Additional Operations

Some CRF projects are not specific to any single operations area. These include:

Educational Outreach Program

Caves are a fragile and complex resource. CRF wants to educate today's kids so they are aware of how caves are formed, their importance to humans, how to preserve them, and how to enter them safely. The primary vehicle for this educational program is support for the CaveSim Project that uses a portable simulated cave to provide school-age kids with an immersive "caving" experience that teaches them about caves and cave science in a fun, hands-on way.

USGS National Spacial Data Infrastructure Project

In 1996, a grant was awarded to CRF by the U.S. Geolgoical Survey for the development of tools that contribute to the USGS National Spacial Data Infrastructure. CRF, in cooperation with Mammoth Cave National Park, The American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA), and Kentucky's Barren River Area Development District (BRADD), have developed and proposed a minimal content standard for the collection of cave survey data on federal lands.

China/USA Caves Project and Exchange

This project promotes the joint exploration, mapping and research of the caves and karst of China and the U.S. The sponsoring entity from China is Guizhou Normal University. Project activities have been focusing on the caves and karst of Guizhou Province. In return for sponsoring CRF/NSS cavers in China, CRF and the NSS sponsor and host 3 to 5 Chinese researchers to the NSS convention. Project trips run every other year with the exchange taking place during intervening years.

GIS Resource Development Program

Project Directors: Aaron Addison & Bernard Szukalski

In 1997, recognizing that GIS technology was rapidly becoming one of the most effective approaches to cave and karst resource management, the Cave Research Foundation established a GIS Resource Development Program. The goal of the program is to assist CRF personnel, federal agency staff, and other researchers access and utilize spatial data, GIS applications, and other software tools for the purpose of cave and karst resource management. A longer-term goal is to use GIS to develop a collective knowledge and support base for cave conservation, protection and management.

Educational Resource Development Program

The purpose of this program is to make information about cave and karst resources more widely available through the development of audiovisual and multimedia educational materials, utilizing digital video, digital still and computer graphics and animation packages are available to create presentations that can be rendered in standard digital formats.

The program has two primary goals:

1. The development and dissemination of educational resources (primarily multimedia and audiovisual)
2. The provision of assistance to federal agencies who want to create interpretive exhibits and displays for the general public

Projects are currently being developed.

Galapagos Project

Project Coordinators: Aaron Addison and Elizabeth Winkler

This project's objectives include, but are not limited to, Exploration, documentation and mapping, biological and paleontological inventory and monitoring and partner education. Cooperating partners include the Parque Nacional Galápagos (PNG) , Universidad de Especialidades Turísticas, Ecuador (UDET), California Academy of Sciences, National Speleological Society (NSS),and the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF)