CAVE RESEARCH ON PUBLIC LANDS

Some of the most significant caves and karst regions of the U.S. are located on public lands. Cave research on these lands offers special advantages and responsibilities, as well as mutual benefits to researchers, land managers, and the public. Scientific research in caves on public land provides a mutual benefit to both the researchers and to the managing agencies. Controlled access provides stable environments in which research can be conducted without disruption. Protection of cave resources assures that features of scientific interest are preserved intact. Government agencies also provide controlled access, security, accountability, and sometimes field assistance. In general, research permits are granted only upon submission of a coherent research proposal, which outlines the nature of the research, location of the study, hypotheses to be tested, and disposition of samples. Development of the concept of sulfuric acid cave origin has been based mainly on work in Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. Applications of geomicrobiology to cave processes have focused on these caves. Alunite dating of cave development was also developed in these caves and is being applied to dating the entrenchment of the Grand Canyon. The Ohio River drainage history has been delineated by aluminum-beryllium dating of cave sediments in Mammoth Cave National Park, and this technique has also been applied to the uplift of the Sierra Nevada in Sequoia-King’s Canyon National Park. The relation of cave development to paleokarst events has been elucidated in federally managed caves in the Black Hills, South Dakota. Many advances in biology and archeology have been made by research on public lands. Benefits to the governing agencies include up-to-date information for interpretive and management purposes. Research that involves sampling should be peer reviewed, systematic, and likely to provide long-term scientific benefits. It must be conducted in a manner that preserves cave resources. Researchers have the responsibility to provide easily accessible results to the governing agencies.