Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
continued toward the
T, while the T team
kept working. The
third team worked in
the areas adjacent to
and in the Cushing
Room. Richard Blenz
Nature Conservancy
President Anmar
Mirza and others
created a section of
scaffolding in the
Cushing Room,
which was very
useful. At the earliest
stage of the project,
all equipment and
gear was stowed away
securely, but as the
project proceeded, approval was given by the eboard
to leave the air, power, and phone lines set
up inside the cave, which expedited equipment
set up and stowage time needed for each project
workday, which were held monthly.
From May to November 2006, workdays
were held on both Saturday and Sunday in order
to maximize the time spent while equipment
was set up and volunteers were available, and
also in hopes of encouraging weekend-long
activity by cavers who had to travel a long
distance to participate. During the winter
months, which typically hold less appeal for
camping in Indiana, efforts were scaled back to
a single workday per month, held on a Saturday.
The work weekends resumed in March 2007,
and plans are to continue that pattern into the
summer months.
It has been somewhat difficult for the
Project Coordinator to be objective about the
project results. At first it seemed to be going very
slowly, and at times manpower was minimal.
However, after looking at some photographs
taken prior to much graffiti removal, it was a
pleasant surprise to realize that a lot of graffiti
had been removed in certain parts of the cave,
which was very encouraging. Another big
boost was to see one of the main walls of the
Cushing Room come clean. It was formerly
268
The graffiti-covered wall after the work crews have passed.
Photo by Brian Killingbeck.
a particularly offensive area, and it was an
extremely good feeling to see that change take
place. It was absolutely astounding to imagine
how in the world some of the offenders armed
with spray paint were able to reach the spots
they did in order to leave their mark. Even
creating human pyramids doesn’t seem to be a
plausible explanation for it. It’s a wonder that
necks and other bones weren’t broken in order
to leave certain graffiti.
In the fall of 2006, the Project Coordinator
got a verbal commitment from equipment
manager Ray Keeler to continue to use the
equipment beyond the initially-established
one-year time frame, although it wasn’t
discussed exactly how much longer. Once that
commitment was made, efforts were started
to open a hole large enough to permit air and
power lines to be run into the cave through the
former Domicile Pit entrance, which would
allow graffiti removal in the Volcano Passage.
That area is well beyond the reach of air lines
where the compressor is currently set up at the
main entrance. On the September 30 workday,
a 5-inch diameter hole was dug 20 feet deep
by Sam Frushour and Bill Baus, using hand
augering equipment donated for use on that
day by the Indiana Geological Survey. The hole
was afterward protected with a length of PVC