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Sarah Furnace Cave Management Plan

The Management Plan for this preserve was adopted by the MAKC Board on November 16, 2019. The board approved Version 2 on August 9, 2025. MAKC’s board will review this plan at least every two years, and will publish updates and amendments on its website and in its printed newsletter.After reading this plan carefully, cavers interested in visiting the preserve should fill  out the free permit available at this link.

INTRODUCTION

The Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy (MAKC), a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania, purchased 20 acres surrounding and containing Sarah Furnace Cave in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, on July 1st, 2019.

HISTORY

Paul Damon, Sr., in “Historical Notes on the Caves of Southwestern Pennsylvania,” stated that the cave “was actually a cave-mine. Sarah Furnace was one of the later iron furnaces west of the Allegheny Mountains and the cave was interlaced with ore, limestone and coal, making all three ingredients of iron present in one cave environment. Cave passages and mine passages are intertwined.” (The Loyalhanna Troglodyte, Special 1995 Bonus Issue, pages 1-4.)

Tom Metzgar writes that “this mining activity occurred about the middle of the 1800s. A Guide to the Old Stone Blast Furnaces in Western Pennsylvania, by M.B. Sharp and W.H. Thomas (Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pa., 1966) states that Sarah Furnace operated from 1860 to 1867. Nearby Catfish Furnace was in blast from 1846 to about 1856.

Regardless of the age of the ore mines, the cave also exhibits the effects of the mid-twentieth century strip mining of the closely overlying Kittanning Coal. (The Netherworld News, March-April 1987, Number 2, pages 13-15.)

An 1894 article appeared in the local newspaper, The East Brady Review. Bert Ashbrook and Tom Metzgar continue to compile additional cave and mine history information.

Some grotto newsletter writers use the place name “Porter’s Cave” in reference to Sarah Furnace, although the “Porter Brothers” never owned the property overlying the cave. The four Porter Brothers came from Butler County, Pennsylvania. Edward James Porter (1886-1963), Lewis Glenn Porter (1880-1953), and Ernest F. Porter 1879-1960) and William A. Porter (1875-1942) were gas and oil well tenders who lived at various times in a house that they rented from the Aquilina and Landi families who owned the property. The last of the Porter Brothers, Edward James Porter, died in the house on April 1st 1963. (Simpson’s Leader-Times, Kittanning PA. Monday 08 April 1963, v.75, n.83, p.2, col. 6). Owner Mary Landi subsequently was unable to entice renters to her remote location. The unoccupied house and its appurtenant outbuildings eventually collapsed into their tumbled-down stone foundations which remain visible today near the southwest corner of MAKC’s cave preserve.

DESCRIPTION

This trip report by Bob Frank provides a good basic description of the cave:

“It is located on a small bench about 50 yards below an abandoned strip mine and is in the Vanport limestone. … The main opening is in the sandstone above the limestone layer, which is from 10 to 15 feet thick in this area. The opening is about 4 feet high and 5 feet wide. About 10 feet inside there is a pool of water about 8 inches deep and 10 feet long. At one time iron ore, in the form of siderite or iron carbonate, locally referred to as Buhrstone ore, was mined from the cave for the furnace nearby.

“After crossing the water there is a crawlway going straight in and an expanded passage going off to the right, part of the former mined area.

“In this passage are sandstone walls which were probably built by the miners as a way to remove unwanted stone. After going about 40 feet in this passage we took a crawlway to the left that ran about 75 feet and joined another mined out passage. It appears that the mined areas follow the original cave passages. There are a few wooden mine props still standing.

“As there are cross passages about every 8 feet and it was impossible to check them all in the amount of time we had, it was decided to stay in the larger ones. … We found that some of the cave to the side of the mountain had surface roots growing through their roofs. But no openings.” (“Trip Report: April 30, 1983,” The Quarterly Journal of the Jefferson County Cave Survey, Volume 1, Number 2, Summer 1983, Pages 30-32.)

Place names include the Bat Room, the Porcupine Room, the Orange Room, the Black and White Flowstone Room and the Dragon Helictite. (NWPCS Journal, Volume 2, Number 2, April 1985, Page 30.)

On a scientific study trip, “slight air flow was noticeable and the temperature was 48 F.” (NWPCS Journal, Volume 1, Number 2, March 1984, Pages 47-48.)

In 1983 Ed and Robert Frank talked to a man working on a drilling rig near the cave entrance. Robert Frank wrote that “the driller informed us that they were cleaning an old well that had been drilled some time ago. He said they had dropped through a large cavern about 9 feet high at 97 feet below the surface and encountered a strong air flow. He told us that by using mirrors they were able to look down the drill hole and see a fairly large room.” (“Trip Report —September 12, 1983, NWPCS Journal, Volume 1, Number 1, January 1984, page 6.)

