Ballet Cave/ 2002 ject at Ballet Cave was implemented in 2002. Ballet Cave, well known in the region, The first steps were the cave survey, the impact received unplanned visitation until the end of mapping, and the detailed photographic survey the 90’s. Unfortunately graffiti covered practi- of rock art panels and all surfaces to be be re- cally every smooth and accessible surface, in- stored. The photos were taken before, during cluding rock art panels (Figures 1A & B), cave and after conservation actions (Figure 2). An- walls, ceiling and speleothems. These graffiti other important step was the implementation by were made with different materials and tech- the project coordinator, of solubility tests on niques, especially coal, clay, chalk, and inci- different types of substrata (rock, speleothems). sions. In the 90’s a barbed wire fence and gate These tests enabled the development of tech- were installed in order to protect the cave. But

1This style is characterized by elongated human figures, with male and female nominees, arms raised, head and mouth often elongated and open 2Relative dating obtained for Ballet Style figure found in Lapa do Santo, Matozinhos, by the Laboratory of Human Evolu- tion Studies team, led by Walter A. Neves. 3Owned by LafargeHolcim S/A.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 1A- Partial view of pictorial panel in Ballet Figure 1B– Main rock art panets seen from the Cave. Photo: LA / VM wooden platforms. Photo: LA/VM niques for removal of different types of graffi- view of the rock art panels as well as it ti, dirt, insect nests, and animal excrements. serves a better conservation of the site. Temperature and relative humidity measure- Moreover this solution can be easily re- ments were made throughout the process, in moved in the case of future archaeological order to understand the dynamics of the cave excavations. The platforms protect the ar- microclimate and to avoid any changes over chaeological sediment from compaction that. The conservation work lasted about four and disturbance caused by trampling, months, and only three people4 were involved. avoiding the dispersion of fine particle mat- It was a painstaking job, done with minimum ter, and its subsequent deposition over pic- impact techniques and control measures to torial panels. The use of pallets made the safeguard the integrity of the cave environ- project feasible, due to the reduced cost of ment and archaeological heritage The second installation and maintenance. phase of the project was the planning and installation of the infrastructure. For protection Present situation of the archaeological sediment, a wooden plat- Nowadays Ballet Cave receives about form was installed at the cave entrance zone 600 visitors per year, mostly students. They and the access inside the cave was restricted5. enter the cave in groups up to 15 people, Some signs were installed in addition to strate- guided by a LafargeHolcim S/A employee. gic locations, posting warnings or interpretive The cave is included in a broader preset content to guide visitors. The platform is made visitation program. This visitation program of removable pallets. They were put together lasts about two hours and includes other with flexible joints and directly supported on human and natural heritage places within the cave floor. The installation process didn’t PRNH Fazenda Bom Jardim. Visitation is call for any excavation or disturbance in the held from Monday to Friday and must be sedimentary layer, thus not causing irreversi- booked online, 10 days in advance. A 150m ble damages to the archeological site. The pal- wooden walkway was recently installed on lets provide a smooth surface, comfortable and the hillside forest between the dirt road ac- safe for visitors. All of that entails a better cess and the entrance of the cave. Apparently, there was a significant re-

4 Helena David, Vitor Moura and Luciana Alt. 5 The access is allowed only to conduct scientific research and monitoring activities.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 2 - Example surface with graffiti in Ballet Cave in 2001, in 2002 after Conservation Project and in 2015. Photos: VM covery on the hillside forest in relation to panels, their removal can be critical and cause the situation observed in 2002, so much so damage to the pictorial layers and should be that the barbed wire fence is now better performed only by specialists. camouflaged by vegetation. The conservation status of the cave, in general, is now a Future outlook, suggestions and lot improved. Now because of the platform recommendations fewer intrusive footprints are observed, indi- The good condition observed in 2015 in cating that most visitors have respected the Ballet Cave attests to the management quali- installed infrastructure. Furthermore, it was ties, and because of that, it is possible to think observed that there were rare new graffiti. about the expansion of the visitation circuit This attests to the theory that the existence within the cave. In addition to rock art, the of a large number of graffiti attracts new cave possesses other attractions, such as a main graffiti, and also shows that the cave man- hall that contains historical evidence of saltpe- agement has been effective. ter extraction. This main hall also contains the It should be noted that from time to remainders of recent archaeological excava- time, the conservation interventions over tions. Given the importance of Ballet Cave it graffiti made with incisions techniques, could well be included in regional touristic cir- need to be monitored and maintained. For cuits and could be opened on weekends, with- example, after 13 years of completion of the out prior appointment, in order to expand the Visitation and Conservation Project, some audience to the larger public. points where the techniques used to camou- Currently there is no monitoring program flage incisions already need to be revised applied to the cave. Is its recommended the because the filler material was apparently monitoring of cave fauna dynamics be devel- removed by sheer natural processes i.e. oped in order to evaluate the possible interfer- stream air, circulation of small animals, etc. ence of the installed infrastructure. This action In some places, insect nests began to form is important, for example, to assess the impact over the rock art and other surfaces. When of introduced construction materials over cave this kind of nest is formed over the rock art fauna. It is recommended to carry out an annu-

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium al photographic monitoring over rock art panels and other surfaces of the cave. This David, H.; Souza, L. A. C.. Prehistoric rock type of monitoring helps to identify and rec- art conservation in Peruaçu valley, Mi- ord possible changes (speleothems breakage, nas Gerais, Brasil. In: 10es journées graffiti, insect nests, animal dung deposi- d'études de la Section Française de l'In- tion, etc.). These monitoring actions call for stitut International de Conservation, the planning of immediate conservation ac- 2002, Paris. L'art avant l'histoire - La tions. A monitoring system is an important conservation de l'art préhistorique. tool for pointing out the need to review any Champs-sur-Marne: SFIIC, 2002. p. 172 management and surveillance actions, or -178. even to attest to their effectiveness. David, H.; Martinez-Bazan, M. L.; Acknowledgements Domenech-Carbo, M. P.. Contribution for prehistoric rock art conservation. In: This article is a tribute to Helen David, Colours 2008. Bridging Science with who introduced us to the world of cave con- Art, 2008, Évora. Book of Abstracts. servation, and instilled into us a strong Évora, 2008. v. 1. awareness about the fragility of these environments. She showed us the need to seek David, H. The conservation of Ballet Cave, for minimum impact techniques. We Brazil. In: 14th International Congress of acknowledge Jose Duarte from Lafarge- Speleology, 2005, Atenas. 14th Interna- Holcim S/A for allowing and supervising tional Congress of Speleology. Atenas, our visit to Ballet Cave. We also 2005. v. 1. acknowledge André Alt for reviewing the English translation. Neves, W.A.: Araujo, A.G.M; Bernardo, D.V.; Kipnis, R.; Feathers, Rock Art at References the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary in Eastern South America. In: PLoS One. Oxford, 2012. v. 7, Issue 2. David, H & Moura, V. Ballet Cave, Minas Gerais, Brasil, Conservation and Visita- tion. In: 10es journées de la Section

Française de l'Intitut International de Conservation, 2002, Paris. L'art avant l'histoire - La conservation de l'art pré- historique. Champs-sur-Marne: SFIIC, 2002. p. 164-171.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Making Cave Lint Camps a Success

Gretchen M. Baker and Ben Roberts

Great Basin National Park, Nevada

One consideration of cave management Horrocks and Ohms (2006) provide rec- for show caves is how to maintain the natu- ommendations on how to hold a successful ral cave beauty while allowing for thou- lint camp, including identifying areas to be sands of people to visit the cave each year. cleaned, techniques to be used, advertising Each person who enters the cave brings a widely, securing lodging, and offering train- bit of dust and debris on their shoes and ing. These are excellent guidelines, and we leaves hair and lint from their clothes. Over build on these recommendations to share how time, a sheen of lint and dust often covers they can be used to provide educational op- many of the cave speleothems and walls. portunities for both cavers and non-cavers. The lint can have many adverse effects on About 30,000 people visit Lehman Cave the cave, including providing an artificial in Great Basin National Park, Nevada annual- food source, dissolving speleothems, ly. The trail in Lehman Cave is often narrow, providing unnatural odors, and marring the wending through tight passages and next to aesthetics of the cave (Horrocks and Ohms columns, shields, and other cave formations. 2006). Despite being remote, Lehman Cave lint Many show caves hold periodic lint camps have repeatedly attracted volunteers. camps in an effort to remove this buildup, Over eight lint camps have been held in the calling for cavers to come help remove lint last two decades, with over 200 volunteers and other debris that have accumulated in and over 3,000 volunteer hours. In 2015, two the cave due to human visitation. Cave lint lint camps were held to accommodate all of camps have gained popularity since the first the interested volunteers (Figure 1). How has one held at Carlsbad Caverns in 1988 a very remote area, three hours to the nearest (Jablonsky 1992). They have been held at shopping mall and over two hours to the many caves with volunteers coming from nearest interstate, attracted these people? near and far. Due to the cumulative nature The Lehman Cave lint camps have been of impacts from lint and dust, continued lint marketed not only to grottoes, but also to the camps are critical to restoring and main- general public. Quite a few people who saw taining caves in as natural a form as possi- Lehman Cave on a cave tour and heard about ble.

Figure 1. Participants in the February 2015 Lehman Cave lint camp. NPS Photo by G. Baker.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 2. Some of the tons of sand removed from Figure 3. Volunteers of all ages help at the Lehman Lehman Cave during lint camp to restore the natu- Cave LInt Camp, helping to ensure that the cave ral cave features. The sand is left from trail building will be looking its best for the next generations. many decades ago. NPS Photo by G. Baker NPS Photo by G. Baker

the perils of lint from an interpretive ranger coins, and a pool hall token were found, as wanted to come back for a lint camp so they well as additional historic signatures. Par- could give back to the cave. In addition, the ticipants were keen on making the next ar- lint camps have benefited greatly from social cheological discovery. media. The park used Twitter and Facebook Keeping volunteers happy can be ac- to spread the word about events. These posts complished in a variety of ways. They do a were quickly shared with others and have re- variety of tasks, from dusting to digging to sulted in quite a few people coming to lint removing algae near lights; they work in camp who otherwise wouldn’t know about various areas of the cave. Free housing al- the event. lows cavers and non-cavers to mingle and Recent media coverage has helped to en- even try furniture caving, a popular event. gage even more people. Stories in National One of the biggest perks of a Lehman Cave Parks Traveler and the Los Angeles Times lint camp is being allowed to see some of have reached wide audiences. The stories the off-trail areas, including the renowned concentrate on why people come to lint camp, Talus Room, the largest room of the cave. and these stories have encouraged others to It was closed during the 1980s due to rock volunteer their time to help the cave. fall, so is now rarely visited. In addition, In addition to removing lint and dust, lint some volunteers help park staff conduct camp volunteers have helped remove tons of White-nose syndrome monitoring for bats debris left from trail-making efforts (Figure during internal winter cave visits and gain 2). These restoration efforts have been espe- additional experience caving. cially popular as original cave floor is uncov- The National Park Service is charged ered. Some volunteers take ownership in the with attracting the next generation to partic- project—or rather, a small part of the cave— ipate in park activities. The lint camps have as they yearn to discover how the cave origi- helped greatly with that. In 2014, half the nally looked. In 2015, the park also had an participants were under age 25. It is com- archeologist attend the lint camp to help iden- mon for more experienced cavers to help tify objects found next to the trail. Nails, the younger helpers learn the best cleaning strategies (Figure 3).

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Lint camps are an excellent way to not only maintain a cave in a more pristine state, but also to attract stewards that will want to help keep the cave that way.

Bibliography

Horrocks, RD. and Ohms, M. 2006. Cave lint and dust removal projects. In: Hil- dreth-Werker, V. and J. Werker, Edi- tors. Cave Conservation. National Spe- leological Society, Huntsville, Ala- bama, p. 351-362.

Figure 4. Breakdown of debris removed from the cave during a lint camp. NPS Photo by S. Jablonsky, PL. 1992. Implications of lint Thomas. deposits in caves. NSS News 50(4): 99- 100.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Karst and Coastal Development: A Digital Cave Survey Tool for Municipal and Tourism Planning in Quintana Roo, Mexico

James G. Coke IV1, Simon Richards2

17353 Myrna Blvd., Kent, OH 44240 USA 2Domocilio Conocido, Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract Positioning System locations are removed Cave exploration and survey in the north- from the KML file. Cave surveyors control sensitive data while allowing the public to eastern karst of Quintana Roo reveals an increasingly complex network of dry and under- produce reasonably accurate cave area maps water caves. Over 1500 kilometers of under- within the Google Earth software environ- water and dry cave passage is documented ment. within a developing coastal region earmarked for municipal and touristic growth. Both urban Introduction and tourist hubs maintain a complex relation- The Riviera Maya, originally named as ship between the demands for public infra- the Costa Turquesa, was once a backwater structure, prudent use of undeveloped lands, collection of small fishing collectives, coco- and the sensitive character of the region's karst nut plantations, and cattle cooperatives. environment. As coastal municipalities and Slash and burn farming and subsistence tourist resorts grow in the region, encounters hunting on this karst plain supplemented the diet of what was a modest and retiring com- with dry and underwater caves, karst windows, and a widespread karst aquifer occurs with in- munity. Located on the eastern coast of creasing frequency. Quintana Roo Mexico, this region has Government and non-governmental agen- grown to become a prime destination for cies can invite local speleological survey world tourism. Resorts, modern highways, groups to share geo-referenced cave survey and urban centers have developed within a data or cave mapping products to assist in narrow coastal zone of mangrove and scrub planning for future regional growth. Revealing jungle that accommodates a collection of cave passage and entrance locations creates a fragile fresh water drainage zones. Over problematic arena for survey groups. Sensitive many years speleologists, cave divers, hy- cave survey data may drift through layers of drologists and ocean divers have collected government bureaucracy reaching land specu- diverse sets of complimentary data support- lators, resort developers, and perhaps even ing the concept of this area's broad and shal- lawbreakers searching for historical antiqui- low aquifer drainage region. ties. Vulnerable landowners in possession of The Quintana Roo Speleological Survey desirable karst windows may also suffer unin- (QRSS) archives these observations and vited scrutiny by municipal agents. cave survey data. Today we find the most We propose an alternative method in shar- common ecotourism activities include an ing geo-referenced karst survey data as defined increased use of wild dry and underwater by cave areas. A geo-referenced survey soft- caves. Those activities are becoming an inte- ware plot is analyzed by our QEXF software, gral part of the local tourism industry. Mu- producing a buffered Google Earth software nicipalities and public services continue to KML file displaying user defined boundaries grow in order to support the burgeoning for a cave. Survey plot and entrance Global 63

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 1. Google Earth KML Cave Line Plot Image

Figure 2. Google Earth KML Cave Area Image tourism base. As the coast develops, QRSS re- able media when distributing information ceives many requests for cave locations and about the underground karst environment survey data from local governments, land de- with the public (Figure 1). Survey data in velopers, and environmental groups. this form is often misinterpreted, leading the Georeferenced cave survey data or cave plot public and government officials to reach and KML file facsimiles are generally not suit- false assumptions about cave and the aquifer 64

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium environments. In the wrong hands cave QEXF will process the Compass plot file location data have encouraged surface ex- though defined user values creating a sim- cavations into existing underwater cave ple Google Earth KML file (Figure 2). The passage for ecotourism companies. QEXF KML file is bitmap-based; all cave georeferencing is removed. Methods A georeferenced survey plot file com- Discussion piled by Compass Cave Survey Software. The QEXF program has been used with The operator edits the QEXF Parameter success on many occasions. Responding to file before the Compass plot file is ana- requests for cave survey information are lyzed by QEXF software. Parameters in- straightforward. Permission to disclose sur- clude the size of the cave area buffer cen- vey data information from groups who tered on the basic survey line plot. The have shared data with the QRSS is not re- cave plot can remain in the buffered zone quired. Landowners will continue to have or be removed. Color buffers may be ig- issues with land developers and municipali- nored or added to indicate a range of ex- ty offices should their property contain a ploration dates. The buffer zone may be significant karst window(s). transparent, or absent with just an outline.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

CAVEMONITOR – Monitoring Show Caves of Romainia

1 Silviu Constantin and the CAVEMONITOR Team

“Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology, str. Frumoasa 31, 010986 Bucharest, Romania

Romania hosts spectacular karst areas with The project includes 5 show caves from many caves holding the potential to become the Southern and Western Carpathians and touristic attractions. While the number of caves and one laboratory cave used as a reference opened for tourism is still low, in the last years site. The project includes the monitoring of there is a trend of opening new caves for tour- the number of visitors and groups frequen- ism or re-fitting old show caves by using new cy, paralleled by the monitoring of the main lighting technologies and construction materials. physico-chemical parameters of the air In the last 4 years only, 5 new caves were (CO2, temperature, RH) and drip and con- opened for tourism and a couple of others are densation waters (drip rate, temperature, currently being under consideration for develop- conductivity, pH, water chemistry). Meteor- ment. However, at a national level there are no ological parameters are monitored using au- management protocols enforced to monitoring tomated weather stations located in the close changes in show caves and none of the caves vicinity of all caves. We also monitor the opened to tourists have any such monitoring. vertebrate (Chiroptera) and invertebrate The CAVEMONITOR project started in the populations from caves, as well as the mi- summer of 2014 and aims at establishing a ro- crobiological composition of the air, water bust protocol of monitoring the impact of tourist and sediments. To assess speleothem vul- traffic upon the biotic and abiotic elements in nerability to the changes in chemistry of show caves and to apply it as a pilot-study. The condensation or percolating waters calcite protocol includes monitoring of physical and precipitation stations are installed and peri- chemical parameters of the caves (from air, wa- odical measurements of stable isotopes ter, speleothems, sediments) as well as the bio- (d18O, d13C) are carried out on both precipi- logical ones (population densities, the evolution tated calcite and dripwaters. Radon concen- of biodiversity hot-spots, air microbiology) in trations are measured using both active and relation to the touristic traffic. The study should passive instruments. establish: (a) the extent to which the frequency The project will: (i) establish a robust and volume of the tourist traffic affects the mon- monitoring protocol to be applied to all itored parameters; (b) required measures to en- show and protected caves; (ii) establish sure a physico-chemical equilibrium of the cave threshold values for the tourist carrying ca- air and water and preserve cave’s attractions; (c) pacity such as to allow for the preservation limitations required in order to preserve cave of the subterranean environment; (iii) create biodiversity and to avoid the input of alloch- reliable technical solutions for monitoring tonous elements such as lampenflora; (d) identi- the cave environment, including remote fy potential health risks to both cave personnel monitoring and online data transfer; (iv) es- and tourists related to radon levels. tablish a set of basic principles to be en-

1CAVEMONITOR is a research project funded under the SEE financial mechanism with the number 17SEE/2014. The team consists of 24 researchers from the “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology in Bucharest and Cluj, the Uni- versity of Bergen (Norway), and the “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Fig.ure 1: Location of the monitored caves in Romania.

tion of low-cost dataloggers that are function- forced by the management plans of show ing independently to each other. caves pending on their morphology or the A variety of sensors and dataloogers type of touristic traffic; (v) issue a set of available on the market have been tested for preventive measures and instructions to be their performance and robustness. In this re- followed by the personnel and stakeholders port we discuss the performance and difficul- of the show caves. ties related to different sensors and cave con- A total number of 35 monitoring sta- ditions as seen after 6 months of measure- tions have been installed in the 6 caves un- ments. We also present preliminary data der observation (Figure 1). We are using showing the influence of lighting regimes both automated fixed stations, where sen- and human traffic on the environment of the sors are connected to a central datalogger caves in different settings. and mobile stations consisting of a combina-

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Cave Management and Restoration Efforts at Coronado National Memorial, Hereford, AZ

1Garcia, Jessica M., 2Kangas, Stephanie, 3Janway, Ryan, 2Wagner, Tess,

1High Alpine and Arctic Research Program, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77802 2GSA GeoCorps America Geoscientists-In-The-Parks, Coronado National Memorial, 4101 E. Montezuma Canyon Road, Hereford, AZ 85615, 3National Park Service, Coronado National Memorial, Arizona

Coronado National Memorial is one of the stantial size, with Coronado Cave being the most southern National Park units in the United largest. The remaining four features are ex- States and the largest of the 29 Memorials tremely small and likely have little or no inter- (Figure 1). The Memorial is located in the est for the general public. The Memorial is southern portion of the Huachuca Mountains in bounded by Montezuma Pass to the west, Bob the Mexican Highland section of the Basin and Thompson Peak to the north, and a 3.3 mile- Range Province. The Huachucas are one of 40 long southern boundary marking the US- mountain ranges in the borderlands named “sky Mexico international border.The geology of islands.” These mountain ranges received the Coronado National Memorial, in southeastern name because they resemble islands that rise Arizona, spans more than one billion above the grassy sea. There are seven located years with a rich history including mountain caves within the Memorial and possibly three building events, rifting, periods of shallow other unlocated caves. Only three are of sub-

Figure 1. Coronado Park Boundary showing roads, trails, location of Coronado Cave and peak/feature elevations.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium seas, and supervolcanoes. These events created helictites. Other cave features include gyp- a diverse geologic landscape composed of Per- sum boxwork and scallops. Mathematical mian limestone, Mesozoic and Ter- derivation calculated that water flowed at a tiary volcanics, and Quaternary deposits. Karst rate of less than 24 feet per minute. Today features formed 15,000-10,000 years ago by the cave is mostly ephemeral; water is usu- phreatic conditions, leading to the dissolution ally only observed during monsoon season. of the limestone. Coronado Cave, formerly Coronado Cave consists of one large room known unofficially as Montezuma’s Cave, that is 180 meters long by 6 meters high by Montezuma’s Treasure Vault, and Geronimo’s 20 meters wide, with a narrower portion Cave until the mid-1980s, not only attracts pre- near the center of the cave’s length, and sent day visitors but served as an attraction to three narrow crawlways which can be seen miners during the 1800s. Its spectacular size in the Coronado Cave map (Figure 2). and once pristine speleothems captivated its Geologic resources have primarily visitors. Unfortunately, most of these for- been passively managed since the Memori- mations have been advertently or inadvertently al’s inception, with the most well-known destroyed. Due to concerns that other caves feature, Coronado Cave, operated as a may be subject to similar types of vandalism “wild” cave without permits. Due to the and for visitor safety, Coronado Cave remains detrimental effects of vandalism to Coro- the only cave resource open to the public. In- nado Cave and a need for more scientific tact speleothems are rare. Speleothems found information about other geologic features in within the cave include: cave popcorn, drapery, the Memorial, an overhaul of the cave man- chandelier, stalactites, stalagmites, moonmilk, agement program was initiated in 2014 and flowstones, rimstone, columns, soda straws and

Figure 2: Coronado Cave map with crawlways located in red.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 3: Graffiti and post-remediation efforts

has been developed and implemented over the assist with further cave management actions. last year. The two most prevalent destructive The cave management plan has also been up- activities by visitors to Coronado Cave are lit- dated to enhance monitoring activities and tering and graffiti vandalism (Figure 3). Reme- meet current management objectives. This ef- diation efforts began in July 2014 with system- fort has resulted in a more robust management atic removal and documentation of trash and program, which now includes updated man- graffiti. By April 2015, park staff, SCA interns, agement objectives; protocols for monitoring GeoCorps America interns and Boy Scout vol- and remediation; a cave safety protocol; updat- unteers had meticulously scoured the cave and ed cave maps; collection of anthropological removed 45.53 lbs of trash in a total of 91.5 and meteorological data; information about work and volunteer hours. Successful graffiti possible unknown caves through reconnais- remediation by park staff occurred throughout sance efforts; and the creation of education and the year using nondestructive techniques and outreach materials for training park staff and materials. improving public interpretive programs. This Graffiti remediation and trash removal will endeavor has served the mission of the Nation- continue into the foreseeable future. Over time, al Park Service by enhancing the preservation trends in littering and graffiti prevalence can of park caverns for the enjoyment of future generations.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

“An Education is Not All Derived From Textbooks”: A Century of Interactions Between Mammoth Cave and Western Kentucky University

Chris Groves1, Deana Groves2, and Weldon Hawkins3

1Crawford Hydrology Laboratory, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY; Library Technical Services, Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY; 3Emerald Glen Farm, Munfordville, KY

South central Kentucky's Mammoth Cave System have been remarkably synergistic, for exam- is by far the most extensive known cave sys- ple providing the University with a nearby, tem on Earth. The cave and landscapes that world-class learning environment while of- overlie it have been designated not only as a fering the cave managers, particularly in re- US national park, but also by the United cent decades, the expertise of faculty and Nations through UNESCO as both a World student scholars (and cavers) in interpreting Heritage Site and an International Biosphere the cave system, landscape, and associated Reserve to codify their global significance. resources. In addition to the unique natural landscape, there has been a rich human history in the Early interactions included many school area for at least 10,000 years and within the field trips to the cave. Among the earliest of cave itself for more than four thousand. these were trips in the early 1900s from the Potter School for Young Girls. In the same Just 50 km to the southwest is Western era, students entering the Bowling Green Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Business College “on the Seventy Dollar Green, which including various precursor Scholarship” who paid “for same at time of institutions has had numerous interactions entering” were offered a free trip to Mam- with the cave system and its proprietors for moth Cave with all expenses paid including more than 100 years. These relationships

Figure 1. Students from the Western Ken- tucky State Normal School and Teachers College, a precursor to WKU, at the Histor- ic Entrance to Mammoth Cave in 1927.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Many early trips involved multi-day excursions. While some of these were by train between Bowling Green and the cave, at least in some cases the boys would make the 100-kilometer round trip on foot accompa- nied by horse-drawn wagons loaded with girl students who, while riding ahead of the boys, would sing songs to encourage (or taunt) and provide energy to their walking colleagues. A camping trip along the Green River after one such cave trip was described as having festivities occurring to a level “not seen since the celebrations of the Danes on the morning after the slaying by Beowulf of the sea-monster Grendel.” In 1925 explorer Floyd Collins was Figure 2. A recent group of WKU students at the His- trapped while exploring Sand Cave within toric Entrance to Mammoth Cave (photo by Chris the current bounds of Mammoth Cave Na- Groves). tional Park, and a large rescue effort ensued. For several days rescuers could carry food to Floyd who was stuck not far from the en- “railroad fare, cave fare, and hotel fare to and trance, but they were unable to free him from Mammoth Cave.” An article from 1927 from a tight squeeze where he had been describing the benefits of such excursions to trapped by a ham-sized rock that had slipped the cave (Figure 1) correctly claimed that and pinned him in place. After a collapse “An education is not all derived from between Floyd and the entrance made subse- texbooks.” quent visits to him impossible, it became a race against time to free him, and a shaft

Figure 3. 2004 Signing ceremony for the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, Including Ms. Lujuana Wilcher, Park Superintendent Ron Switzer, WKU Pesident Gary Ransdell, and Senator Mitch McConnell (photo by Chris Groves).

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium was initiated to reach the passage where he examine dominant rhetorical visions and could be freed. Among the men who communities that emerged from the 1925 strained for days to dig through the rock to tragedy of Floyd Collins. reach Floyd was the WKU football team, For decades students with an interest in and the sheet signed by the players as they cave exploring have been attracted to arrived on the scene can still be seen on the WKU’s karst studies programs because of wall of a local museum of Floyd Collins ar- the connections to exploration in south cen- tifacts at the office of Dr. Tim Donnelly in tral Kentucky including Mammoth Cave and Bowling Green there is also a history of interactions be- In 1980 the Karst Field Studies Program tween WKU and the Cave Research Founda- at Mammoth Cave National Park was estab- tion (CRF), with three current and former lished by at WKU by Dr. Nick Crawford as WKU faculty and staff having served as a unique opportunity to study cave and karst CRF Presidents. Numerous WKU students topics at the university level. These courses have also served as seasonal or permanent continue today and have been taught by a guides as well as scientific and management number of the world’s leading experts in positions at Mammoth Cave and other na- their respective fields or of the cave itself, a tional parks, and indeed other federal agen- partial list of whom includes, in addition to cies. Dr. Crawford, the likes of Will White, Art The Mammoth Cave International Center Palmer, Patti Jo Watson, Stan Sides, Roger for Science and Learning was established in Brucker, Tom Barr, Derek Ford, and Horton 2004 (Figure 3) as a cooperative initiative Hobbs. between the Park and WKU, one of 17 such Class field trips still continue regularly to centers operating within the national park the cave (Figure 2), and in recent decades system. The Center facilitates Park-related several departments have developed interac- research and environmental education to a tions at the cave including professional wide range of students and scientists, as well funded research, graduate thesis and under- as implementation of citizen science pro- graduate research projects, and extensive grams. educational experiences within, in the close The future is bright for such mutually vicinity of, or closely relevant to MACA. beneficial interactions to continue on into The Park-related graduate research emanat- the future. New on tap for fall 2015 is the ing from WKU has been extensive and wide first time offering of a WKU Honor’s Pro- ranging, with numerous thesis studies fo- gram Colloquium simply called Mammoth cused on biology (19 completed), hydroge- Cave National Park. ology (9), water quality (6), geochemistry (7), cultural geography and policy (4), atmospheric science (3) and others in folk Reference studies, remote sensing, and environmental education. One MS thesis from WKU’s De- Bormann, E.G. “Fantasy and Rhetorical Vi- partment of Communications even used sion: The Rhetorical Criticism of Social Bormann's (1972) fantasy theme method to Reality” (1972). Quarterly Journal of Speech. 58: 396-407.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Modeling Cave Temperature to Prioritize the Assessment of Over-winter Cave Use by Bats in Grand Canyon National Park

David Hejna, Benjamin W. Tobin, and Janice Stroud-Settles

Division of Science and Resource Management Grand Canyon National Park

Introduction: list of high-priority caves that are recom- Winter ecology of bats in the American mended for inventory and monitoring prior Southwest is largely under-studied. In Arizona to the arrival of white-nose syndrome to 16 bat species are believed to overwinter, how- the region. ever hibernacula information exists for only 10 sites in the state, of which seven are located in Methodology northern Arizona. Grand Canyon National Park A cave temperature model was creat- (GRCA) contains more than 375 caves and ed to assist with prioritization. Since insuf- hosts 22 species of bats, nine of which are spe- ficient data is available from caves within cies of conservation concern. Currently little GRCA, data from 12 caves in Sequoia and information exists regarding caves in Grand Kings Canyon National Park (SEKI) was Canyon, including cave climatic conditions and used to create a series of regression mod- winter use by bats. With the westward advance els to determine the relationship between of white-nose syndrome, it is increasingly im- average annual cave temperature and a se- portant that land managers and conservation ries of environmental variables. Initially, biologists in the Southwest identify and monitor five variables were included in the full re- bat hibernacula. Beginning to answer the fun- gression model: number of entrances, av- damental questions associated with winter ac- erage entrance elevation, average entrance tivity of bats in the Southwest is a crucial first slope, average entrance aspect, and vegeta- step in managing the onset of white-nose syn- tion cover at the entrance. Number of en- drome, which is predicted to arrive by 2021. trances was determined from cave invento- White-nose syndrome has affected several ries; slope, aspect, and elevation were cal- species of bats throughout North America, in- culated using the 10-meter DEM of the cluding the big-brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), a area using ArcGIS 10.2; and vegetation bat native to Grand Canyon, as well as several data was reclassified from existing vegeta- species of Myotis which have closely related tion maps into three categories with as- species that are found within the park. Due to signed quantitative values: (1) shrub/ the remote nature of caves within GRCA, it is a grassland, (2) open canopy, and (3) closed challenge to access all caves in the park, let canopy. A step-wise removal of variables alone identify the most likely caves for winter was then conducted, removing the least bat use. Here we present methods used to model significant variable and re-running the re- temperature ranges throughout GRCA using gression model. Akaike’s Information Cri- physical properties of the landscape including terion adjusted for sample size (AICc) was vegetation cover, slope, and elevation. By mod- then run on all models to determine the eling these variables, cave locations which best best fit model (Table 1). The model using fit known bat hibernation temperatures and ide- elevation, slope, and vegetation classes al Pseudogymnoascus destructans (P.d.) growth was shown to be the best fit model, 1.8 temperatures were identified, thus providing a times more likely than the second best fit

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Model AICc Akaike wt r2 p ent+elev+slope+aspect+veg 72.7207 0.0567 0.8078 0.0067 elev+slope+aspect+veg 69.7850 0.2461 0.8282 0.0018 elev+slope+veg 68.5354 0.4597 0.8238 0.0006 elev+veg 70.5422 0.1685 0.7643 0.0006 elev 72.3315 0.0689 0.6922 0.0005

Table 1: Results of AIC model selection showing sample-size corrected AIC value (AICc), relative likelihood of each model (Akaike wt), the coefficient of deter- mination (r2) of each model, and the significance level (p) of each model. The

model. This model was found to account for 82% of the variability in average cave tempera- Results: ture. The resulting raster dataset provided The model equation was then input into values for temperatures across our study ar- the raster calculator to model cave temperature ea and ranged from approximately 8.5 – 17° in Grand Canyon: C; temperatures were subsequently predict- Temperature = [67.077 – (0.0027 x Eleva- ed for 364 caves throughout the park tion Raster) + (0.0848 x Slope Raster Value) – (Figure 1). The literature review of the hi- (3.616 x Vegetation Raster Value)] bernation temperatures resulted in a range The result of this model showed a predict- from -10 to 21°C. The majority of literature ed cave temperature throughout the park. These revealed that bats do not commonly hiber- results were then spot checked using the two nate at temperature above 10°C. Seven available temperature records in GRCA caves, caves were identified within both the ideal resulting in an error of less than 0.5 °C at both temperature range for P.d and within the bat caves. Cave locations were overlayed onto the hibernation temperature range of 10-14°C; created temperature raster and temperature val- three caves were below the ideal tempera- ues were extracted for each cave location. ture range of P.d and ≤ the 10°C hibernation Caves with temperatures matching the ideal temperature (Figure 1). All ten caves are growth range of P.d. (12.5 – 15.8°C) were labeled as priority for inventory and moni- identified. A literature review was conducted to toring by park managers. explore the range of hibernacula temperature for the 16 species of bats that could be poten- Discussion: tially hibernating in caves in Grand Canyon. The westward spread of white-nose To find caves where both P. destructans and syndrome across North America has hibernating bats were most likely to overlap, prompted the proactive study of bat hiber- the temperature range at which these two layers nacula in areas of potential outbreak loca- intersected was selected. Additionally, caves tions. These include the countless cave sys- were selected whose predicted temperatures tems of Grand Canyon National Park. High were below the ideal growth range of P.d. to species richness, high visitor traffic, and the increase the likelihood of finding hibernacula. complex canyon environment, provide the perfect opportunity for the potential occurrence and spread of P.d and white-nose syndrome, leading to the possible future decline

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 1: Modeled temperature (°C) map of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Cave location and associated temperatures (n=364), Pseudogymnoascus destructans ideal caves (n=211), and priority caves for survey (n=10) are shown. in the park’s bat populations. The temperature tified hibernacula to monitor winter bat activ- model developed in this study predicted cave ity. The data collected will help inform and temperatures and will provide park natural re- improve our current cave temperature model source managers a prioritized starting point for and will begin to expand the knowledge of surveying the 375+ caves currently recognized winter ecology of bats in the Southwest in the in Grand Canyon. Beginning in the winter of absence of white-nose syndrome. Further- 2015, Grand Canyon Physical Science and more, continued monitoring of these sites Wildlife staff will collaboratively survey these will assist park managers in identifying po- high-priority caves which will involve: moni- tential outbreak locations and hibernaculum toring cave temperature and relative humidity; sites, ultimately leading to the conservation conducting hibernacula surveys; and setting up and protection of bats in Grand Canyon Na- passive acoustic monitoring stations at six iden- tional Park.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

White Nose Syndrome Decontamination Video for Canada Greg Horne

Resource Management Officer Jasper National Park P.O. Box 10, Jasper, Alberta T0E 1E0 Canada

White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is con- ny. The recognized method with the use of firmed in five eastern provinces of Canada. hot water as the primary decontamination The disease has impacted many bat popula- agent was chosen. Complete testing results tions and resulted in three species being listed of chemical products available in Canada as endangered under the federal Species at and their effectiveness for WNS decontami- Rick Act. The listed species are: Little Brown nation were not available at the time of vid- Myotis, Northern Myotis and Tri-Coloured eo production. The full Canadian decontami- Bat. nation protocol of the CWHC is found at A review of what instructional videos http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/docs/ were available, on the internet as of January WNS_Decontamination_Protocol- 2015, demonstrating the correct techniques to Jun2015.pdf Reference is made to this pro- decontaminate clothing and equipment for tocol several times during the video advising WNS revealed a limited selection. viewers to check there for updates and addi- A National Plan to Manage White Nose tional detail like the decision making tool. Syndrome in Bats in Canada (revised February The primary audience of the video is 2015, http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/docs/ park staff, cave researchers and recreational BatWhiteNoseSyndrome-NationalPlan.pdf ) cavers. Although it is assumed that bat re- has a Communication and Outreach Technical searchers will be fully aware of WNS de- Working Group. One of this group’s goals is: contamination protocols, this video may of- Distribute recommended standard practices fer them reminders or tips. and procedures that reduce the risk of geo- The video has been designed and pro- graphic spread of WNS in North America. duced with Canada’s two official languages Parks Canada Agency and Canadian Wild- kept in mind. Therefore all narration is add- life Health Cooperative (CWHC) developed a ed after field shooting. The primary public 15 minute instructional video that was man- distribution point will be the Parks Canada aged by a commercial film production compa- YouTube site, https://www.youtube.com/ parkscanada

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The Missouri Cave Database Scott House

Cave Research Foundation Database Manager, Missouri Speleological Survey 1606 Luce St. Cape Girardeau MO 63701

Abstract: The Missouri Cave Database (MCD) is an outgrowth of a 50- year effort by the Missouri Speleo- logical Survey to document cave and karst information in the state. The present database was initiated as a small effort in the late 1980’s and eventually incorporated thousands of records from the old Cave Catalog, a joint effort between the MSS and Missouri DNR. Today the database has expanded into a relational database with 7,000 main records representing cave entrances. A faunal table contains nearly 19,000 records; additional descrip- tions, trip reports, and other materials com- Entry Table for MSS Cave Database prise yet another 11,000 records; and records of maps on file contain another 3,500 records. into a “catalog” beginning in the late 1950’s. Today the database is maintained by MSS This was replaced in ~1964 with a comput- in cooperation with Cave Research Founda- erized cave listing. The “fields” (categories, tion (CRF). Major funding has come from a really) were simple text with no search capa- variety of public agencies, plus the MSS and bilities. Eventually this was ported over to a CRF. The presentation will be in the form of slightly more advanced system where simple a demonstration of the working database. searches on county names were made possible. The Missouri Cave Database (MCD) is a As micro-computers came about, the relational database managed by the Missouri need for more search capabilities became Speleological Survey (MSS) in cooperation obvious. Categories became fields and with a variety of other organizations and searches were possible. A prototype was de- agencies. It contains information on nearly veloped on Apple computers, using National 7000 caves in the state. Park Service caves as the data set. In time, The MCD is an outgrowth of early at- the old text fields of the main dataset, writ- tempts to computerize the listing of caves in ten in arcane languages, were broken and Missouri. Original paper lists were printed imported into different programs. Eventually

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

the MSS, additional funds for the development and maintenance of the database have come from National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Missouri Department of Natural Re- sources, and Missouri Department of Conservation. Other public entities cooperating in the sharing of data include the Department of Defense (Corps of Engineers and Ft. Leonard Wood). St. Louis County Parks, and City of Perryville. Private entities such as the L-A-D Foundation (owner of nearly 200,000 acres) also cooperate in sharing data and supporting expansion of the database. Cave Re- search Foundation (CRF) has provid- Related records in the MSS Cave Database ed financial support, software, and office space for the data manager. the superiority of one of these programs be- The Missouri Cave Database has served as came obvious and further development of the model for databases elsewhere including the alternatives was abandoned. Mammoth Cave National Park KY, Buffalo The MCD is written in FileMaker Pro, a National River AR, and a new database for the cross-platform program known for the ease Illinois Speleological Survey. of programming and use. The MCD is easy Brief Description of the Tables: to use and yet powerful at the same time. There are currently seven tables with six re- Import functions are powerful and simple. lationships tying them together. A database de- This allows multiple people to work on as- sign report in HTML format is available for pects of the data and reimport the revised anyone interested. Most of the tables are linked material into the main database. The import by using a cave’s MSS accession number, e.g. functions also allow for simple importation SHN139 – three letters for the county and then of locational data revised in other programs, a sequential number within the county. such as GIS, and then brought back into the The Main Table contains 65 fields and ap- main database. proximately 7000 records. The fields include Purchase of the “Advanced” version of several locational fields, simple attribute fields the software allows the data manager to ex- such as geologic unit, ownership, status, length, port data sets as runtimes, suitable for use by cultural notes, etc. Using this table alone, one anyone with a 64 bit machine. This enables can sort out (for example) all of the caves on a us to distribute runtimes containing subsets certain quad that are owned by a certain agency of the data. For example, the Mark Twain that are more than X length or in Y geologic National Forest gets a subset that contains unit. The Main Table has several pages and lay- information only on caves within the Forest, outs to it, terms that will mean little to most which amounts to something over 700 caves people. Also included are portals or gateways or roughly 10% of the total within the state. into the related tables. The 7000 records repre- All of the large public agencies in the state sent caves or disparate entrances to the same cooperate, in one form or another, with the cave. MCD. While primarily a volunteer effort of

