Cave Acquisition is Our Business

By Bill Putnam

Southeastern Cave Conservancy Inc.

I was sitting in the kitchen of a cave owner last weekend, talking about the purchase of a major cave property, when the owner asked me, "What will the SCCi be doing in 100 years?" I didn't have to think very hard because I've already spent a lot of time considering the future of the Conservancy. "SCCi will own or manage almost every significant cave in the Southeast", I answered. Maybe that sounds like "mission impossible" to some folks. But I think it's a reasonable and worthy goal.

Our mission is to acquire and manage caves. It's simple and straightforward. We believe that the best protection is achieved by having cavers own and care for the caves. We're all for cave cleanups and conservation projects, but we don't have the resources to do that and acquire caves too. So we have learned to specialize.

We spent a lot of time in 1999 preparing for and hosting the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium. It was a big success, and SCCi received national recognition and appreciation for it. We made a contribution to cave protection and management at the national level. But the effort consumed almost all of the time and resources of many key people in the SCCi for most of a year - people who otherwise would have been busy acquiring caves.

We've initiated or assisted in many cave cleanups and other conservation projects. We've had work days and work weekends spent cleaning up caves, picking up trash, installing silt fences, monitoring cave usage, interaction with unaffiliated cavers, and much more. But again, the time and energy of many SCCi leaders and volunteers were consumed by these projects, and our acquisitions projects suffered. Over time, we learned that these worthy projects are best done by local grottos. Grottos have regular meetings and local members who can more easily organize, direct, and carry out these labor-intensive projects.

So we did a lot of soul searching. We decided to focus our energy and resources on our core mission - cave acquisition and management. We devoted all our time and effort to fund raising and acquisitions. We set out to pay down our debt load as quickly as possible, so that we could buy more caves. And we began to prioritize our acquisitions, to get the most our of every donated dollar.

As a result, we paid off the mortgage on the Fricks Cave Preserve last summer. This year we paid off the Horse Skull Cave preserve. We're working hard to pay off the Fox Mountian Cave preserve, and are building our Stewardship Fund to cover property taxes and maintenance expenses on all our preserves. We're busting our butts developing new acquisitions, opening closed caves, and securing access and management rights to caves.

Of course, SCCi isn't out there all alone. Other groups are acquiring and protecting caves in the region. The Nature Conservancy is doing good work, and there are some other cave conservancies and caver groups taking care of particular caves. But I don't believe any other group is as dedicated to and focused on cave acquisition as the SCCi. I don't believe there is another group working as hard as we are to acquire caves throughout the region.. And I don't think there is another organization with the experience and track record that we have amassed.

As I write this, we have five cave acquisition projects approaching completion. We didn't start working on these yesterday. Some have been in development for more than two years. By the time you read this, some of these may be complete. Others may stretch out into the Summer or Fall. We can't force people to sell us their caves, so we have to be professional and persuasive. Most of all, we have to remain focused - cave acquisition and management is our business. Everything we do has to support and enhance that mission.

Earlier this evening I was working on the payment schedule for the financing of the cave preserve I was working on last weekend. Hopefully we will close on that purchase before you read this. Last week we completed the leasing of the Sinking Cove Cave Preserve, with more than a dozen caves. Earlier this week we received the survey of a bat cave property we are buying, and today we received the appraisal report on another cave property. We are also awaiting the final deed work on the donation of yet another cave. We have many more acquisitions in various stages of development. It's going to be a busy summer.

There are going to be some serious changes for cavers in the coming years. We can see some of it happening right now. We all see the golf community subdivisions being developed right on top of the caves. We know about the sewage plants needed by growing communities. We stumble through the clear-cuts and skidder trails created by the massive logging activity all over the Cumberland Plateau region. The loggers are out there working six days a week to harvest all the timber they can reach, and they don't care about caves, or springs, or wildlife. They have mills to feed, families to support, and money to make.

We don't have to sit here and watch it all happen. You can make a difference. Membership in the SCCi costs only $15 per year. You can't even buy a tank of gas or a night at a campground for that any more. We all spend more money that that on caving gear, or registration for SERA and TAG, or beer, or junk food, or cable TV and Internet service. There's no excuse not to join.

How much is it worth to be able to go to Neversink, or Sinking Cove, or Gourdneck, or Cemetery Pit? To ensure that these are owned and cared for by cavers? How much is it worth to protect the Gray Bats at Fricks Cave? What would you give to be able to go the Valhalla, Byers, or the other caves on the ever-growing Closed Caves List?

Our mission, and yours should you choose to accept it, is to acquire and manage caves.

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