Karst Field Studies Course Announcement Summer 2014

The Department of Geography and Geology at Western Kentucky University and its partners encourage you to participate in the summer 2014 Karst Field Studies Program at and near Mammoth Cave National Park . Tentative courses this summer will include:

- Karst Geology, June 1-7, Dr. Art Palmer
- Exploration of the Mammoth Cave Area, June 8-14, Dr. Stanley Sides
- Cave Survey and Cartography, June 15-21, Dr. Pat Kambesis, with assistance from Mr. Howard Kalnitz

Take a class for fun as non-credit workshops OR courses may also be taken for graduate, undergraduate, or continuing education credit.

For more information about the program, courses, how to register, and instructors, please visit karstfieldstudies.com. But hurry, the deadline to reserve you spot is approaching fast…Friday, May 9. Space is limited.

If you have any questions please contact the Karst Field Studies Director, Dr. Leslie North, at [email protected].

"Like" us on Facebook at Karst Field Studies (WKU/Mammoth Cave).

Hope to see you this summer!

Cave with Ice Age fossils opening in Indiana

A cave littered with the bones of Ice Age creatures will open for the first time to the public on Saturday.

As with many so-called "show caves," Indiana Caverns has the requisite geological formations and a river for subterranean boat rides. But the pre-historic bones — believed to be among the largest cache discovered in one cave — are the "frosting on the cake," says marketing manager Carol Groves.

Located in southern Indiana about 25 miles west of Louisville, the new attraction is part of the 36-mile-long cave Binkley cave system (the nation's 11th longest). Portions have been explored for more than half a century, but the section opening Saturday was only discovered three years ago by a group of caving enthusiasts.

Hidden River Cave adding zipline, rappelling

Visitors to Hidden River Cave in south-central Kentucky will soon have opportunities for new zipline and rappelling adventures.

The new offerings will begin this coming Saturday.

Adventure seekers will be able to zip over the top of the cave entrance or rappel down the rock face entrance to Hidden River Cave.

Cave tours will still be offered, and all packages include admission to the American Cave Museum.

Also new is a gem mining sluice that allows visitors to pan for their own gemstone.

Hidden River Cave and the American Cave Museum are operated by the American Cave Conservation Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of caves nationwide.

The two Kentucky attractions are located 2.2 miles off Interstate 65 at Exit 58 at Horse Cave.

Source: WLKY

Popular cave in Sequoia National Forest vandalized

A photo released Wednesday, June 5, 2013, of Packsaddle Cave
shows stalactites, some of which were recently damaged in a case
of vandalism.

A popular cave in the Sequoia National Forest has been vandalized.

U.S. Forest Service officials said Wednesday that stalactites were broken off in the cave. The stalactites take at least hundreds of years to form and are irreplaceable, according to officials.

The vandalism occurred inside Packsaddle Cave on the Kern River Ranger District of the Sequoia National Forest. The cave is a popular hiking destination for people visiting the Upper Kern River.

If caught, vandals can be fined up to $5,000.

District Ranger Al Watson is asking anyone with information on the vandal or vandals to call (760) 376-3781 or 379-5646.

Man Rescued From Ellisons Cave

A team of about 80 rescuers took nearly 21 hours to retrieve a North Whitehall Township man from one of the deepest pit caves in the country after he slipped and fell over weekend in Ellisons Cave in Georgia.

Dwight Kempf, 54, had rappelled the 586-foot-deep Fantastic Pit within the Pigeon Mountain Area and fell about 30 feet while walking on a horizontal passageway Sunday afternoon.

Ellisons Cave is in Walker County, about half way between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn., and is the deepest in the East at 1,067 feet. The cave, which includes the Fantastic Pit at 586 feet followed by the Incredible Pit at 440 feet, is 12 miles long and traverses a mountain.

Kempf reportedly fell somewhere between those pits, first falling about 30 feet and landing on rocks and then bouncing and falling another 30-40 feet, according to a rescuer interviewed on ABC News.

