NSS CAVE PRESERVES AND ASSOCIATED POLICIES

Thomas Lera, NSS Administrative Vice-President

The National Speleological Society began in 1941 as a collective of individuals interested in caves and caving. From the beginning, we recognized the need to protect the fragile and timeless environment underground. Conservation has always been a prime tenet of the foundations of the NSS.

Through the 40's and 50's, the Society was concerned about other peoples' caves. With the rising environmentalism of the 60's, NSS conservation efforts took on a more personal note, when we acquired our own cave. The donation of McFails Cave, in Schoharie County, NY, was the first of thirteen properties now owned or managed by the Society.

The NSS Cave Preserves are our commitment to future generations. A local Management Committee cares for each preserve. These committees report to the NSS Board of Governors, through the Cave Preserve Committee, under the Department of the Administrative Vice-President.

Each Management Committee has overall responsibility for the upkeep, security, and general well being of the property. As with most NSS functions, the Preserves rely on local cavers to provide the required labor for day-to-day activities. What follows is a discussion of the current NSS Cave Preserves and the Policies for Cave and Karst Acquisition and Grant Applications (Appendix L) and the policy for the Outline for writing a Cave Management Plan (Appendix Z).

Cave Preserves of the National Speleological Society

W. Gary Bush, Cave Preserves Committee Chair

* Managed for the Felburn Foundation

Alachua Sink Preserve

In late 1992 and early 1993, the NSS completed negotiations to accept the donation of Alachua Sink, located in the city of Alachua, Florida. Alachua Sink is a completely water-filled cave, the sink being the only window into the underground Alachua Stream System. The surface stream system is dissected by more than 10 swallow holes that divert water underground, draining a basin of over 70 square miles.

The NSS Cave Diving Section manages the Alachua Sink property. A fence and locked gate is maintained around the sink. Access to the cave will be permitted to only the highest qualified cave divers because of the nature and complexity of the underwater cave system. Visitation is permitted for research, data collection, water sampling, and survey/mapping. No training activities are allowed.

Barton Hill Karst Preserve

Located in Schoharie County, New York, the Barton Hill Karst Preserve is 12 miles east of the NSS-owned McFails Cave and 9 miles west of the Northeastern Cave Conservancy’s Knox Cave. The Preserve is situated on 40 acres and contains 3 known caves and 310 acres of cave rights. The bulk of the Preserve is a limestone bench characterized by numerous sinkholes and solutionally enlarged joints. All drainage is underground. The acreage is almost entirely covered by a northeastern hardwood forest.

Three caves exist on the property: Gage Caverns (historically known as Balls Cave), Keyhole Cave, and Greene’s Cave. Discovered in 1831 by Peter Ball, Gage Caverns is one of the oldest known caves in the state of New York with over 3,000 feet of mapped passage. During early exploration, most of its formations were removed and shipped around the United States to adorn the collections of practical geologists and state museums.

James Gage donated the Preserve to the National Speleological Foundation in December of 1987. The NSF deeded the property to the National Speleological Society in 1996. Members of the National Speleological Society manage the Preserve and the caves for recreation and education. All individuals wishing to gain access must obtain permission from the committee and sign a release form.

Donald R. Russell Cave Preserve

In mid-1991, Mr. Don Russell donated two tracts of land in Adair County, Oklahoma to the NSS for the purpose of creating a biological preserve. There is one cave and several cave remnants on the property. The main cave, Linda Bear Paw Cave, is used by a large colony of endangered gray bats (Myotis grisescens). One of the cave remnants is hibernaculum for a colony of Ozark big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens). This colony represents as much as one-third of the known population of this species. The Nature Conservancy, who manages a cave containing a colony of some 25,000 gray bats, owns land surrounding the Russell Cave Preserve.

Because this property was acquired with the purpose of establishing a biological preserve and human visitation would be detrimental to the survival of the bat populations, no visitation is allowed. This is a continuation of the long-standing policy of the previous owner.

