Part 3: Material for Paper Sessions
The Value of Delineating Recharge
Areas for Critical Caves; A Case History from Tumbling Creek Cave,
Missouri.
Tom Aley, President
Ozark Underground Laboratory, Inc.
1572 Aley Lane, Protem, MO 65733
oul@tri-lakes.net. 417-785-4289
ABSTRACT
The recharge area for a cave is the land area which contributes water to the
cave under at least some conditions. Especially in caves with aquatic
ecosystems, one cannot protect the cave without also ensuring the protection
of the recharge area. Protecting the recharge area requires knowing where it
is and identifying which portions of it pose the greatest potential threats
to the cave of concern. This basic information is essential in obtaining problem-focused
funding for land rehabilitation to improve and protect water quality in
the cave, and for developing good recovery plans for threatened and endangered
aquatic species inhabiting the cave.
Based on an extensive groundwater tracing program Tumbling Creek Cave has a
recharge area of 9.02 square miles. The cave is a designated National
Natural Landmark based upon a determination by the Secretary of the Interior
that it has the most diverse cave fauna of any cave west of the Mississippi
River. This fauna includes three federally endangered species including an
aquatic snail known only from this cave system. The recovery plan for the
snail indicates that sediment is believe to be the greatest problem facing
that species. Based upon the recharge area delineation and hydrologic assessments
of lands causing the greatest environmental impacts on the cave system we
have purchased almost 2,700 acres of land. Most of this is in the recharge
area for the cave. Extensive erosion control and riparian corridor reforestation
is underway on about 1,100 acres of land in the recharge area. The hydrologic
data base developed for the cave was critical in obtaining funding through
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the
Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation for much of this land rehabilitation
work.
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