1. 1% is better than nothing; cave maps and the protection of the karst watershed joe meiman hydrogeologist, mammoth cave national park

2. Religious Truths Cavers are crazed stoners who eat their dead. Government Regulators are dull-eyed losers who could not find a real job. Farmers are gun-wielding, slack-jawed yokels. Scientists are fools; either too stupid to too lazy to be regulators or farmers.

3. so how do guys like this...

4. making stuff like this...

5. unknown to folks like this...

6. dealing with folks like this..

7. doing stuff like this...

8. on this sort of stuff...

9. deal with guys like this?

10. and turn out something like this?

11. the real question might be the ultimate value of a cave map.

12. consider the previous image...

13. in south central kentucky, perhaps the most studied karst setting in the world, with about 1,000 km of mapped cave, the precise description and location of the cave is second to its role, function, and relationship within the aquifer.

14. cave maps combined with results of hydrogeologic studies can provide conceptual models

16. try this without a map

17. although watershed delineation is the most important element in protection and conservation of water quality in the mammoth cave region, cave maps are key to several aspects of understanding the karst aquifer.

18. why things are where they are (geomorphology). overall geologic history of the karst aquifer. valuable contribution to visialization of the karst aquifer. damn cool wall hangings to amuse your friends. provides a “connectivness”, a tangible result to non-caver types.

19. how it went down at mammoth cave internationally “celebrated” since the early 1800’s. strong partnership with cavers. Cave Research Foundation –since 1957 the CRF has held monthly mapping expeditions, and have mapped over 560 km of the mammoth cave system and scores of smaller caves.

20. as crazy as it might sound, the cave mapping efforts have provided a sense of grandness to mammoth cave, resulting in public awareness and consequently, funding opportunities.

21. strong local advocacy for the “world’s longest known cave”. –citizen groups for clean water

22. over $1M spent on agricultural BMP’s. $110M green river CREP.

23. field day with regulators the rules can be changed.

25. this sort of thing happens all the time

26. so we did this...

27. but it all comes down to this...