Great Expectations Cave (Great X) Preserve

Great Expectations contains almost 8 miles of surveyed passage with a vertical extent of over 1,400 feet. It is the third deepest limestone cave in the United States, the second deepest cave in Wyoming, and the second longest cave in Wyoming. Great Expectations Cave contains Wyoming's largest room, The Great Hall, which is over 2,000 feet long and up to 100 feet high and wide. Great X is located at 8,500 feet elevation on a pristine creek in the Big Horn Mountains, east of Greybull in Big Horn County, Wyoming.

The creek sinks into the cave at the entrance and reappears approximately six miles down the canyon, near the Lower entrance to the cave, the Great Exit. The Great Exit, near the "Grim Crawl of Death," is on federal land managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. This high altitude karst area contains several other significant caves including Tres Charros Cave, Bad Medicine Cave, and P-Bar Cave.

The NSS acquired the land containing the main (upper) entrance to Great Expectations Cave and Johnny Creek Cave in January 2003. The property has an eastern boundary with the Bighorn National Forest and a northern boundary with lands managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. The western and southern boundaries border private land. The NSS has acquired the property from the landowner to the south. The cave is accessible for about six months a year by four-wheel drive vehicles or those with high clearance.

The Society intends that NSS members shall be ensured reasonable access and use of the cave and the surface property for recreation, exploration, science, and surveying. The Great Expectations Cave Management Committee is responsible for managing the Preserve.

John Guilday Cave Preserve

In 1983 the NSS completed the purchase of 40 acres of forested land at Trout Rocks near Franklin, West Virginia. This property contains the entrances to three well-known, popular caves: Trout, New Trout, and Hamilton. Each cave is over a mile long and each has been the site of significant paleontological excavations. The property has been designated the John E. Guilday Memorial Cave Preserve in honor of John Guilday who was one of the foremost paleontologists in the country working with cave deposited materials (and a long-time NSS member). He was research curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and he made the initial paleontological studies in Trout Cave.

The cave preserve committee manages the cave preserve with goals of encouraging bat hibernation re-establishment and preservation of the paleontological sites, as well as continued recreational caving.

Kingston Saltpeter Cave Preserve

The Kingston Saltpeter Cave Preserve in Bartow County, Georgia, is composed of 40 acres of largely hardwood forest, underlain by a variety of wildflowers and mosses. The area is teeming with wildlife. The Preserve is located almost entirely on and along the flanks of a large isolated dolomite knob, providing an incredible vista in all directions. Outcroppings of the Knox series of dolomite are found, along with an array of multicolored agates. The focal point of the Preserve is the Kingston Saltpeter Cave.

In late 1983 the Felburn Foundation acquired the property in order to preserve, maintain, and protect it for future generations. The NSS manages the cave under an agreement with the Felburn Foundation. To date, the acquisition, improvement, and maintenance of the cave and property has been at no cost to the Society, and all expenses are being borne by the Felburn Foundation and the Project co-directors.

A permanent committee of the NSS administers the Kingston Saltpeter Cave Preserve. Barriers on the cave entrances and along the access road have been constructed, the property posted, and the cave has undergone a thorough cleaning by NSS members with care having been taken to preserve any items of historical value.

McFails Cave Preserve

New York’s McFails Cave in Schoharie County, with over 6.7 miles of mapped passage, is the longest cave in the northeastern United States. Managing this cave is the job of the McFails Cave Committee. The committee makes sure that the parking area and the trails at the McFails Cave Preserve are maintained through the use of gates at the two entrances.

Through NSS ownership, research has been conducted in and around the McFails Cave Preserve. Currently, the emphasis is on hydrogeology and exploration.

Schoharie Caverns Preserve

Mary and Jennifer Gage donated Schoharie Caverns and the surrounding 13 acres in 1994. This location, in Schoharie County, NY, has been a central base for caving since the 1950's.

Schoharie Cave is over 4,000 feet long, with half of that length beyond a scuba dive sump. A total of five sumps have been penetrated. The part of the cave accessible without scuba equipment is primarily a single vadose canyon, consisting of 2,000 feet of walking passage, with ceiling heights from 10 to 80 feet. This is a wet, difficult cave with a temperature of 45 degrees. Bob Addis chairs the Preserve Committee.

