If anyone cares, these are my views. And my original, unedited, article about conservation.
Unterstein: A Conservation Story
Pristine mud flowstone floors. Beauty in crazy formations. Delicate crystals. Pearls. Coming up out of that drop Troy said to us, "We have a huge conservation problem on our hands." How right he was.
We went about Unterstein the way of Blue Spring Cave, and of many British caves, creating paths where necessary to maintain as much unmarred beauty as possible. The plan was also to show people the cave before putting coordinates into the Alabama Cave Survey database, who could then take others, and let the routes for safety and conservation slowly spread.
This is a case study of how our method worked in TAG. Because the cave was virgin, looking at it within a few months of traffic (61 visitors, according to the logbook) provides an interesting look on the impact that cavers can have.
Conservation is more than just not breaking formations, not spray-painting, and not treating open air pits and sinkholes as trash dumps. It's the little things too, because the little things add up.
Within the first three months of people outside of our project group going to Unterstein, people pulled out gloves, hair ties, watches, food wrappers, and broken flash bulbs. While it is sad that trash gets left behind, this does give us good news?cavers police ourselves; we pick up after each other where something is lost or forgotten. So while it is disheartening to see trash so quickly in such a new cave, it is being taken out, so the overall trash impact is low. However, this is a good reminder to be extra observant of ourselves and other members in our cave party and keep track of items we bring into the cave.
As for formations, within the first five months, two pools of pearls are now so full of mud one cannot see them. And the pristine mud flow floor, clearly marked off by tape, was walked out across, and then back, obviously ignoring the path. Unlike bits of trash, these things cannot be fixed. They are forever damaged.
In the end, despite our best attempts, there is still accidental damage, and even blatant damage. In the release article for Unterstein we wrote that we assumed the competent vertical caver who would visit Unterstein would also be conservation minded. But all it takes is one person to walk across the pristine floors. All it takes is one person to not watch their step with muddy boots. All it takes?
All it takes is every single one of us being dutiful in our respect to these amazing environments we have the privilege of visiting in our short time on this earth, a mere microsecond in the geological time scale of these amazing caves.
We cannot conserve what we cannot preserve. We cannot preserve what we cannot protect. We cannot protect what we do not know exists. And Unterstein will be protected from the construction we mentioned in the release article, our data was well received and appropriate alterations made in the construction plans. Had we never found Unterstein, it may well have been lost to the ages of man in totality. So, we?ll strive to keep exploring, in spite of a careless handful, so that we may protect, preserve, and conserve for generations to come.