Federal Protections For Missouri Cave Fish and Habitat Open to Public Comment

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is considering an 18-year conservation project aimed at saving the grotto sculpin, a small fish found mostly in cave streams and only within Perry County, Missouri.

Sculpins, as a group, have flattened, scaleless bodies, small eyes, wide mouths, enlarged pectoral fins and large heads that tapers abruptly into a comparatively slender body, which measures approximately 2.5 to 4 inches.

The overall color of the fish, which lays about 200 eggs during the late winter-early spring spawning season, is light tan to bleached tan, with an unpigmented underside.

The wildlife agency says it will cost between $140,000 and $4 million to preserve the species, which was discovered by a college student back in 1991 and is currently not on the federal list of endangered species.

Smokies, Mammoth Cave part of MTSU science study

Ten college students from across the country are taking part in a Middle Tennessee State University environmental research project.

The event runs from through July 26 and is funded by the National Science Foundation.

The school says the students will search for ancient inactive seismic faults, investigate water and air quality and explore the ecology of rare cedar glade habitats. The intensified research project involves the disciplines of Earth science, chemistry and biology.

Field trips will take them to Mammoth Cave and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The NSF grant of $368,000 also will enable MTSU to host similar studies in 2014 and 2015.

Source: Kentucky.com

Oakman hosts search and rescue training

The local area Georgia Search and Rescue (GSAR) Taskforce 6 recently held emergency training in Oakman to learn new techniques, and to get refreshment on previous training.

Taskforce 6 is a GSAR group that is comprised of seven different counties in the Northwest Georgia region.

“This is the first year we did search and rescue training, and some of these guys have never really been tested on the ability to search and rescue in our area,” Director of Gordon County Emergency Management Agency Richard Cooper said.

The training started at 6 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m. Some of the training the taskforce went over consisted of tornado situations, locating a GPS spot, finding victims and bringing them from the woods and also extracting someone from a cave using a haul system, according to Cooper.

Cooper said the taskforce has been set up for about five years now and is funded by grants. He also added that the taskforce is comprised of firefighters, and on top of the training received to become a firefighter there also has to be 500 hours of additional training to become part of Taskforce 6.

“This was a big success, and it gave our guys some a wonderful opportunity to explore and get experience with our terrain,” Cooper said. “It was wonderful to see them shine doing the job that they had to do.”

Source: Calhoun Times

2013 WKU/Mammoth Karst Field Studies Program

Here's the course list announcement for 2013:

The Hoffman Environmental Research Institute through its Center for Cave and Karst Studies and in cooperation with the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning and Western Kentucky University, are pleased to announce the launch of the Summer 2013 Karst Field Studies Program. Courses this summer will include:

• Karst Geology, June 2-8, Dr. Art Palmer
• Karst Geophysics, June 9-15, Dr. Lewis Land
• Cave Photography, June 10-14, Dr. Dave Bunnell
• Karst Hydrology June 17-21, Drs. William White and Nicholas Crawford
• Cave Biology and Ecosystems, June 17-21, Dr. Dave Ashley

Courses may be taken for graduate, undergraduate, or continuing education credit. Courses may also be taken as non-credit workshops.

For more information about the program, courses, how to register, and instructors, please visit www.karstfieldstudies.com. While visiting the website be sure to also check out the 'Scholarships' tab for information about the Nick Crawford Karst Education Scholarship, a competitive award designed to offer financial assistance for attending a course.

If you have any questions please contact the Karst Field Studies Director, Dr. Leslie North, at [email protected].

Shippensburg university to host 2013 national caving convention

John Boswell, treasurer of the Franklin County Grotto,
crawls through a tight space in Persistence Cave in Williamson.

Some 1,000 cave explorers — “spelunkers” to the uninitiated — from around the world are expected to come to Shippensburg next summer for the 2013 National Speleological Society Convention.

The convention, the first in Pennsylvania in recent history, will be Aug. 4-10 at Shippensburg University. Typically, the society’s conventions attract cavers from across the United States, as well as from Eastern Europe.