Shelta Cave Preserve

Shelta Cave is located directly beneath the NSS National Headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama. It was the second NSS-owned cave, purchased in 1967. The cave has one of the most outstanding underground ecosystems in North America. It is the type locality for several species of cave life, three beetles, two crayfish, a shrimp, and three other arthropods. Many other species are found in the cave. Shelta Cave continues to serve as the NSS’ laboratory for cave biology.

The entrance to Shelta Cave is gated, but access is open to NSS members. If you are interested in visiting it, contact the cave patron, Bill Torode.

Tytoona Cave Preserve

Tytoona Cave Preserve is located in Sinking Valley, Blair County, Pennsylvania, between the cities of Tyrone and Altoona (hence the name). This is the 10th and newest cave preserve owned by the NSS. Containing 6.8 acres of property, the preserve was purchased from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy on December 23, 1997.

Tytoona has been noted as one of the most significant caves in the state. Rich with history that dates back to 1788, it has been mentioned in early publications and county maps. Two attempts in the past (1947 and 1972) to commercialize the cave were short-lived and today little or no trace can be found of those early business ventures.

This cave contains about a mile of trunk passage, divided by water sumps, and a few large dry rooms. In one of the sump-protected rooms, very significant formations exist. Mother Nature protects this area of the cave through sumps; only those qualified in cave sump diving are allowed to enter.

The downstream portion of the cave system exits at Arch Spring. The Arch is privately owned and not located on the Tytoona Cave Preserve property. However, permission can be obtained to visit this site from the landowner.

Perhaps one of Tytoona’s greatest strengths is its educational and recreational value. This cave has been host to many youth groups, college students, and cavers as an educational tool to teach and learn about caves, caving, and conservation. The first 1,000 feet of passage offers easy caving. A well-known natural landmark, Tytoona has an exceptionally attractive entrance along with photogenic qualities of the landscape, making it a popular site.

The property is to be managed as a natural area. The management consists of a chief director and cave committee. Visitors are reminded to use only the established trails on the property. Visitors are allowed daily from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Warren Cave Preserve

The Nature Conservancy donated Warren Cave in Alachua County, Florida to the NSS in early 1991. The Nature Conservancy had held the property since acquiring it in 1976 with the help of the Florida Speleological Society. The Warren Cave Preserve Committee now oversees the Warren Cave property with assistance from the Florida Speleological Society.

Warren Cave is the longest known dry cave in Florida with over four miles of mapped passage. The cave is presently gated but visitation is allowed.

Wells Cave Preserve

In January 2003, the Wells Cave Preserve became the 10th cave property owned by the NSS and the 11th NSS Preserve. Wells Cave has a long history within Pulaski County, Kentucky. The large main entrance, combined with several other entrances, provides easy access. Its location, near the communities of Mt. Victory and Poplarville, in southeastern Pulaski County and along the primary road between Somerset, London, and the Rockcastle River (a vital coal, logging, and saltpetre trade route in the 1800's) gave Wells Cave much attention and use throughout the years.

Wells Cave Preserve consists of 3 acres and includes 2 entrances to a historically, geologically, and biologically significant 11.5 mile-long cave. The cave also serves as an educational tool for those interested in speleogenesis, paleo-climates and hydrology, and cave management. This cave has attracted many people into joining caving organizations, not just for its recreational, but also the scientific value. It is well visited and well known to the community.

The Management policy is to continue with past practice of allowing people on the property with minimum restrictions. Restrictions are only for reasons of better management, and to protect the property through recommendations of the Management Committee.

The Management Committee is responsible for enforcing both NSS and Wells Cave Preserve access guidelines. Wells Cave will be open to responsible caving all year.

The Potter Unit Cave Preserve

In October 2003, the Potter Unit Cave Preserve was accepted by the NSS. The Potter Unit Cave Preserve objectives include protecting habitat to assure the continuing existence and aid in recovery of federally listed endangered and threatened Ozark cave species and reduce the need for future listing of species of concern in the Ozarks. Federally listed endangered and threatened species known to occur on this land are the Ozark big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens) and gray bats (Myotis grisescens). There are two caves, Crystal Cave and Blue Moon Cave, on the Cave Preserve, along with a Natural Bridge and many karst features. The Management Plan is currently being written and hopefully will be submitted to the BOG at the 2004 NSS Convention Meeting.