2025 Cave & Mine Adoption & Clean-Up List! You could win upto £500! with Gear and a Trophy!

[Space Doubt Caver]

Looking at the website and form, there only appears to be a way to enter a cave name and tick a box for the cleanliness status. Eg clean, graffiti, rubbish.

There appears to be no place to add a free text description (eg "new graffiti found on south side of main chamber"), or to upload a photograph.

There is also no way to record the severity of the problem. Eg. A pop bottle floating between the Rowten sumps (as I found and removed at the weekend) would be recorded the same as someone emptying the back of their tipper transit into the cave entrance.

I have found the whole "is it on the list or not on the list" thing totally confusing, as the list is nowhere nearby. If you're working on updating the website, a drop-down selection for region, then a drop-down selection for caves within that region (with an option of "other") would make this much more intuitive. Subdividing regions into areas would make it a lot easier to use once you've got a sensible number of sites listed, so it would definitely be worth adding that too.

On this point, I would speculate that you can import cave names from the various regional bodies, rather than manually adding sites one at a time in what appears to be a totally arbitrary manner at present.

If the reporting system was a bit more user-friendly and the lists more complete, people would perhaps be more tempted to submit data. Hopefully your website update will address this.

Hey Pete.

Thank you for this feedback, will take this onboard and look into implementing some of the features you have mentioned above, As I agree with the great points you have made.

Thank You
SDC

 

[kay]

How does the adoption scheme on the website relate to the adopt-a-cave scheme run by Descent? Is it intended to supersede it?

 

[Chris Scaife]

The Descent Adopt-a-Cave scheme is still run by Descent and has not been superseded, but we are always keen to promote conservation so have given Steph our blessing to incorporate our list into hers.

 

[Big Underground Clean-Up]

How does the adoption scheme on the website relate to the adopt-a-cave scheme run by Descent? Is it intended to supersede it?

Hey Kay,

Our project is different to the Adopt-A-Cave list, we incorporate their list to compliment the Adopt-A-Cave list by Descent, Descent will be able to update their list with all the new additions we are bringing to the list, we intend to incentivise actions in conservation, the Adopt A Cave list is mainly exclusive to caves, we are also bringing mines to the list, as some don't go caving, some just go mine exploring, there are many beautiful mines too, so including them makes sense.

The Big Underground Clean-Up is more of a collective collaboration network, coming together to bring prizes for efforts in conservation, people who adopt caves or mines, or take part in cleaning activities underground should be recognized for their efforts.

This project is so that we can actively track locations environmental conditions, and take action where it is most required.

UK-Caving is sponsoring the FIRST PLACE PRIZE
For the INDIVIDUALS CATEGORY!
which is: A FULL SRT KIT!
Worth a Whopping £590
___________________________________________
Action Stash is Sponsoring this event.

the prizes which are:
A Couple of Amazing Rope Bags!
__________________________________________________

​

Objectives:

1. Adopt locations, participate in cleanup activities, or report their condition.
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   How To Participate!​

4 Main Ways To Participate:

1. Report Condition Only: Participants who do not wish to engage in cleaning activities or adopt a location can still contribute by filling out the form to report the location's condition. This action earns 5 competition points per entry.
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2. Report & Adopt: When a location does not require cleaning but needs adoption, participants should report it using the form. Adopting such locations earns 10 competition points per entry.
   ​
3. Report & Clean: Participants who wish to engage in cleaning activities without adopting the location should fill out the form to report the condition and details of the cleanup (e.g., rubbish, spray paint). This action earns 20 competition points per entry.
   ​
4. Adopt & Clean: Participants who adopt a location and engage in cleanup activities should fill out the form to report the condition and details of their efforts (e.g., rubbish, spray paint). This action earns 30 competition points per entry.​

Participation Flexibility:

• Participants can choose their level of involvement.​
• Locations reported but not adopted or cleaned will be listed publicly for others to take on.​

Reporting Benefits:

• Helps keep records updated for BCA etc...​
• Helps identify locations needing larger cleanups.​
• You could win big!​

When you report the condition of the location, you are saying "I CARE ABOUT CAVES AND MINES" The benefits of this will give us the chance to have updated records of the condition of the location, and we will be sharing this with the BCA, DCA, CNCC, CSCC, etc... so they can update their records too, and also undertake and possibly fund bigger cleanups.

 

[PeteHall]

As I've said before, a comprehensive list of sites and the ability to record a bit more detail would be a great benefit to this scheme.

In fact, I'll go further. A comprehensive list of sites and the ability to record specific details is essential to the success of this initiative.

The fact that 5 months in, there still isn't any visible progress on getting any of the major caving regions represented would give me cause for serious concern if I was one of your generous sponsors.

Surely this basic stuff should have been sorted before launching the scheme?

How is it even possible that nobody involved realised that pretty well every major caving region was missing?

It's a nice idea, but right now the whole thing seems like a total clusterf*ck if you ask me.

 

[Space Doubt Caver]

As I've said before, a comprehensive list of sites and the ability to record a bit more detail would be a great benefit to this scheme.

In fact, I'll go further. A comprehensive list of sites and the ability to record specific details is essential to the success of this initiative.

The fact that 5 months in, there still isn't any visible progress on getting any of the major caving regions represented would give me cause for serious concern if I was one of your generous sponsors.

Surely this basic stuff should have been sorted before launching the scheme?

How is it even possible that nobody involved realised that pretty well every major caving region was missing?

It's a nice idea, but right now the whole thing seems like a total clusterf*ck if you ask me.

I appreciate you think it is simple, in fact, we have to obtain landowers permissions, working on the backend, by oneself, and juggling work has is complexities, but then again you cannot see the work being done on the backend, but will see many great updates and features coming to the project,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, you are entitled to your opinion.

 

[hannahb]

I appreciate you think it is simple, in fact, we have to obtain landowers permissions, working on the backend, by oneself, and juggling work has is complexities, but then again you cannot see the work being done on the backend, but will see many great updates and features coming to the project,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, you are entitled to your opinion.

Curious why you have to obtain landowner permission? Is that for all sites?

 

[Space Doubt Caver]

Curious why you have to obtain landowner permission? Is that for all sites?

Mainly sites that are not on public access land (privately owned land), with mines, this is much more common.

The reason we have to obtain permission from landowners is, some locations are on private land, it brings questions to liability, access permissions ect, so with this permission has to be sought to publish the location, some landowners won't allow access to certain places and do not want it public in any way so there are obstacles to overcome, but with hard work and commitment we aim to make sure we have a very comprehensive list that is as up-to-date and accurate as can be.