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The Maps Table contains 14 fields and over 3500 records. This is not a link to the gi- gabytes of digitized cave maps but rather an index to existing cave maps on file with the MSS. The 3543 records each stand for a sheet of a cave map; most are single sheets. Howev- er, this table could be exported and act as a link if someone wished to program such a beast. The Reports Table contains 15 fields and approximately 11,000 records. These records are individual entries from cave files reports, grotto newsletters, emails, professional reports, etc. The Faunal Table contains 42 fields and nearly 19,000 records. Each record represents a species occurrence in a particular cave on a Species records , Missouri Cave Database particular date. For example, ten pipistrelle bats in Cave X on Y Date is one record. As MSS cooperators dig into old reports this number is rapidly increasing. Regular moni- The Use Monitoring Table contains 24 toring of caves is also adding a great many fields and, so far, less than 50 records. This records. Again, this information can be easily table exists to track monitoring of caves. exported for use in GIS or other applications. Information from other databases will be The Species Table contains 22 fields and imported into this table; the monitoring over 1100 records. This is a reference table database for Ozark Riverways has over used by the faunal table to insert specific in- 1500 records that will be imported and formation on a certain species. These two ta- linked to the main table. bles are linked via a species number. The 1100 A Do List table currently has 8 fields records represent different species noted from and 1100 records. This is a trial table that Missouri caves. Extinct species are included. may or may not be continue. Consider it under development. If the concept does not work, it will be removed.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

National Forest Cave and Karst Management Plans— The need to include “Hotw to” Wording

Ray Keeler

Central Arizona Grotto, NSS 26406 N. 43rd Avenue Phoenix, Arizona, 85083 USA

Abstract A significant number of National For- ests have caves and karst, but very few Na- tional Forests have personnel whose primary duties are to support and manage that cave/karst resource. Most of the National Forests have managers that have caves and karst among their assigned duties, but many other duties that are higher on the priority list. Additionally, there is entropy associated with normal changes in personnel assignments and new staff coming onboard. Many of these same Forests have established caver communities that can sup- Figure 1. Forest Service Region port in the transitions and tasks. Forest level cave and karst management plans need to include wording that not only (FSMs) sections as the foundation to imple- provide the legal mandates and policies, but ment in a management in a uniform manner. the also the management parameters for the There are short, Forest specific sections ad- five primary user groups of caves; the For- dressing the individual Forest’s resource. est managers, for profit companies whose The documents are located at: http:// actions affect caves and karst, researchers, centralarizonagrotto- recreationalists, and the organized caving cavemanagement.webstarts.com/. Recom- community that help with the cave manage- mendations for five forests are presented ment and tasks. These cave and karst man- along with the bibliography and revision log. agement plans need to provide clear concepts and structure that can be understood Introduction by diverse user groups and training levels. In the nine regions there are 155 National These guides also need to include Forest Forests and 20 National Grasslands. Most of specific examples to help the “new-to- the Forests have caves and karst. Very few caves” manager effectively come up to have Forest level cave management plans. speed. Figure 1 shows the forest regions and Table 1 1 A cave/karst recommendations document shows number of forests within regions with has been written for Forest managers who have little allocated staff for caves /karst management. The document uses the au- 1http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/ thorities (CFRs) and Forest Service Manual 2http://www.fs.fed.us/maps/forest-maps.shtml

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Cave Re- National source Area of U.S. States Forests in Specialists  For profit companies whose actions af- Region * in Region fect caves and karst (Egs. timber and Northern ID, MT, ND 12 ? grazing) will have consistent parameters Rocky CO, KS, NE, for the businesses. 18 ? Mountain SD, WY  Cave researchers have consistent criteria Southwest- AZ, NM 11 2 ern for the research process across multiple Intermoun- ID, NV, UT, forests. 13 1 tain WY  Caver support (Egs. NSS, CRF) have the 17 + 2 Pacific CA, HI "Other 1 same working criteria for projects and Southwest areas" supporting the cave management. 18 + 5 Pacific  Recreational spelunkers have an easy OR, WA "Other 2 Northwest areas" access to caving ethics on the forest. combined The forest level cave management plans with Eastern n/a n/a n/a need to include clear, practical wording to region Southern be useful. Southern and SE 36 ? states Eastern and Recommendations for Cave and Eastern northcen- 13 ? Karst Management tral states The document has been compiled using Alaska Alaska 2 0 multiple sources besides the CFRs and FSM; Washington All 155 1 the previous USFS cave and karst manage- Office ment coordinator documents, Jim Nieland’s Table 1 Number of forests within regions XYZ Cave Management Plan, and individual cave and forest level cave management

2 plans. an estimate of cave resource specialists that have a working knowledge of caves and The document contains: karst. There are a few more.  Authorities There is an ongoing flow of forest per-  Forest Service Manual and handbook sonnel changing locations with transfers, Direction promotions, and retirements. With forest  Cave and Karst Management Policies level cave/karst management plans, transfer- and Objectives ring personnel at the district level have the  Extent of the Resource – Individualized same working document. When personnel for the Forest move between forests or to the regional lev-  General Administration and Public In- el, very similar, approved documents will volvement greatly reduce the learning curve and getting  Cave Management Categories up to speed time.  A cave evaluation and classification sys- This is beneficial for both those forest tem personnel that are familiar with caves and  Cave inventory procedures karst, and forest personnel starting positions  The Significant Cave Nomination Pro- where caves and karst are on their list of re- cess including nomination forms, and sponsibilities, but the employee has little Finding/Decision Form signed by the background in this area. Forest Supervisor. Having forest level cave/karst manage-  Cave management techniques ment plans benefits the four other forest user  Cave ethics (do’s and don’ts) groups:  Research guidelines

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

 Monitoring categories Research Guidelines  For cave files, what is kept in the Master There are guidelines addressing the steps File and what is allowed in the Public File from the proposal submittal, techniques, de-  Management guidelines and techniques for liverables, and resource degradation. karst  Cave Entry Permit File Management  Terms and Definitions There are federal restrictions on information may be publicly available. The Mas- The document provides the “how to” infor- ter File contains complete information on mation that allows application for specific pro- the cave including the cave management jects. For example when a cave has been nomi- plan. The Public File contains non-sensitive nated for Significance, the steps and responsi- information including any closure orders, key bilities are listed when the Forest Supervisor checkout/return policy. For example, the Pub- signs the Finding/Decision for the cave to re- lic File helps the person at front desk with ceive permanent significant status. what information can be discussed during key checkout and return. Cave Management Categories There are two management categories of caves Karst Management on National Forests; Generally Known Caves Mitigating unnecessary surface destruction and Lesser Known Caves. This is a root consid- in karst areas is an ongoing awareness prob- eration for how the Forest determines the man- lem. There are guidelines to help reduce the agement. impact of surface operations on the subsurface karst ecosystems while still extracting Category 1: Generally Known Caves the surface resource. Three examples in-  Highly Developed (trails/lights/parking), clude: directed access  Developed Natural (parking/signage), di-  Grazing: Locating salt stations away rected access from karst features. The unnecessary dis-  Natural (little/no improvements), no di- turbing of the surface upstream of re- rected access charge entry points causes unnecessary siltation and impact. Category 2: Lesser Known Caves  Timber harvesting: In upstream areas of  Primitive, no directed access karst features, do not use tracked vehicles  Sensitive and Pristine, no directed access in the drainages, and fell trees away from the drainage. Avoid throwing slash into There are several advantages having these karst features. two categories:  Non-hard-surface roads: Avoid karst features and avoid road runoff going into  Current conditions and the general karst features. knowledge base are considered up front.  Classification of the cave (Preserve, Permit, Unfortunately, lack of awareness is a pri- Non-Permit, and Directed Access) can be mary enabler to bad practices. applied where needed.  Management policies can be made for the Significant Cave Nomination Forms caves in each category. Individual cave After the initial surge of Significant Cave management plans address more specific nominations in 1994, new nominations have needs.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium become rare. The nomination forms have particular forest. For example, some been updated to include submitter email Forests have large areas of active karst address, cave GPS location and other infor- while other Forests do not. Some For- mation that was not readily available at that ests have lava tubes. time.  The cave numbering system contains examples of the forest being ad- Also included are cave inventory forms. dressed. These help with the “things to think about”  A forth area addresses karst. Some For- when inventorying the cave. ests have large karst areas. Other For- ests do not. For the Forests without Management and Monitoring Categories large karst areas a reduced karst manage- Several monitoring categories are dis- ment Appendix J has been created to re- cussed to provide an acceptable tool box duce the unnecessary burden. for the given caves being considered. Some of the areas include: These forest specific items make the implementation local and less abstract. The  Trip size limits remainder of the cave and karst management  Trip limits guides is the same for all of the Forests.  Visitor registers  Photo monitoring Forest Plan Integration  Signage Updating each National Forest Plan is a  Gates long and involved process. If the Forest  Maps plan references (linked) to the Forest’s cave  Trails and karst management guide, the process of updating the can be achieved with consider- Before a cave gate is installed a closure ably less overhead. order and at least an interim cave manage- In Arizona in the last two years we have ment plan is needed. This has been a long, achieved getting these links into the Forest ongoing problem with cave gates. The Plans for four National Forests. A fifth For- gates are put on but follow up management est is currently updating their Forest Plan parameters are not written down. and the link is expected.

Forest Specific Wording Areas of Discussion There are four areas in each document The Recommendations for National that contain Forest Specific wording. Forest Cave and Karst Management has not yet been approved by a national forest. The  The Title Pages currently use costs associated with achieving approval “Recommendations for XYZ Cave and have become more and more restrictive due Karst Management”. When approved to budget issues. The budget issues are ex- by each Forest the title pages would pected to become more prohibitive. change to “XYZ Forest Cave and Karst However, having forest level cave and Management Plan”. karst management guidelines provide the  Extent of the Cave and Karst Re- tools for forest personnel to substantially sources – This contains a high level description of the caves and karst on the

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium leverage their time through the use of volun- Coconino National Forest Cave Management teers. The cave guide provides the working Policy, 16 pages, 1995. Approved in structure for individuals and groups to proac- forest plan. tively address the caves through Challenge Cost Share agreements and Volunteer con- Websites: tracts. Forest Service Manual National Headquar- Conclusions ters (WO) Washington, DC FSM 2300 – Recreation, Wilderness,  Forests with significant caves need Forest and Related Resource Management level cave and karst management guides. Chapter 2350 – Trail, River, and Similar  There are very few cave resource specialists Recreation Opportunities in the National Forest system. 2356 – Cave Management, pages 69-77,  Personnel “new-to-caves” are assigned cave http://www.fs.fed.us/cdt/main/ management as one of their responsibilities. fsm_2350_2300_2009_2.pdf (accessed  Recommendations for cave and karst man- August 2015) agement is available at http:// centralarizonagrotto- Tongass National Forest Land and Resource cavemanagement.webstarts.com/ Management Plan, 2008, https://  The management guidelines need to be un- fs.usda.gov/Internet/ derstandable to multiple user and training FSE_DOCUMENTS/ groups. The guidelines provide tactical di- stelprdb5367422.pdf (accessed August rection for day-to-day activities. 2015).  The cave and karst management guides need to be linked in the Forest Plan. Karst Inventory Standards and Vulnerability Assessment Procedures for British Co- References lumbia, 2003, http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ hfp/publications/00189/Karst-Mgmt- U.S. Forest Service Documents: Handbook-web.pdf (accessed August Lincoln National Forest Cave Ecosystem Man- 2015). agement Direction, 1995, 45 pages plus appendices. Karst Management Handbook Training: Ministry of Forests and Range, http:// Nieland, J., Strategy for Cave Management www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/training/00008/ XYZ National Forest (Gifford Pinchot (accessed August 2015). NF), USFS Region 6, 1994, unpublished Forest Service Regions Sendano, C. – Significant Cave Nomination http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/ Process, 2011 Forest Service Maps Sendano, C. – Significant Cave Finding/ http://www.fs.fed.us/maps/forest-maps.shtml Decision form, undated

Sendano, C. – Cave Entry Permit form, undated

Tonto National Forest Cave Resource Manage- ment Guide, 1992, unpublished.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

A modern gate for Ezells Cave Jim “Crash” Kennedy Kennedy Above/Under Ground LLC 304 West Mockingbird Lane Austin, TX 78745-3121 512-663-2287

