Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 16, 1993 TAG: 9310150330
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
One was about 20 feet tall, the other 10, formed over thousands of years, when iciclelike stalactites hanging from the cave's ceiling met pillar-like stalagmites rising from the floor.
McConnell was so impressed that he set up a self-timing camera and took pictures of himself and the columns .
``I still have photographs of both of them. One shows me hugging a column.''
Photographs and memories are all that is left.
``I would say six months after I took the picture, the columns were gone. I mean they no longer exist. Nothing of them exists. There isn't so much as a stump left.''
Someone beat the columns apart. For fun? For souvenirs?
McConnell still speaks about it as if it were the death of two friends.
Vandalism to caves is a major environmental problem, something that cave lovers and state officials are attempting to deal with through education and regulation, and sometimes even iron gates that lock off the entrance to caves.
Progress is being made in behalf of cave conservation, but major problems remain, said Larry Smith, of the Division of Natural Heritage. His is the state agency that works with the Virginia Cave Board, a 11-member body appointed by the governor to watch out for the welfare of caves.
Last week, Smith was working with a group of cavers in Tazewell County who had recommended that a popular Southwest Virginia cave be gated because vandalism had intensified this summer.
``You can't gate all of these caves, it is too expensive to do it,'' Smith said.
Virginia has some 3,000 caves, most of them on private property. Ten percent are classified as having major biological or historical significance.
In Virginia, it is unlawful to write or mark on cave walls; litter, break or remove formations; disturb bats and other living organisms; or disturb or remove historic or prehistoric artifacts or bones. But that doesn't mean it isn't done.
All too typical was the damage to Goodwin Cave, located in the Roanoke Valley.
Vandals used spray paint to cover the walls with graffiti, built fires that tarnished the sensitive environment and left behind heaps of trash from their parties.
``That cave was so trashed that it stank,'' said David Socky of Roanoke, a leader in the Blue Ridge Grotto, the local chapter of the National Speleological Society. ``There was no cave life left in there, the result of all the fires. It was covered with graffiti. It almost was destroyed.''
After access was restricted, Blue Ridge members moved in and scrubbed the walls and packed out the trash. Before long, the cave bats returned. What couldn't be restored were the broken formations.
``When you break a formation, nobody will ever see it again, except maybe in the year 5000,'' said Socky.
Above ground, the Blue Ridge Grotto keeps a low profile in an effort not to draw undue attention to caves. A modest handout that outlines the club's philosophies and procedures says: ``Blue Ridge Grotto is not a clearing house for directions to caves - Don't even ask.''
If you want maps or other information, you get them only by becoming involved in projects designed to promote cave conservation, preservation and safety.
Cavers like Socky, and Leonard McGann, the grotto chairman, are concerned about something called the ``vandalism chain.''
That occurs when an experienced caver leads a group of novices into a cave. One of the novices decides he knows enough to lead his own trip, so he organizes an expedition of friends. Lacking an understanding of the fragile nature of a cave, the untrained crew may destroy its beauty by leaving behind trash or building fires or painting the walls or smashing formations. Sometimes they even erode hard-earned landowner relationships.
The damage caused by spray paint and broken formations is readily visible. More subtile is the destruction of the habitat of cave creatures, such as bats and bugs and aquatic organisms, said Smith.
``If you bring in wood or litter or any other material that is not part of that natural environment, you can disturb the food chain and water quality and lead to the elimination of the indigenous, very rare, threatened organisms,'' he said.
Dan McConnell, who leads caving trips as part of the Roanoke Parks and Recreation Department program, believes education is the key. If you go caving with him you are certain to hear a lecture before you enter a cave.
``I think we are seeing a definite impact on vandalism from the education efforts. The more people are made aware of the damage that they do to a cave and how it is almost irreversible, then the more they tend to keep their hands to themselves.''
Even conscientious cavers need to know that formations can be damaged simply by touching them or allowing candle wax to drip on them, he said.
``The floor of Tawny's Cave [in the New River Valley] is just littlered with little pockets of white fungus from peoples' candles,'' McConnell said.
There are different schools of thought even among National Speleological Society members on how best to protect caves. Denying public access isn't the answer, believes McConnell.
``My personal philosophy is, the more people we can educate about caves the less problem we are going to have with vandalism,'' said McConnell.
He soon expects to find himself on the other side of the fence, as a cave owner. McConnell is in the process of buying Murder Hole, a Botetourt County cave.
``I am definitely going to put restrictions on it, but it is going to be more accessible than it used to be,'' he said.
by CNB