Randy Hurst, public relations chairman for the event, said nearly 1,300 people attended the 2012 convention in Lewisburg, W.Va.

“That area has some of the biggest caves in the country,” Hurst said. “They have the same limestone we have in Pennsylvania, but it’s thicker — so the caves can get really huge.”

Video: Cave diving in Roubidoux Spring

Probably the most popular cave dive is in Roubidoux Spring, Waynesville (Mo).

Roubidoux Spring is open to certified cavern/cave divers who must check in and present their cave/cavern certification card to the officials in the 911 Emergency Center prior to diving. The center is located adjacent to the Fire Station on top of the hill off Highway 66 just east of downtown. There is no diving fee or permit required. Be sure to sign out after diving!

More information on the exploration of this cave can be found here.

Karst-O-Rama 2013

July 12-14, 2013

Greater Cincinnati Grotto is “Simply Caving” at Karst-O-Rama for our 21st year at Great Saltpetre Cave Preserve in Mt. Vernon, KY! 

Registration is limited to NSS/Grotto members only with the option to sponsor up to a total of three (3) non-member guests. 

There will be an abundance of cave trips and many family-friendly activities including Kids Corner, climbing contest, photo contest, map contest, survey class, vertical workshop, geology field trip, gear vendors, and more! 

Pre-registration incentives will be offered. 

To learn more, visit our website: http://karstorama.com and like us on Facebook for updates.

Pre-Registration is now open

Call for abstracts -- National Cave and Karst Management Symposium

The National Cave and Karst Management Symposium (NCKMS) is now accepting abstracts for its next meeting, which will be held on 4-8 November 2013 at the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. 

This is the 20th of this internationally attended conference series. 

For details about the conference and to submit an abstract, go to https://sites.google.com/site/nckms2013/home.

"Christmas in the Cave" ready with 20,000 lights

Friday is the start of "Christmas in the Cave" at Cherokee Caverns. You can spend the evening getting in the Holiday spirit and learn some geology.

Volunteers at Cherokee Caverns near Oak Ridge have spent the last month hanging more than 20,000 Christmas lights and decorations inside the cave.

Families can walk the mile loop inside the cave which stays a balmy 58 degrees year round.

Also, families can take a picture with Santa and, of course, learn about mother nature.

The Director of Cherokee Caverns, Jim Whidby, says, "They can enjoy a wide variety of cave formation, stalagmites, stalactites, androdites. I encourage folks to come out and enjoy the beauty of the cave. It is the most historical cave in Knox County.The only one of 171 caves that was open to the public."

"Christmas in the Cave" runs Friday and Saturday night from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and next Thursday through Sunday. Tickets are $8.

Source: WBIR

Bad News for Bats: Deadly Fungus Persists in Caves

A study just published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology shows that the fungus can survive in soil for months, even years, after the bats have departed.

This is not good news for the bat population, says lead author Jeff Lorch, a research associate in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We have found that caves and mines, which remain cool year-round, can serve as reservoirs for the fungus, so bats entering previously infected sites may contract white-nose syndrome from that environment. This represents an important and adverse transmission route."

"This certainly presents additional challenges," adds David Blehert, a microbiologist at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, who also led the study. "It's important that we have completed this foundational work that further implicates the environment in the ecology of this infectious disease. We can now collectively move forward to address this problem."

Research on stricken bats may help AIDS fight

The remote possibility that an AIDS treatment can arise from the study of white-nose is about the only positive development since the bat disease was first discovered in a cave near Albany, N.Y., in 2008.

Between 5 million and 7 million bats of various species have died from the disease since that year. In Pennsylvania alone, 95 percent of little brown bats have died.

Bats have an ugly reputation as villains in books and movies, but in reality are as important as birds and bees. They pollinate plants, and a single reproductive female consumes her weight in bugs each night. A colony of 150 brown bats can eat enough adult cucumber beetles to prevent the laying of eggs that results in 33 million rootworm larvae in summer, according to a study cited by Bat Conservation International.

