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Sunday, March 07, 2004
A Craving for Caving
Spelunking basics from Ryan Dy ask one to tread lightly underground, for in this uncharted world, leaving even only footprints is still not enough.
As growing numbers of people seek understanding and adventure underground, our mark on caves increases dramatically. Caves generally do not recover from human impact; we need to encourage a collective commitment to minimum-impact caving techniques and to cave conservation.
If you are a novice caver, we recommend that you cave with an experienced, conservation-minded caver. These people can help you understand underground environments and develop the judgment you need to reduce your impact. Your caving experience can be even more enjoyable when you minimize your impact on the cave, knowing you are leaving a legacy for future generations.
Plan ahead and prepare
There are many things you can do even before you reach the cave entrance that will help you minimize your impact inside the cave. For example, if you do not bring enough clothes, you may become hypothermic and clumsy, Your lack of coordination may lead you to have an accident, requiring extrication from the cave, and the rescue could lead to further damage. A prepared, warm and well-fed caver will be better able to move carefully and react to hazards.
Camp and travel on durable surfaces
Some impacts in caves are immediate and dramatic, like the breaking and removal of large stalactites. Others occur gradually over the years, with no perceptible change attributable to any one trip. For example, careless travel can cause a small footpath to slowly spread out and become a very large impacted area. We always create some impact, no matter how small, when we visit caves. You can minimize your impact while caving by recognizing and avoiding features that are easily impacted and by staying as much as possible in areas that have already been damaged.
It may be obvious that some areas, like a narrow crawl with soda straws dangling from the ceiling, are easily damaged. But some fragile areas are not as obvious. A flat, sandy-floored room may seem resistant to impact, but it may be prime cricket egg-laying habitat. If you do not know how to differentiate which features in a cave are easily damaged, cave with someone who does. If you are caving with beginners, be sure to teach them along the way.
Pack it in, pack it out
Trash and litter have no place in caves and can permanently alter underground environments. Discarded food crumbs, lint from clothing or even flakes of skin can affect underground nutrient for important microbial populations. While it is impossible to pack out every micro-thread or flake of skin, commit to packing out all that you bring in. As good stewards of caves, we can also carry out the litter that others have left.
Stream caves and caves that flood seasonally by running water are regularly flushed out. Still, pack out all your garbage and waste from these caves since water merely moves it to another part of the cave or to another natural environment.
Leave what you find
People come to caves to experience them in their natural state. Objects in underground environments can remain intact for centuries if undisturbed, and cave features and living populations grow slowly or are no longer growing at all. Things taken from caves are irreplaceable. We all share the responsibility to preserve caves in their natural state so that future generations can learn from and experience them.
Minimize use and impact of fires
Building fires is unacceptable in caves. Fires blacken cave walls and ceilings, increase carbon dioxide levels, and leave ashes and pieces of wood. As air moves through caves, smoke and fumes can be carried to other sections and affect cave life throughout the cave. The heat from fires can also alter the constant climate in a cave and kill biological organisms. Smoking in caves is a smaller version of building fires. Smokers leave behind ashes and toxic fumes, harming the fragile cave environment. Torches are also harmful and should not be used to provide light in caves.
The practices discussed here, based on an abiding respect for and appreciation of caves and their inhabitants, are meant to be practiced with understanding and self-discipline, and to complement an ethic and practice of cave conservation.
Cave safely! More importantly, cave responsibly.
(March 7, 2004 issue)
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