Abstract surveyor Greenberry B. Ezell around 1870, Ezells Cave is one of the most biologically and purchased by him in 1893. He operated diverse caves in Texas, yet has had a tragic it as a show cave for a short time, even history of mis-management. Early attempts building a small boat for touring the Lake at protection excluded the bat colony which Room. (TSS 2015) provided important nutrient input to the The cave fosters a rich ecosystem, with cave’s ecosystem. In March of 2015, a new 116 species recorded so far (TSS 2015). bat-friendly gate was finally installed with Blind, cave-adapted salamanders, Eurycea the help of many volunteers and donors. rathbuni (Texas Blind Salamander) (Figure 2), have been noted in the cave almost from History the beginning. These salamanders are ne- Ezells Cave (Figure 1), in San Marcos otonous, and have been collected from only (Hays County), Texas, has a long and color- seven locations in the small Purgatory Creek ful history. It was first discovered by land basin, including Ezells Cave. As such, they

Figure 1. Map of Ezell’s Cave by Jean Krejca and Vickie Siegel

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species (Hammerson and Chippindale 2004). The US Fish and Wild- life Service listed it as Endangered on 11 March 1967 (Udall 1967). The rich biodiversity and rarity of the salamanders and other aquatic species initiated early conservation efforts. It was visited by NSS President Charles Mohr (a cave biologist) (Figure 3) around 1948, who collected and photographed a blind salamander and wrote about his adventure in The Caves of Texas (Mohr 1948). In 1955, the Texas Her- petological Society (THS) purchased an easement from the then-landowner, Truman Figure 2. Eurycea rathbuni Credit: Jean T. Saltonstall, to protect the salamanders. The THS then built a brick wall inside the entrance fissure to support a chain-link fence, 12”x12” steel bar grid gate, but this did little believed to still allow bat entry while keep- to deter vandals and the cave was essentially ing out unauthorized humans. Neither was left unprotected. (TSS 2015) true. Vandals cut through the fencing almost The owner of nearby Wonder Cave (a weekly to enter the cave and collect salaman- show cave), T. J. Mostyn, bought the cave ders. This was eventually replaced with a from Saltonstall in 1962, and covered the entrance with a solid steel plate. This alarmed biologists, who attempted to get The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to purchase the property. However it was sold yet again as a house lot. Eventually, on 27 September 1967, TNC was able to purchase the cave with the assistance of the Southwest Texas Grotto. The solid “gate” was promptly removed, and illegal entry began anew. TNC bought an adjacent property with a dilapi- dated house, renovated it, and installed a caretaker to keep an eye on the cave. Bats had not yet recolonized the cave after the disastrous closure efforts, although two ex- periments in transplanting bats from nearby caves were attempted by Texas Tech Uni- versity in 1970. (TSS 2015) In 1971 the National Park Service designated Ezells Cave as a National Natural Landmark. And in 2004, TNC transferred ownership to the Texas Cave Management Association (TCMA). Sometime between the purchase by TNC and transfer to TCMA, Figure 3. Charles Mohr at Ezell’s Cave entrance a new gate was built, involving a solid con- Credit: unknown crete platform and round tubular bars.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

(Figure 3) A chain-link fence was also installed around the perimeter of the cave entrance. Water monitoring equipment was installed by the Edwards Aquifer Authority, which holds a conservation easement to the cave. Vandalism attempts continued, and bats have not returned.

The Modern Era Recognizing the biologically-unfriendly nature of the entrance gate, biologist (and TCMA Preserves Committee Chair) Jim Kennedy petitioned the TCMA to remove it Figure 3. Concrete gate at Ezcell’s Cave and replace it with a bat-friendly cupola- Credit: Jim Kennedy style gate. Cavers Ben Hutchins and Andy Gluesenkamp, both biologists working for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Daily Record, and The University Star from helped secure a Landowner Incentive Pro- nearby Texas State University in San Mar- gram (LIP) grant to cover the cost of materi- cos. als and tools. TCMA solicited additional TCMA still has to remove the old concrete- donations from cavers and other organiza- and-round-bar gate, which will require jack- tions, and succeeded in raising a total of hammers, rock saws, and cooler weather $15,853. Donors all had their names weld- than has been available since March. Even ed on the finished gate bars. An 8’ x 12’ with the effort, it is uncertain that the bats cupola-style gate was designed by Kennedy, will recolonize the cave. Surrounding habi- (Figure 4) and constructed on 8 and 15 tat has altered, with houses appearing in for- March 2015 by 29 cavers. There were mer ranchland. But as the author asserts, it 282.25 person/hours recorded during the is a guarantee that bats would not return un- construction, and another 63.2 hours for less the old gate was replaced. And as a driving. This resulted in a volunteer value conservancy dedicated to protecting karst of $9013.20. The project was featured in and promoting best management practices, the San Antonio Express-News, San Marcos TCMA’s preserves should be models of good management, not embarrassing fail- ures. Only the future will tell if these recent efforts are successful.

Acknowledgements Much of the history and biology of Ezells Cave was taken from the extensive files of the Texas Speleological Survey. The regat- ing project was spearheaded by Ezells Pre- serve Manager Ron Ralph, who expertly herded the cats. We also thank the donors and sponsors, particularly Texas Parks and Figure 4. Jim Kennedy measuring gate Wildlife Department, John Schneider, Ed- Credit: Logan McNatt 88

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium wards Aquifer Authority, Michael Portman, Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Charles Goldsmith, Fritz Holt, Sam Wayne details/39262/0. Retrieved 16 September Young, John Brooks, Julie Jenkins, William 2015. K. Davis, Randy McNatt, Ned Fritz, Tom Florer, Aubrey Burnett, Owen Burnett, Mar- Mohr, C. E. 1948. Unique animals inhabit lie Hussing, Bexar Grotto (San Antonio), subterranean Texas. National Speleolog- and the University of Texas Speleological ical Society Bulletin 10:15-21,88. Society (Austin). Finally, thanks go out to TCMA for all the hard work and forward- Texas Speleological Survey database, ver- thinking efforts on behalf of Texas karst. sion 6 July 2015. Ezells Cave. Accessed 16 September 2015.

References Udall, S, L. 1967. Office of the Secretary, Native Fish and Wildlife, Endangered Hammerson, G. and Chippindale, P. 2004. Texas blind salamander. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.3. International Union for Conservation of

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The National Forest Service Cave and Karst Program in 2015 Johanna L. Kovarik, Ph.D.

Cave and Karst Program Coordinator Minerals and Geology Management 740 Simms St. Golden, CO 80401

The United States Department of Agricul- sions, and is working to connect with forests ture Forest Service (Forest Service) manages individually to ensure that caves and karst are caves, karst systems, and associated resources considered in these updated plans. Finally, on over 780,000 square kilometres of public Minerals and Geology created national internal land. Approximately 531,815 square kilometers communication tools to facilitate broad under- (205,335 square miles) of bedrock known to standing within the agency concerning all as- host caves and karst systems occur on National pects of the program. At the forest level, for- Forest System (NFS) lands. Known caves and ests are working to nominate and designate new karst areas occur in over 100 National Forests significant caves, with forests adding caves to and Grasslands, and over 2,200 significant the list from the Pacific Northwest Region and caves have been identified to date. The man- the Rocky Mountain Region in 2015. agement of these resources is mandated by the One of the main goals of the Forest Service Federal Cave Resources Protection Act National Cave and Karst Program is to (FCRPA) of 1988 and other federal acts, and is strengthen relationships with key partners at the guided by the Code of Federal Regulations national, regional, and forest level through fa- (CFR) and the Forest Service Manual (FSM). cilitation and education. Partners from Cave The goal of the Forest Service National Cave Research Foundation, the National Speleologi- and Karst Program is to protect and maintain cal Society, and Bat Conservation International the biological, geologic/mineralogical/ have mapped, cleaned, restored, documented, paleontological, hydrological, cultural, educa- monitored, and studied our caves with skill, tional, scientific and recreational values of passion, and dedication. Over the past 10 caves and karst resources. years, Forest Service cave and karst managers Since the last National Cave and Karst Man- have utilized GeoCorps America internships to agement Symposium in 2013, the Forest Ser- accomplish cave and karst resource work in the vice National Cave and Karst Program has field including: creating databases, conducting moved forward with several key efforts. The field inventories, mapping subsurface re- Minerals and Geology program updated the sources, and educating visitors. More than 20 Forest Service handbook chapter with direction interns have worked on forests from Alaska to on cave safety protocol, including information West Virginia specifically with the cave and on cave rescue as well as vertical caving. Na- karst program, with other interns working with tional courses and regional workshops have oc- cave and karst resources as part of their duties. curred to train Forest Service employees in With limited budgets and diversified duties of caves and karst management and more are resource managers, the assistance received planned agency-wide. The program developed from all of our partners has allowed a great guidance to assist forests in forest plan revi- quantity of work to be accomplished furthering the cause of cave conservation.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

A Multidisciplinary Project for Sustainable Management Planning in Karst, Chiapas, Mexico

Johanna L. Kovarik, Ph.D.

Cave and Karst Program Coordinator Minerals and Geology Management

Forest Service staff through the Office of based on information from a wide range of International Programs has worked with the stakeholders and field surveys. The assess- Reserva de la Biosfera Selva el Ocote in ment also mapped areas of vulnerability to Chiapas, Mexico since 1993. The joint ef- groundwater contamination. Results from fort began to focus on the Rio la Venta can- the assessment show the area to be fairly yon in 2010, a key area for conservation pristine, with minimal environmental dis- within the reserve. Surface water is scarce turbance. The majority of the study area is in el Ocote due to karstification, so the can- classified as moderately vulnerable to yon and river provide important habitat for groundwater contamination; however areas the riparian vegetation and many rare and of high vulnerability exist. Current threats to endangered biota. However, karst systems the ecosystem stem from local practices re- are particularly vulnerable to overexploita- lated to residents’ daily water use, agricul- tion and pollution due to their high hydraulic ture, and animal husbandry. The reserve conductivity and points of rapid infiltration. lacks the ability to enforce regulations and A multifaceted and sustainable approach for large areas of private land exist within the management is necessitated by the complex sub-catchment, so the assessment concluded hydrology of karst systems and the easily that top-down management approaches are impacted nature of its resources. The Forest unsustainable. Drawing from the final mod- Service Office of International Program has el created by cross-referencing disturbance supported this multidisciplinary project to with vulnerability, the project created and assess and address current and potential en- implemented water quality monitoring and vironmental issues for the largest sub- karst education projects incorporating local catchment of the Rio la Venta watershed as residents in the areas of concern. Future a foundation for creating sustainable man- work includes similar assessments of other agement strategies in the canyon. subcatchments within the larger Rio la Venta A level one assessment spatially depicted Watershed including continued dye trace and quantified human disturbance in a GIS studies, and development of a water budget through partnerships with local universities.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Caves and public use in the Southern Espinhaço Mountain Range, Brazil Vitor Moura & Luciana Alt

Brazilian Karst Institute

Introduction and objectives monitoring of public use activities. These Caves are fragile, complex and low resil- caves are therefore vulnerable to the impacts ience environments however caves provide arising from uncontrolled visitation as spele- unique scientific, educational and recrea- othem breakage, graffiti, trash disposal, fau- tional opportunities for visitors. These uses, na alterations, sediment perturbation, etc. without proper management, can severely (Figures 3 and 4). impact or even destroy the attributes that The central objective of this work is to provide such opportunities. Many of these identify and analyze the current status of resources are not renewable, and in these public use in the caves of the area. This cases the damage is irreversible. There are identification involves a great responsibility, some caves with established public use, still since the mere disclosure of a list of caves, incipient in the southern portion of the Es- or photographs showing the great beauty of pinhaço Mountain Range. Among the main the underground environment, can stimulate observed uses, we highlight the sporadic the use of caves that are not prepared for visitation of rare beauty speleological sites such activities. (Figure 1), the religious use (Figure 2) and the practice of adventure sports (climbing, Methodology and results rappelling and others). None of the identi- The identification of caves with public fied caves are actually prepared to receive use established in the Southern Espinhaço such activities, as it has no speleological Mountain Range was conducted through lit- management plan developed in any cave in erature review, consultation with CECAV the area. This instrument allows the devel- (Brazilian Caves Research and Protection opment of appropriate planning, control and Federal Agency) database, interviews with

Figure 2 – Entrance of Capela Velha cave with a rock cross on the floor. Photo: Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura.

