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NSS News Letter
[This letter was written to the members of the National Speleological Society and published in the April 2004 NSS News.]
I'm pleased to announce the formation of The Karst Conservancy, a national level land trust dedicated to the conservation of karstlands. Recently formed, The Karst Conservancy will protect
important karst properties by directly acquiring them, holding conservation easements, and using other tools that permanently protect the land. Our objective is to significantly accelerate
conservation efforts in karst areas.
It's no secret that undeveloped land is becoming scarce in America. Look at the community that you grew up in and look at how it has changed over the last twenty to thirty years. I bet
that many of the woods and open fields that you used to play in as a child, the very land where you formed your first values of nature and conservation, have been converted to houses,
offices, or strip malls. According to the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), eight square miles of land is lost to development every day. That's two million acres a year! The LTA estimates that
we only have about twenty years to protect the most important properties before they are lost forever.
Karst landscapes are typically found in rural regions of the country, but urban areas are quickly encroaching on sensitive karstlands. The warning signs are flashing. Consider the recent
development pressures around Bowling Green, Kentucky and Mammoth Cave National Park. The proposed interstate and industrial parks will have significant impacts on karst in that area.
Or take Florida, for example, a state that has a long history of unrestrained and rapid development. In my hometown of Ocala, I've seen the entrances to almost twenty caves within the
city limits completely filled in and built on.
The primary issue cavers will face over the next 20 years will be the loss of caves and karst to development. Losses of karst, and associated fragmentation of large tracts of land, are
problems we cavers share with everyone who lives in these areas. Development of karst results in loss of habitat for rare and endangered species, property damage from sinkhole collapse,
and most importantly water quality degradation. In addition, the rural character of the karstlands we travel through will be changed forever.
A few of the large conservation organizations have recognized the importance of protecting karst. The Nature Conservancy holds a few important karst properties and the NSS was the first
organization to specifically target caves for protection. On the local and regional level cave conservancies have done important work. The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc., which
has done an amazing job with limited resources and funding, currently owns or manages 23 preserves on several hundred acres.
These organizations have done some impressive work, but if we are to have an impact on karst conservation we need to pick up the pace. The next time you go caving, take a minute to pause
at the entrance and look around the landscape. What you see now will be dramatically different in twenty years. If the land you are standing on is not currently protected, there is a
huge probability that it will be developed. Areas that face heavy pressure from development have significantly higher property values than rural lands, sometimes ten to twenty times
as high. As urban areas enlarge and undeveloped karst lands shrink, it will become increasingly difficult to protect these significant karst resources.
The Karst Conservancy fills a void in the land conservation movement because we are the only national level land trust specifically dedicated to preserving karst regions. We practice
private conservation by working within the private sector using free market tools to permanently preserve karstlands. We are not a true cave conservancy, though. In addition to conservation
and protection of cave entrances, the conservation of cave systems and their associated surface watersheds is vitally important to preserving the function and character of karst. The
Karst Conservancy is organized more along the lines of a traditional land trust and our mission is to permanently protect the land and its unique geological, biological, historical,
and passive recreational resources.
Cave and karst conservation has, in the past, been limited to the caving community, with access as the primary motivator. We've done some amazing things, but ultimately, there are only
so many of us. The Karst Conservancy will indeed look to the caving community for support, but will also operate outside the caving community for its general funding. It will promote
the benefits of land conservation in karst areas to municipalities, the professional public as well as the general public. The recreational caving component of karst protection will
reside in the background. The general public typically doesn't understand the need to protect individual caves. They are more concerned with drinking water, and 25% of the population
gets its drinking water from karst aquifers. That's currently 73 million people with a stake in what we do.
Historically, land trusts have demonstrated that the most important step in their development was the hiring of permanent staff. Our main focus this first year is to develop a professional
staff that can work fulltime on fundraising and land protection programs. Once we move from an all volunteer organization to a professionally run organization, I think we can grow geometrically.
This first step will take a tremendous amount of planning and fundraising. Land protection projects will have to be slowly implemented the first year, but it's essential to the success
of our ambitious mission.
I'm very excited and optimistic about the future of The Karst Conservancy and I think there is a positive future for our karst landscapes. I hope that you are excited as well. Please
visit our web site at www.karstconservancy.org to learn more about us, and while you are there, please sign up for our mailing list. We'll keep you informed of our progress and tell
you about activities in your area and ways to help. Don't forget to tell your friends and family about us because everyone can benefit from the conservation of karst areas.
Bill Walker
President
The Karst Conservancy
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