From Caveman to Cave Protector: The Quest for Responsible Cave Protection Legislation

摘要

Editors' Summary: Caves and their valuable repositories of ecological, geological, and archaeological data are at risk from human activities such as tourism and vandalism. Structures that took millions of years to form may be destroyed in seconds by careless or malicious visitors, and delicate cave-dwelling species such as bats are vulnerable to human disturbances. In this Article, Henry L. Welch examines the statutory protections that currently exist for protecting the structures and ecosystems of caves at both the federal and state level, as well as the appropriateness of these protections given the special nature of caves as a resource. He then provides a comprehensive model cave protection statute that balances the diverse and sometimes conflicting desires of cave owners, visitors, scientists, and conservationists.