Figure 1 – Entrance of Salitre cave, in quartzite rock. Site of numerous opportunities for public use and environmental interpretation.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 3 – Gentio cave, in marble, showing graffi- Figure 4 – Lapa Santa cave passage showing gar- ti in the foreground and sediments with traces of bage disposal. Photo: Luciana Alt and Vitor intense trampling. Photo: Luciana Alt and Vitor researchers and extensive consultation on understands the dense and complex layers of the internet websites. The study included environmental information commonly stored 13 municipalities in the area and identified in caves. As example, the public did not apply 33 caves with public use or which were proper value in one archaeological site associ- promoted as tourist attractions. In the field ated with a cave because this information is it was found that 14 of these caves had not included as part of their life, education and higher propensity to public use and re- nowadays culture. ceived greater pressure by this activities. It was noted that some caves are being The Figure 5 shows the main caves identi- promoted, irresponsibly, as tourist attractions. fied during the work and its location in re- The historical-cultural heritage housed by lation to protected areas in the Southern these caves is very fragile and extremely rele- Espinhaço Mountain Range. The environ- vant, being vulnerable to vandalism. Until they mental analysis divided the analyzed caves are properly prepared to receive visitors these into four groups of attributes: (I) caves caves should not be promoted, under penalty whose main attraction is prehistoric archae- of losing, irreversibly, his heritage. ological sites, (II) caves with religious use, This work sets an important step, and de- (III) caves whose main attraction are histor- spite the limitations in time and sampling, the ical archaeological sites and (IV) caves results reached depth in analysis and can effec- with recreational use. In some caves these tively contribute to the future planning of the attributes are overlapped, representing a public use of the caves in the area. From the challenge for speleological management acquired knowledge, it is recommended that activities. effective actions must be carried for protection

and enhancement of speleological heritage of Conclusions and recommendations the area. The main actions required are: in- This work identify that the population crease knowledge regarding the speleological poorly absorbs scientific and environmental heritage, creation of more protected areas in- values linked to speleological heritage. This cluding caves with public-use demand, pro- can be explained by the lack of specific ed- mote educational programs and perform cave ucational activities in the area. Much of the management plans. Some of these actions are public use activities identified in the South- in progress, such as the Salitre Cave manage- ern Espinhaço are sporadic visits for recrea- ment plan, in Diamantina, but there is still a tional purposes. The public in general mis- long way to go.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Figure 5—Map showing the main caves with public use and protected areas (conservation units) limits in the Southern Espinhaço Mountain Range area

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

References HORN, A. H., BILAL, E., BAGGIO, H., . CENTRO NACIONAL DE PESQUISAS TRINDADE, W., RODET, A. The Salitre E CONSERVAÇÃO DE CAVERNAS – Cave karst in the quartzite rocks of CECAV. Relatório de Vistoria/ Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Romanian Journal of Mineral Deposits 85, Inspection Report - CECAV: Plano de Ação v. 2, p. 16-22, 2012. Emergencial da Gruta do Salitre/ Emergencial Action Plan Salitre Cave, INSTITUTO BRASILEIRO DE GEOGRAFIA Diamantina – MG, Agosto 2011. E ESTATÍSTICA. As Grutas em Minas Brasília: CECAV, 2011. 2p. Gerais/ Caves in Minas Gerais. 1 ed. Belo Horizonte: Oficinas Gráficas da Estatística,1939.278p.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Can Monitoring of Microorganisms from Show Caves be used in Human Impact Assessment?

Oana Teodora Moldovan, Silviu Bercea, Ruxandra Nastase-Bucur

Institute of Speleology, Clinicilor 5, 400006 Cluj Napoca, Romania

The problem of tourist impact on caves water and counting the number of microor- has received special attention mainly consid- ganisms at 24 hours intervals for 5 days. ering the physical phenomena, surpassing by The mediums were for Total aerobic, Yeast far the very few studies on the microorgan- & Molds, E. coli/Coliformes and isms that are brought by tourists inside the Enterobacteriacaea. The number of caves and their effect on cave environment Enterobacteriacaea and Coliformes was (except for some few special situations). Our small for air samples and more significant study intends to be novel in different aspects for some of the water samples, while the by taking into consideration microbial moni- number of Total aerobic and Yeast & toring for a longer period of time and con- Molds was significant in all cases. We will sidering the relationship to different envi- discuss the differences between caves and ronmental features, including the geometry between stations inside each of the four of the general development of the touristic studied caves where monthly sampling was sector, the number and type of openings, undertaken. We also discuss the usefulness temperature, air relative humidity, CO2, and of this method in the assessment of human number of particles in the air. A simple impact in show caves and the need for an method was used by exposing RI- integrated monitoring of show caves. DA@COUNT plates to cave air and pools

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

How Cavers Became Allies Instead of Adversaries at Mammoth Cave National Park

Rick Olson, Ecologist

Division of Science and Resources Management Mammoth Cave National Park Mammoth Cave, Kentucky 42259

Introduction The entrapment and death of Floyd Collins The overall story of the Cave Research had occurred only 30 years before, and this Foundation’s (CRF) formative years has was not the kind of notoriety the park want- been told by Phil Smith and Red Watson ed or needed. (1981) and by Roger Brucker and Red Wat- Park administrators and cavers had a son (1976). However, there is an element to common interest in park caves, but of this story that has not been discussed, and course the interest came from different an- another aspect of this story that has not been gles. In order to explore caves in or near emphasized. First, cavers and park adminis- the park, the cavers had to plan trips far in trators did not and maybe could not under- advance, and travel hundreds of miles from stand each other very well, and second, a home. They saw that NPS staff lived right park service employee gave crucial advice on top of or near park caves, yet did not ex- to the cavers that helped them gain ac- plore them. To cavers, this was inconceiva- ceptance by the park. ble! (Yes, hear that just like in the Princess Having joined CRF in 1973, and first Bride movie). Here are a couple of stories worked with the National Park Service about these cavers that illustrate the depth (NPS) as a seasonal guide at Jewel Cave Na- of their desire to explore. tional Monument starting in 1974, I have In the early 50s, Phil Smith and Roger gained some perspective into the respective McClure were students at Ohio State Uni- cultures of the NPS and CRF. versity. They met Jim Dyer, who had moved up to Ohio after retiring from being A Basic Misunderstanding Manager of Floyd Collins Crystal Cave. One reason for the initial poor commu- Phil and Roger decided that caving in Ken- nication is that cave explorers and Mam- tucky was for them, but they had no car. So moth Cave National Park (MCNP) adminis- they packed up kits in duffel bags, and trators did not understand or appreciate each hitchhiked to Mammoth Cave! One time other’s priorities and motivations. Park ad- they did not get to Cave City until the wee ministrators had their hands full managing hours, so the few cars passing by would not tour operations, a visitor center, pick them up. The only solution to their campgrounds, picnic areas, a hotel conces- problem was to walk the nine miles to sioner, roads, ferries on Green River, utili- Mammoth Cave with the duffels on their ties, hiking trails, fire fighting and more backs! The manager at the Mammoth Cave within over 50,000 acres of land (this is not Hotel would let them spread their sleeping a complete list of responsibilities). They bags on the porch so long as they packed up would view cave explorers from Ohio as before guests started coming downstairs. somewhat eccentric young enthusiasts who On one of these hitchhiking trips to Mam- wanted to do something risky in the park. moth Cave it was bitterly cold, so the man-

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium ager let them sleep on the lobby floor. their daughter Anna while Stan drove. This They befriended some of the Guides, who allowed Red to sit in the front passenger seat loaned them Coleman lanterns so they where he would cradle a portable typewriter could better see Dixon Cave. To park ad- in his lap so he could type out letters as they ministrators, living in their comfortable rolled down the highway. Red was President homes on top of the cave, the idea that any- of the Cave Research Foundation at the time one would go to such great lengths in order and there was much to do. This was of to explore holes in the ground would be, course an avocation as both he and Patty Jo well, inconceivable! were professors at Washington University, Here is another story, after the estab- which left little spare time. As Red would lishment of CRF, but it too shows that these near completion of a letter, he would ask cavers would do whatever it took in order Stan what town was coming up. Then he to get underground in Kentucky. Back in would finish the letter for mailing at that 1964-65, Stan Sides would skip out of med- town's Post Office. ical school classes at University of Missouri They would arrive late in the evening or in Columbia on Friday afternoon, and catch the early wee hours, and get to bed in the lit- a Greyhound bus to St. Louis with his duf- tle building CRF called the Spelehut or the fel of cave gear, sleeping bag, etc. First and back bunkhouse, depending on availability. second year med school had Saturday clas- Saturday would be consumed by a long cave ses until noon, so there was considerable trip that lasted well into the night. Sunday risk in cutting classes due to possible pop was a time for writing trip reports and pack- quizzes. ing up muddy cave gear for the return drive. Red and Patty Jo Watson would pick Red and Patty Jo would take Stan back to the him up at the bus station in their VW Mi- bus station in St. Louis for the long ride back crobus, and then drive to Flint Ridge. Typi- to Columbia, followed by a late walk home cally, Patty Jo would ride in the back with

Figure 1. Flint Ridge cavers attend the 1955 NSS Convention. From left to right are Jim Dyer,Tony Vanderleeden, Roger Brucker, Joan Brucker, Philip Smith, Bev- erly Bixler, David Jones, Roger McClure, and Jacque Austin. Photo likely by Bill Austin.

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium with his duffel of dirty cave gear. Monday morning early saw Stan back in class for his medical studies. This routine happened several times a year. Now it is about 50 years later, and Stan is still active with CRF.

When Adversaries Worked Together Adversaries can of course become allies in extremis, and during the 1954 Crystal Cave expedition there was a forest fire, which expedition cavers helped the park to put out (Lawrence and Brucker, 1955). An- other example where the adversaries worked together was in the case of a man trapped in a cave near Sulphur Well in 1955 ( Brucker & Watson 1976). The park was contacted for help, who in turn asked Bill Austin, Manager of Crystal Cave, to help. Bill used a car jack and boards to raise heavy slabs of Figure 2. Ranger Joseph Kulesza in uniform at Mammoth Cave National Park. Photo courtesy of rock off of Mr. Fancher and save his life Mary Jo Veluzat, his daughter. (Roger Brucker, personal communication). These incidents with positive outcomes may have helped to soften hard feelings between of the difficulty was the strained relation- cavers and park staff where that existed. ship between the park and Floyd Collins Crystal Cave owners. The week long NSS A Crucial Bit of Advice Expedition in Crystal Cave in 1954 put Central Ohio Grotto cavers had no luck these two organizations in the same folder, getting permission from MCNP to explore as far as the park was concerned. and map caves in Flint Ridge. The cavers tried rebranding themselves as the Flint Park Ranger Joseph Kulesza (See Fig- Ridge Reconnaissance, a special project of ure 2) understood this problem and ad- the National Speleological Society (NSS). vised the cavers to establish a science- This way, their stature was elevated from based organization (Brucker and Watson being a bunch of cavers from Ohio to an arm 1976). Ranger Kulesza had spent a lot of of a national organization (Figure 1). To time playing cat and mouse with explorers build credibility, a group of the cavers at- going into park caves illegally, and per- tended a December 1955 American Associa- haps realized the futility of this situation. tion for the Advancement of Science meet- According to Dr. Stan Sides, Joe Kulesza ing, and Brother Nick Sullivan, then presi- was the first park employee to realize that dent of the NSS, presented a paper by Roger cavers were best managed as partners and Brucker on the Flint Ridge Caves( Brucker allies. He had a genuine interest in the dis- & Watson 1976). With this elevated status, coveries being made by cavers, and was negotiations with the park could potentially park superintendent when the Flint Ridge be more successful, and a national organiza- Cave System and Mammoth Cave were tion could also talk with NPS officials at the connected in 1972. Cavers formed a good Washington and Regional levels. At times it relationship with Mr. Kulesza. For exam- seemed like progress was being made, but ple, Stan Sides would visit Joe Kulesza at then permission would still be denied. Part his home after a CRF expedition to give

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium him the news of any discoveries. Here is Watson’s satirical “Jaws” spoof called another touching example: Roger Brucker “Maws” (Watson 1976), cavers and park staff at visited Mr. Kulesza just before he passed Big Cave National Monument are lampooned away. They had worked together for many equally. At the conclusion of the story though, years, and Roger told me that after he left “Ranger K” and the “Speleologist” are allies, the nursing home, he wept. which is a good and fitting end. By taking Mr. Kulesza’s advice and forming a science-based organization called References the Cave Research Foundation in 1957, the cavers put some apparent distance between Brucker, R. and R. Watson. 1976. The Longest themselves, the NSS, and Crystal Cave man- Cave. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. P. 57- agement. As Ranger Kulesza predicted, 61, 165, 296. this science-based organization did reach an agreement with the park to survey and ex- Brucker, R. 2015. Personal communication. plore caves on Flint Ridge. That was in 1635 Grange Hall Rd. Dayton, OH 45432. 1959 and the foundation is still supporting research of many kinds including cartog- Lawrence, J. and R. Brucker. 1955. The Caves raphy of park caves. Beyond. Funk and Wagnalls Company, New York. P. 89-91. Concluding Thoughts Park administrators, law enforcement Olson, R. 2013. Mammoth Cave: Oktoberfest rangers, and non-guide cave explorers went Expedition, October 11-14, 2013, CRF through some difficult years characterized Newsletter, V. 42, N. 1, p. 16-17. (Note: by poor understanding, poor communica- Cover photo shows the all –guide survey tions, and lack of agreement. Ultimately and exploration team). though, with some crucial guidance from Ranger Joseph Kulesza, the Cave Research Smith, P. and R. Watson. 1981. The Develop- Foundation was established and agreement ment of the Cave Research foundation. In: was reached. This initially rocky relation- The Cave Research Foundation, Origins and ship has been mostly positive in the inter- the First Twelve Years 1957-1968. P. 263- vening decades. In 2013, the relationship 276. between Mammoth Cave Guides and non- Guide cavers came full circle when CRF Watson, R. 1976. Maws. Speleobooks, Albu- fielded the first all-NPS Guide exploration querque, New Mexico. 36 p. and survey team during the October CRF Expedition (Olson, 2014). Finally, in Red

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Introducing the Junior Cave Scientist Program

Dale L. Pate NPS Cave & Karst Program Coordinator

National Park Service

Beginning in the summer of 2014, the Geologic Resources Division (GRD) of the National Park Service successfully developed a Junior Cave Scientist booklet (Figure 1) and badge (Figure 2) as part of the NPS Junior Ranger Program. Overcoming several setbacks and other problems, the team of Limaris Soto, Joe Camacho, Jim Wood, and Dale Pate completed the booklet by early 2015 and received 20,000 printed copies of the 24-page Junior Cave Scientist booklet by mid-April 2015. Through a chance encoun- ter, Joe Camacho recruited Paloma Hernan- do, an art student at the University of Colo- rado at Boulder to draw a stunning illustration for the front cover. In a similar vein, Limaris Soto worked with and modified a drawing provided by the talented Beth Fratesi to create an image that became the Figure 1. Junior Cave Scientist booklet center point for the program’s badge. Unlike most of the Junior Ranger program badges, killing millions of hibernating bats. As they this badge is wooden with wording and the make their way through the booklet, they illustration etched into the wood by laser. learn of fossils and paleontology along with The Junior Cave Scientist booklet is archeology. And last, but certainly not least, designed for kids of all ages and covers a they learn of karst and groundwater, sink- number of topics in a fun way. Using the holes, the ease at which pollution can con- booklet, kids learn: the definition of caves taminate regional aquifers, and how their and karst, that cave scientists are also known actions can help preserve and protect caves as speleologists, how to be safe, how to take and karst landscapes. care of the incredible, yet fragile resources These booklets are available in printed found in caves, about the different types of form, but also can be downloaded from our caves and the mineral decorations known as webpage in a high-quality .pdf or in a lower speleothems, about the categories of animals -quality .pdf. We also look forward to hav- that are found in caves, and get to take a ing a Spanish version available this coming look at a few of them including microbiolo- year. Visit our webpage at: go.np.gov/ gy and bats. They also get to play a board jrcavesci game that takes them through the different Initial reaction to this booklet and zones found in a cave, they learn more about badge has been very positive. As of this myths that surround bats and about White- writing (September 11, 2015), we have dis- nose Syndrome, the deadly disease that is tributed approximately 12,000 booklets to

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22 parks, 1 region, and 1 Washington office within the NPS, 2 other federal agencies, 1 state park, 1 private show cave, 3 grottos and the national office of the NSS, 1 girl scout group, and 3 elementary schools. The distributed booklets so far have been sent to 25 states, Washington DC, and Guam. Please help spread the word. These booklets are available to any group, school, grotto, or individuals for their use in helping educate the public about the values of cave and karst resources. Junior Cave Scientists pledge to Figure 2 Junior Cave Scientist badge explore magnificent and beautiful caves, to learn about caves and karst systems and the work that speleologists do, to protect our national parks and the things that make caves and karst areas special, and to enjoy the national parks and share what they have learned with their friends and family.

