"Leave Nothing but Footprints, Take Nothing but Pictures, Kill Nothing but Time."

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Cave Conservation

Damage done to a cave may heal in time, but it will happen slowly, over eons, rather than years. Damage done to artifacts or other historic or archaeological resources can wipe out an undiscovered chapter of history in minutes. Entire species of unique, cave-adapted life can be unintentionally eradicated by a single caver. For these reasons, cavers regard caves, and the unique biological, cultural and historical resources they contain, as non-renewable resources.

Although some cave visitors may not see the harm in taking home a cave formation as a souvenir of their "adventure," or in leaving something, a spray-painted signature or trash, behind as a record of their visit, it will significantly alter the caving experience for those who come after. Formations that have been painted, broken or, in some cases, simply handled, cease to grow. Graffiti often wipes out historic signatures, or petroglyphs drawn by Native Americans thousands of years ago, ruining them beyond repair. These things are irreplaceable and will not return in our lifetimes or in our children's children's lifetimes. For these reasons, it is important to follow a "leave no trace" ethic when visiting a cave. "Cave safely and softly!" Be aware of your surroundings and your impact on it. Do not disturb cave life or artifacts you discover. Then, take it one step further by instilling these ethics in others.

• This site provides some information on the National Speleological Society. For additional information, see the NSS web site.
  
  
• Save the Caves! Join the Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. (SCCI).
  
  
• The Cave Vandalism and Shame page in Australia is a sort of Hall of Shame for cave vandalism. It can teach all of us some important lessons about non-renewable resources.
  
  
• Here is an article from the NSS's Caving Information Series on repairing broken speleothems.
  
  
• The NSS Cave Conservancies Committee has a complete list of the Cave Conservancies within the US. This is a great place to learn more.
  
  
• The NSS provides a comprehensive list of laws protecting caves and bats, including cave protection laws for Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, as well as lots of information on legal precedents that relate to caves.
  
  
• List of Closed Caves in TAG Before you go, check this list! Access information for some Cookeville-area caves and caving areas can be found here.
  
  
• This is a comprehensive list of closed or limited access caves for the Virginia Region, but it also contains information for West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and East Tennessee. The list is maintained by Bob Hoke of the District of Columbia Grotto.
  
  
• In the mid-90s, the National Science Foundation funded a study of troglodytic species in a Romanian cave that had been totally isolated from the surface world for thousands of years. The life that had evolved there in the absolute darkness also thrived without any organic input from the surface. Their press release on the project, Forever-Dark Cave Crawling with Life, has more details.
  
  
• Finally, we've had lots of requests for information on cave biota, so here's a link to the Biospeleology Web Page in Texas.
  
  

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We welcome your comments or bug reports
via email to your friendly, neighborhood speleoweb hostess,
April Hannah, NSS #35012.

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(C) Copyright 2024, April Hannah for the Upper Cumberland Grotto of the NSS. All Rights Reserved. Photos available on this web site are the property of individual members of the Upper Cumberland Grotto. Failure to request permission before saving these images to disk for your own use is a violation of the U.S. Copyright Law.