Tour guide says long-dead explorer haunts Mammoth Cave

William Floyd Collins

Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world. It's a popular tourist destination. It can also be a dark and dangerous place.

Some people say one early explorer is still roaming the cave, even though he died there long ago.

"Sometimes people hear things, feel things or see things they can't explain," said tour guide Colleen Olson.

Olson has been exploring the cave system and collecting stories about it for more than 20 years. "Stories that were passed down," she said. "Stories I heard from other cave guides."

One legend might not be just a story, but a haunting.

William Floyd Collins was known as one of the great cave explorers of his time. "A man who was trapped in a sand cave, a separate cave, back in 1925," according to Olson.

After 14 days underground, Collins died of exposure, thirst and starvation. His body wasn't recovered for another two months. "And then, back in the 1920s and 30sm his body was on display in a section of Mammoth Cave called Crystal Cave," Olson said.

Some people think Collins plays tricks on them in the cave. But guides say Collins has also been known to help prevent them from meeting his same fate. "For example," Olson said, "there's one story that a caver told me that she was caving near part of the cave where Floyd, when he was alive, would go caving, and she tripped and she started to fall, and then she felt somebody grab her and pull her back, and of course she thought it was her caving partner. So she was about to say, ‘Thanks, Richard,' thanking her pal, but he was way on the other side. So then, when she realized it wasn't Richard, she said, ‘Thanks, Floyd.'"

In live, Floyd Collins helped map and discover the longest known cave system in the world. In death, he might still do the same.

Source: Wave3

Cave Structure Tells Tale of 13,000 Winters

Scientists have found a stalagmite in an Oregon cave that tells the story of thousands of winters in the Pacific Northwest.

"Most other ways of estimating past climate, like tree-ring data, only tell us about summers, when plants are growing," Oxford University researcher Vasile Ersek said in a statement. But understanding ancient winters is also important for regions like western North America, where chilly conditions are critical for determining water resources.

For their study, Ersek and his colleagues examined a cave formation called a stalagmite that started forming 13,000 years ago in a cavern in what is now Oregon Caves National Monument. During the region's damp winters, water from the ground seeped through the cave's ceiling and trickled onto the floor, with the drips slowly forming the stalagmite over time.

Cave Rescue Required After Medical Emergency

Update 13/09/2012:

A Nashville man is recovering at Vanderbilt Medical Center, after suffering a stroke while hiking in a Maury County Cave.

48-year-old Darrell Smith is now in stable condition.

He and a few of his friends were taking a guided tour of Miller's Cave, near Mount Pleasant.

"We were fixing to do the rest of the tour when the guy, he was standing up, and he more or less just sat down, and the girl asked him what was wrong, and we knew right then something wasn't right," said Buddy Baldwin, who owns the property on which the cave is located. "I pretty well knew instantly that he'd either had a heart attack or a stroke."

Endangered Spider Discovery Stops $15 Million Texas Highway Construction Project

While biologists may be rejoicing over the recent discovery of a rare spider that was thought to be extinct, not everyone is elated -- particularly commuters around San Antonio, Texas.

Workers found the Braken Bat Cave Meshweaver (Cicurina venii) spider, which hasn't been seen in three decades, in the middle of a $15.1 million highway construction project in northwestern San Antonio. The eyeless arachnid is on the endangered species list—since construction would disrupt the spider's natural habitat, the project has been halted for the foreseeable future.

Jean Krejca, a biologist and President of Zara Environmental who was consulting on the project, made the extraordinary discovery after a downpour of rain revealed a 6-foot deep spider hole. After dissecting the spider, a taxonomist later confirmed that the distinct-looking arachnid was, in fact, the Meshweaver, named for its pattern of webbing.

The Meshweaver was placed on the federal endangered species list in 2000, along with eight other spiders found only in the Texas county. George Veni first identified the spider in 1980 in a location five miles away from the construction site.