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Long-Term Protection for Carlsbad Cavern

Dale L. Pate

NPS Cave & Karst Program Coordinator

National Park Service

Development began initially as an effort Colorado School of Mines was awarded a to harvest bat guano from the Bat Cave por- contract to complete this study. This project tion of Carlsbad Cave in the early 1900’s. produced a master’s thesis by Mark Brooks Few remnants of this initial development are in 1996 and a final report in 1997. The re- evident today. One of the guano miners, Jim port documented high concentrations of alu- White, took the opportunity to explore much minum, zinc, total organic carbon, and ni- of the cave during the next number of years. trates that were found in drips and pools in a Jim White’s discoveries became legendary number of locations throughout Carlsbad and generated much publicity. By 1923, Cavern. Much of this high concentration Carlsbad Cave National Monument was cre- was also found to be related to chronic, rela- ated by proclamation by President Calvin tively low-level releases from specific sur- Coolidge. Over the following 70 years, de- face locations. Additionally, the report dis- velopment on top of the cave grew sporadi- cussed the likely potential for a variety of cally to give the visiting public easy access accidents, spills, and leakage scenarios that to the cave and to make it easier for the NPS threatened water quality and public health to manage the cave as well. This develop- from sewer line leaks and spills, gasoline ment (Figure 1) included a maintenance fa- spills and vehicle fires that would lead to cility, visitor center, parking lots, buried contaminated runoff from parking lots and gasoline tanks, employee housing, and a road segments; and spills, leaking tanks, host of other infrastructure needed to facili- fires, and other accidental releases from the tate visitor access. The last major building maintenance yard and other structures. effort was part of Mission 66 construction By 1996, Carlsbad Caverns National projects that added, among other items, 12 3 Park released its new General Management -bedroom apartments, a new larger visitor Plan that among other items, directed the center, a large seating area at the cave en- park to complete a Development Concept trance for watching the bat flight, and an Plan (DCP) based on the Infiltration Study addition to the elevator shaft that added two results. The thesis completed in 1996 deter- larger elevator cars to accommodate larger mined infiltration pathways from surface groups of visitors. This infrastructure was runoff into several locations within Carlsbad placed directly on top of the cave without Cavern. knowledge of the potential impacts that By 2002, the DCP titled Carlsbad Cav- could result in damage to the cave itself. ern Resource Protection Plan and Environ- Beginning in 1992, money was sought mental Assessment (EA) had been completed to begin an infiltration study that would help with a signed FONSI (Findings of No Sig- the NPS better understand the connections nificant Impacts) by the Superintendent and between the surface and the cave. Funded by Regional Director. This plan and EA consid- the NPS Water Resources Division in 1994, ered alternatives that would:

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Figure 1 Structures in the vicinity of Carlsbad Cavern

for over 1-mile before turning south and  Eliminate pollution sources above the running off of the escarpment on the sur- cave such as fuel storage, paved areas, face to the Evaporation Ponds located off maintenance operations, and park resi- the escarpment was identified as a critical dences; problem. This gravity-fed line dated from  Restore natural infiltration above the the 1930s to the 1950s. Portions of the lines cave; were still clay pipe with newer steel pipe  Reduce catastrophic threats from spills, being used from work done in the 1950s. vehicle fires, and structural fires; Much of the system was designed to over-  And, implement mitigation measures to flow and had routinely overflowed and protect natural resources and the public spilled for a number of years. This line was where threats remained. long overdue for replacement. In 2004, this sewer line was replaced with an above Out of three alternatives provided, the ground line that ran directly off of the es- Park Preferred Action and Environmentally carpment. Once off of the top of the cave Preferred Alternative selected to remove the areas, the line was buried and emptied into most threatening sources of contamination re-lined evaporation ponds. and mitigate potential contamination from remaining facilities. The major infrastruc-  Gas Pumps and Buried Tanks Removed - ture changes were as follows: Identified as a potential problem, the park removed gas pumps along with their buried  Buried Outfall Sewer Line Replace- tanks from the maintenance yard in 2008. ment - The buried outfall sewer line that ran from the Visitor Center to the east  Bat Flight Parking Area Changes – Iden- tified as a serious, long-term problem, this

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parking lot dates from the 1920s and sits cave. These structures at the time were directly over the Main Corridor in Carls- not considered historic and did not repre- bad Cavern. This lot accumulated oil, sent the 1926-1942 Period of Signifi- fuel, antifreeze, and other heavy metal cance for structures built directly on top contaminants from the thousands of cars of the cave. In 2010, one of the large that annually parked in this lot. Addi- structures holding 6 3-bedroom apart- tionally, the lot collected runoff from ments was removed returning the area to some housing and administrative build- natural conditions. ings. The design of the lot funneled contaminate-laden water directly into Bat Summary Cave Draw and quickly into the cave. It took 18 years to formulate ideas and Other concerns included bus and auto develop projects to better understand the fumes and noise that were drawn down surface to cave connections at Carlsbad Cav- into the cave entrance and was identified ern that led to implementation of the final as significantly detracting from the natu- products mentioned above. The process to ral setting of the entrance. In 2010, most affect the completion of these projects is tes- of this parking lot was rehabbed leaving tament to the scientific integrity of the stud- historic walls in place, planting native ies and the ability to use existing laws to de- plants in much of the recovered area, velop public planning documents that are and building a new turn-around for drop- designed to protect the incredible natural ping people off to walk to the cave en- resources such as Carlsbad Cavern. The end trance and containing a few handicapped result is that we have better understanding of parking places. processes that affect Carlsbad Cavern and have removed or mitigated structures and  Parking Lot Filters – Oil and Grit processes to provide long-term protection Separators – In an effort to remove con- for the cave. There is still much work to do taminants from parking lot runoff, oil but we’ve started the process. More things to and grit separators were placed in vari- consider for the future include: establish a ous locations on remaining parking lots new maintenance facility off of the lime- around the Visitor Center. The grade of stone escarpment at or near White’s City; the two upper, large visitor parking lots install oil and grit separators and other filter- was changed to funnel water to the south ing devices on remaining parking lots and off of the escarpment, which also re- roads in the current maintenance, office, and ceived oil and grit separators. These sep- housing areas; build new resource offices arators were installed in 2010. and housing area for seasonal and volunteer workers along with the new maintenance  Removal of Mission 66 Housing – Mis- facility or locate in the town of Carlsbad; sion 66 housing was also considered a remove the east pod of the Mission 66 apart- long-term chronic contamination point. ments and the last few remaining non- These were 12 3-bedroom apartments historic buildings; remove propane from use built in two large structures in the early in housing, offices, and other structures if at 1960s. These apartments housed a num- all possible; and find a better solution for the ber of permanent employee families with location of the park generator and buried a number of vehicles parked throughout diesel tank that is currently located on the the year. Contaminant sources included north side of the visitor center immediately clogged sewer lines and day-to-day uses adjacent to Bat Cave Draw. and activities that released various types of materials onto the ground above the

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Cave and Karst Resource Management on Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis Chris Thibodaux

Cave and Karst Specialist 502d CEIEN, Natural Resources Joint Base San Antonio, TX

This paper will focus on the history and allows JBSA-CB to work with the USFWS to management practices of the cave and karst take proactive, adaptive management strategies resources by the Department of Defense (DoD) in research and management of these species on Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis (JBSA and their habitat while optimizing the military -CB) as defined by the Biological Opinions training mission. Sykes Act (1960) requires (BO) and Integrated Natural Resource Man- military installations to assess property for natu- agement Plan (INRMP). This will include ral resources. When significant natural re- management of 112 known caves. 29 of these sources are determined an Integrated Natural caves contain known endangered karst inverte- Resource Management Plan (INRMP) must be brate species including in cave biological mon- undertaken to manage all natural resources iden- itoring, cave cricket exit counts and Red Im- tified. ported Fire Ant (RIFA) monitoring and treat- JBSA-CB has been a military reservation for ment. An additional 42 caves and karst fea- over 100 years. It lies in the rolling hills of tures are managed for endemic and state threat- south-central Texas in a mostly scrub oak and ened species and require RIFA inspections and juniper forest. Several significant natural re- treatments. Three karst features are used as sources have been identified in the INRMP. control sites for the RIFA program. This paper The significant natural resources identified on will present the history and details of the cave JBSA-CB related to cave resources include resource management program at JBSA. We groundwater significance and endangered spe- have over 20 years of one of the most intensive cies. programs in the Federal Government and an JBSA-CB lies within the Edwards Aquifer extensive database of resources that is unparal- Recharge and Contributing zones. JBSA-CB leled. has 112 known caves and approximately 1500 JBSA-CB is an approximately 28,000 acre karst features identified. The southeast corner military training facility located in Bexar and of the installation is part of the Edwards Aquifer Comal Counties outside of San Antonio, Tex- Recharge zone along with Cibolo Creek in that as. JBSA-CB has worked with the United runs across the installation from west to east in States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the extreme north of the base. The rest is the over 20 years to protect and conserve three Contributing Zone that runs toward the recharge federally listed endangered karst invertebrate zone but with an abundance of caves and karst species twelve endemic karst invertebrate spe- features this area also contributes water to the cies and one state threatened, cave adapted ver- Glen Rose-Trinity Aquifer. JBSA-CB is one of tebrate species. The cave and karst manage- the ideal places to study the relationship be- ment program is among the most thorough and tween these two aquifers. detailed program of its’ kind to study and man- JBSA-CB is home to three federally listed age these cave and karst related species. The endangered karst invertebrate species. Manage- amount of data collected is enormous and will ment of these species is based upon the Bexar take years to analyze. Analysis of this data

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County Karst Invertebrate Recovery Plan. JBSA has also completed a BO on Ed- JBSA-CB has adopted some adaptive manage- wards Aquifer Groundwater Use. The Ed- ment strategies implementing some variance wards Aquifer Is a sole source aquifer for from the recovery plan. The INRMP is a docu- the City of San Antonio and surrounding ment that requires signature from installation region. It also is the source of most of the command, the USFWS and the state natural springs in Central Texas, including San resource agency, Texas Parks and Wildlife De- Marcos, Hueco, and Comal Springs. These partment (TPWD). springs are the source or provide significant JBSA has identified two areas of potential water to some of the most significant rivers impact to federally listed endangered species, in the State of Texas. These springs also both of which are related to the cave and karst provide habitat to several listed endangered management program at JBSA-CB. The oldest species. The “Groundwater BO” deter- of these Biological Opinions (BO)s entitled mines the amount of water that JBSA is al- “Military Mission and Associated Land Man- lowed to pump from the Edwards Aquifer agement Practices and Endangered Species and has resulted in the “Critcal Period Man- Management Plan (ESMP) for the U.S. Army’s agement Plan for Edwards Aquifer Water Camp Bullis in Bexar County, Texas.” This Use at JBSA”. document essentially defines the management Both of these BOs are a result of section strategies for the three endangered karst inver- 7 consultations with the USFWS as re- tebrate species as well as two endangered bird quired under the Endangered Species Act species. (ESA)

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Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Cave Diveres as a Resource for Cave Management

Mark Wenner

Karst Terrain Explorers

With WNS looming in most states, federal lic to our successful efforts through results. and state authorities closing down caves faster Cave divers are a huge resource to public than we find them, liability for divers and and private sectors, so we need to send that property owners on a climb, cave divers feel message out, as loud and clear as possible. that they need to reach for some solutions. My We do that by establishing and following goal in Mammoth, and with State and Federal proven procedures and methods of opera- agencies has been to help create procedures tion, strong organization, high standards aligned with some already existing protocols, and cooperation with other groups and enti- helping to set the foundation for safe projects; ties. This has allowed us to undertake some which in turn educates the authorities and pub- complicated projects with good results.

