The vast majority of karst properties in Indiana are on private land. For continued access to these properties, it is essential that cavers maintain a level of trust and goodwill with these cave owners. The owners do not have to allow access to their resources and it's very important that we let them know how much we appreciate their tolerance. Many of the activities of the IKC are related to this objective.

These images depict two workdays that the IKC has held to assist cave landowners. The owner of the first cave, located in Orange County, was allowing visitation; but traffic over her fence to get to the cave was causing damage. The photo shows an IKC workday at her property to both repair the fence and install a stile at our own expense so the problem would not recur.

The owner of the property at left was very cooperative with cavers during the 1992 NSS Convention in Salem, Indiana -- allowing a number of trips to visit two pits on his land, one of them nicely decorated. Unfortunately, a few cavers tracked mud on pristine formations in this pit. The IKC held another workday to clean up the formations and install fencing around the pits to alleviate fears that his cattle would wander into them. In this case, the landowner and his son supplied the materials and a great deal of assistance.

These workdays are typical of the occasional activities that the IKC engages in to help balance karst protection with the interests of cavers and landowners.