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Cave Conservation and Restoration Couse in Brazil

1Val Hildreth-Werker and Jim C. Werker 2Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura

1NSS Conservation Division Chiefs, Cuna Cueva Hwy 27, PO Box 207,Hillsboro, NM 88042-0207 USA 2Instituto do Carste (Brazilian Karst Institute),,Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais ,Brasil,

Introduction techniques, philosophy, and ethics with daily Several Brazilian show caves are in areas hands-on cave projects. Students used theoreti- protected for environmental, historical, and cal and practical activities to produce tangible cultural significance. In some cases, evidence restoration progress on two heavily visited of anthropogenic impact in popular tourist show caves, Gruta do Maquiné and Gruta do caves spans more than 100 years of public use. Rei do Mato. Augusto Auler of the Instituto do Cumulative consequences of infrastructure Carste (Brazilian Karst Research Institute) in installation, maintenance, and visitor-flow op- cooperation with corporate sponsor Anglo erations include graffiti, trash, construction American Mining Company invited Jim Werk- rubble, broken speleothems, stained for- er and Val Hildreth-Werker to collaborate with mations, and disturbed sediments. Cave man- Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura in conducting agement plans describe the resulting detri- the seven-day training. The Course, an im- mental impacts to fauna, habitat, and microcli- portant step toward initiating conservation ac- mate (Alt, Moura NCKMS 2013). The urgent tions set forth in management plans for both need to implement conservation activities with caves, was enabled through environmental on-going monitoring, mitigation, and restora- compensation laws and cave protection legis- tion in these fragile, Brazilian cave environ- lation established after 1988, and is one of ments stimulated coordination of the first In- Brazil’s pioneering initiatives in karst outreach ternational Cave Conservation and Restoration and restoration. Course in Brazil. Held during April 2014 in Brazil’s south- History, Impacts, Motivation eastern state of Minas Gerais (Figure 1), we Gruta do Maquiné, located in the high- designed the Course to introduce current best lands of Minas Gerais, is a popular national

Figure 1 Location maps

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Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium destination renowned for paleontological by improving infrastructure and mitigating discoveries made during the 1830s by ac- negative-impact activities (EIF 2010). In addi- complished Danish scientist, Peter Wil- tion to historic and contemporary signatures, helm Lund. Famed twentieth-century Bra- graffiti, trash, broken speleothems, and debris zilian novelist, João Guimarães Rosa, who from development, Alt and Moura describe a was born in the nearby small town of variety of specific problems such as iron Cordisburgo in 1908, described the magi- stains on speleothems, metal flaking from cal chambers and beautiful speleothems of walkway degradation, accumulations of iron Maquiné. About a century ago, Maquiné plates under the catwalk, and deteriorated became an important tourist site and the wood left from old walkways in Rei do Mato, first Brazilian cave developed for orga- as well as compacted soils, disturbed sedi- nized visitation; and in the late 1960s, also ments, undelineated visitor pathways, ques- the first to install an electric lighting sys- tionable handholds, and other concerns in Ma- tem. This show cave is one of the most vis- quiné. ited commercial caves in Brazil and re- Between 2009 and 2013, cave managers ceives about 50,000 visitors per year. began to implement a few of the proposed conservation advances, but progress was slow A second show cave named Rei do and sporadic. For example, installations of Mato lies about 50 kilometers from Maqui- LED-based lighting systems began to replace né, near the city of Sete Lagoas. State and old high-voltage lamps. With many issues de- municipal agencies organized commercial scribed in the management plans, and little tourist visitation in the 1980s and installed remediation initiated at the cave sites, the In- walkways and stairs. The walls of Rei do stituto do Carste partnered with Anglo Ameri- Mato protect a splendid mutli-level cham- can Mining in applying federally mandated ber filled with speleothems of rare beauty. environmental compensation fees to support Administered under the supervision of the first International Course on Cave Conser- the State Forestry Institute, both caves are vation and Restoration. The main objective of in protected areas and operate through the Course was to provide hands-on training public-private management partnerships. in identification, mitigation, and control of The State Tourist Board of Minas Gerais environmental impacts linked to tourism and implemented a national advertising cam- public visitation. paign promoting the Peter Lund Museum and three show caves including Maquiné, Brazil’s First Cave Conservation and Res- Rei do Mato, and another touristic cave, toration Course Gruta do Laphina, as destinations on a re- To reinforce the conservation- gional tourist route known as Rota Lund management processes of these two show (Lund Route) along highways north of the caves, Course directors defined three objec- major city of Belo Horizonte. tives: 1) train and engage conservation stew- Both cave operation units began im- ardship; 2) initiate mitigation and monitoring plementing resource management plans projects; 3) and motivate ongoing restoration written by Alt and Moura in 2009/2010. progress. These plans include detailed studies and A pioneering initiative in Brazil, the first diagnoses of environmental impacts, pro- International Course on Cave Conservation vide recommendations for visitor activi- and Restoration is a milestone for future cave ties, document concerns regarding in- conservation and restoration activities in the stalled infrastructure, and propose country. The intent was to train, motivate, and measures to reduce harmful consequences

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Students worked in small groups, identifying anthropogenic impacts in Gruta do Maquiné and creating impact maps for their assigned areas

Course participants spent a day collecting trash in Maquiné, completing the tasks by sorting the garbage to determine what activities generated the waste—thereby discovering the need to improve communication of protocols regarding infrastructure maintenance and 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!

Discussion and testing of the best techniques for removing the thick lint layer covering speleothems in Rei do Mato included 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

establish practical experience to enhance pertise of Luciana Alt and Vitor Moura, who ongoing advances. Delivered by Val Hil- coordinated and authored the 2009/2010 dreth-Werker and Jim Werker who authored Management Plans for both caves, Maquiné the NSS manual titled Cave Conservation and Rei do Mato (EIF 2010). and Restoration (2006), coordination and During the seven-day Course, all theo- logistics of the Course counted on the ex- retical and practical activities were carried

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Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium out in the facilities and caves of Maquiné (Hildreth-Werker and Werker 2006), the and Rei do Mato. Lectures, discussions, Course curriculum covered techniques, phi- demonstrations, and group assignments losophy, and ethics of cave management. filled the week with conservation manage- We include the word current in front of best ment activities. Following classroom practices, as a reminder to stay abreast of presentation and discussion of theoretical new studies and use science-based infor- concepts, we assigned small teams with dai- mation to continually improve and redefine ly hands-on cave projects involving re- standards and practices in cave conservation source assessment, impact analysis, decision (Spate, et al.1998; Hildreth-Werker 2006). -making, planning, group dynamics, consen- sus building, and execution of cave manage- Tangible Outcomes ment tasks. The seven-day schedule enabled Participants accomplished much im- participants to spend many hours each day pressive conservation work in the two pro- in small groups, literally planning and exe- tected tourist caves during the Course week. cuting a variety of in-cave conservation- Teams identified, documented, and initiated management projects. Student teams took restoration projects addressing some of the our classroom theories and restoration meth- conservation concerns described in the cave ods directly into the caves, used the infor- management plans. All students gained tan- mation we presented to identify problems, gible field experience in resource assess- plan strategies, make decisions, and then ment, identification of conservation issues, performed actual hands-on application of impact mapping, low-impact caving ethics, the tasks. As projects became more com- cave cleaning, special attention for historic plex, participants adapted plans and tech- materials, lint debris removal, speleothem niques to better fit the specific situations restoration, lampenflora control, trail deline- they encountered. The Course provided op- ation, historical and cultural marking analy- portunity for in-depth analysis, application sis, contemporary graffiti removal, and visi- of decisions, and fine-tuning of skills. tor routing to enhance safety and mitigate Through an application process, 27 stu- impact. The week of instruction, discussion, dents were selected to attend this first and practical training inspired participants to Course. Skills and backgrounds of those se- propose follow-up programs for continuing lected were very diverse. Some represented the work initiated through the Course. federal, state, and private environmental Following the Course, participants em- protection agencies; others were long-time ployed in various federal, state, and private interpretive guides from the two caves. We cave-resource management positions created had archaeologists who worked in federal as new minimum-impact protocols for work in well as academic venues; lawyers represent- their respective scientific disciplines. Re- ing environmental agencies; a few members sults include new protocols for cave archeol- of the caving community; and some mining ogists and biologists. These documents rep- company officials. Other applicants fill a resent tangible positive outcomes of the waiting list for the second course, which is philosophical discussions, technical meth- planned for this coming year. ods, and impact-reducing ethics presented Classroom information and practical in- during the Course. On the other hand, pro- cave activities gave students technical train- posed plans for continuing conservation and ing for performing current best practices in restoration projects in the caves have not caves based on the foundation of primum been implemented. Much still needs to be non nocere—first do no harm. Drawing done; we will design our next course to from current best practice concepts pub- stimulate continued training and especially lished in Cave Conservation and Restoration motivate ongoing annual restoration events.

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Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

Brazil’s first International Course in Cave Con- ciety. xiv+ 600 p. [Contains a wealth of servation and Restoration is an important initia- detail from 46 contributors describing tive for karst outreach and instigates new path- current best tools and methods for identi- ways forward in the protection and conserva- fication of cave resources, perpetuation tion of caves. of speleological processes, cave conservation, restoration, and speleothem re- Acknowledgements pair.] ISBN 1-879961-15-6 We extend gratitude to the Anglo Ameri- Available through Amazon, NSS http:// can Mining Company and their supportive rep- bookstore.caves.org and http:// resentatives, to our friends and colleagues from www.karstportal.org/node/20158/. Instituto do Carste, Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, National Center for Hildreth-Werker, V. 2006. Current Best Research and Conservation of Caves, Gruta do Practices. In: Hildreth-Werker V, Werk- Maquiné, Gruta Rei do Mato, and all the cave er JC, editors. 2006. Cave Conservation sites we visited. We appreciate the opportunity and Restoration. Huntsville, Alabama: to participate in Brazil’s conservation manage- National Speleological Society. p 17-18. ment and karst outreach. ISBN 1-879961-15-6

References IEF. 2010. State Forestry Institute Management, Plan for the Natural State Alt L, Moura V. Use of impact mapping for Monument Peter Lund / Maquiné Cave / planning the infrastructure in tourist caves – Booklet I, Belo Horizonte, Brasil. (In case study: Maquiné Cave, Brazil. In: 20th Portuguese) National Cave and Karst Management Symposium Proceedings, 2013. Carlsbad Spate A, Hamilton-Smith E, Little L, Hol- NM: National Cave and Karst Research In- land E. 1998. Best practice and tourist stitute. p 77-88. cave engineering. In: Smith DW, editor. Cave and Karst Management in Austral- Hildreth-Werker V, Werker JC, editors. 2006. asia XII. Carlton South, Victoria, Aus- Cave Conservation and Restoration. Hunts- tralia: Australasian Cave and Karst Man- ville, Alabama: National Speleological So- agement Association. p 97-109.

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Cave Research Projects Help Promote Diversity in the Geosciences De’Etra Young1, Shannon Trimboli2, and Thomas Byl1,3

1College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209 2Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, P.O. Box 7, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259 3U.S. Geological Survey, 640 Grassmere Park, Suite 100, Nashville, TN 37211

Data from the National Science Foundation three are still undergraduates, two accepted indicates that the geosciences have lower ethnic jobs after completing their bachelors, 16 and racial diversity than any other science, went on to masters programs with thesis pro- technology, engineering and mathematics jects that emphasized earth science themes, (STEM) discipline. Increasing the diversity of and four students continued into Ph.D. pro- the geoscience workforce will benefit the disci- grams (three geoscience majors and one pline by providing scientists with different physics major). Of the fourteen students that backgrounds, approaches and perspectives. A have completed their academic studies, all diverse geoscience workforce is essential to but four are currently employed in the geo- helping society understand and respond to in- science or environmental engineering profes- creasingly complex geoscience issues, especial- sion. ly with regards to topics of concern for differ- When the students were asked what in- ent racial, ethnic and cultural groups. fluenced them to pursue a career in the geo- This paper reviews how a partnership be- science profession, the overwhelming re- tween Tennessee State University (a minority sponse was their research experiences that serving institution), the U.S. Geological Sur- exposed them to earth and environmental vey, and Mammoth Cave National Park en- scientists. The research experience demon- gaged students in scientific research and in- strated the relevance of the discipline, such creased the number of students pursuing em- as water quality studies and environmental ployment or graduate degrees in the geoscienc- protection. The research and professional es. The projects focused on water resources in meetings also provided an opportunity for a karst terrain, such as parking lot runoff and the students to learn of employment opportu- filter efficiency, groundwater recharge and nities, make professional connections, and chemical transport, quantitative tracer studies, feel like they could make a difference pursu- karst hydrology model development, geophysi- ing a career in geosciences. Another benefit cal logging, emergency spill response, geo- of the student research was the financial as- chemistry and geomicrobiology. These pro- sistance, which reduced the need to work off jects used a variety of geoscience tools and campus. It is clear from these results that methods, including field data collection, geo- engaging underrepresented students in geographic information system, chemical and bio- science research projects helps promote di- logical analysis, hydrologic instrumentation, versity. modeling and experimentation. Acknowledgements: The authors thank Twenty-two students (12 male, 10 female) Bobby Carson, Rickard Toomey, III, Rick participated in karst research projects from Olson, Steve Kovar, Larry Johnson, and Sa- 2007 to 2015. They represented majors in envi- rah Craighead of Mammoth Cave National ronmental engineering, mathematical, chemis- Park; Mike Bradley of the U.S. Geological try and biological sciences. Each of the 22 stu- Survey; Lonnie Sharpe and Roger Painter of dents completed significant research and pre- Tennessee State University for support and sented their results at a regional or national assistance with student research projects over conference. Of the 22 student researchers, the years. 114

Program and Abstracts—21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The 21st National Cave and Karst Management Symposium is proudly co-sponsored by:

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