Efforts were then made to find the drill hole from inside the cave. … [It was never found.}

“Going west along this final passage we crawled over a pile of mine debris into a small room. This room was bright orange in color with flowstone cascading down one wall into a series of rimstone dams and leading to a pool of water. All were bright orange as was the mud at the bottom of the water pool. The walls were speckled with orange starbursts of the mineral too. The color is most likely from FE (OH)3 a product of acid mine drainage.” (“Trip Report: September 13, 1983,” NWPCS Journal, Volume 1, Number 1, January, 1984, page 7.)

MAPPING

Ed Frank began a survey of May 16, 1983, noting that “on a preliminary exploration trip the month before I was greatly impressed by the cave. First the cave is easily two miles in length, and will probably be the longest cave in Pennsylvania when the survey is complete.” (“Trip Report: May 16, 1983,” The Quarterly Journal of the Jefferson County Cave Survey, Summer 1983, Volume 1, Number 2, Pages 33-34.)

Phil Fawley and Ken Long mapped Harlansburg Cave to 21,802 feet, but only mapped the south side of the road, not the north side passages. (“Harlansburg Cave: The Longest Cave in Pennsylvania,” Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, December 1997, pages 106-111). In a table (“Caves of the Vanport Limestone,” NWPCS Journal, Volume 1, Number 6, October-December 1984, pages 141-143.), Ed Frank notes that Sarah Furnace is the fourth longest cave in the Vanport limestone, following Harlansburg, Hindman (5,000) and Brady’s Bend (4,173). Frank’s survey put the cave at 2,790 feet (December 1984).

Jay Reich, a prolific York Grotto caver, began a map in 1994. Reich completed just a few hundred feet of survey before other large cave mapping projects diverted his expertise. A copy of Reich’s partial map appears on page 108 of The Caves of Pennsylvania: A Guidebook to the 2013 NSS Convention, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania (Edited by Kimberley A. Opatka-Metzgar and Thomas J. Metzgar, published by the National Speleological Society).

In March of 2019, the MAKC, led by cartographers Bert Ashbrook and Chris Hill, began a mapping project, prior to MAKC’s acquisition, with permission from James Kapp, the previous owner. By October of 2019, a mile of survey had elevated the cave’s length among the top 12 in Pennsylvania. The survey project persevered for the next six years. The tenacious survey teams finally ran out of enterable cave passage in the spring of 2025. The last survey project trip was made on February 2, 2025. The project resulted in the cave reaching a total length of 10.08 miles of surveyed passage. At the time of this Management Plan, the cave is the longest mapped cave in Pennsylvania and the longest in the northeast. It is the 86th longest cave in the United States and the 377th longest cave in the world. It has the highest density of passage development of any cave on the planet. The survey of the cave was completed with the volunteer contribution of 160 individuals who provided 1,115 person trips.

GEOLOGY

Ed Frank writes that “most of the significant caves in northwestern Pennsylvania are developed in the Vanport Limestone. The Vanport is a gray, fossiliferous, marine limestone ranging from 0 to 25 feet thick in the northwestern Pennsylvania area. Information regarding these caves has been published sporadically in widely scattered publications. (“Caves of the Vanport Limestone,” NWPCS Journal, Volume 1, Number 6, October-December 1984, pages 141-143.)

William B. White and James R. Fisher described the cave’s geology thus: “The main trend of the passages is north-east south-west and very nearly parallels the strike. Passages are similar to other Vanport caves in that they are from 2 to 5 feet wide and from 2 to 6 feet high. The cave is of special interest in that iron ore, locally called buhrstone ore, was mined from the cave in colonial times…. The principal portion of the true cave consists of a network of passages being 7 or 8 feet. The extent of this cave is still unknown and it is possible to crawl for several hours without crossing one’s path. There are three distinct sections of cave which may or may not be separated by mine. The fill consists of hard packed clay which in some places becomes mud…..” (“Cavern Development in the Vanport Limestone,” The Netherworld News, February, 1958, Volume 6, Number 2, Pages 32-39.) (Porter’s Cave (Sarah Furnace) MAR Bulletin 5, Pittsburgh Grotto files); (Come Crawl Into the Caves of Western Pennsylvania, Netherworld News, August 1969, Volume 17, Number 4, Pages 161-162, 163).

Additional descriptions of the geology are provided by Chris Hill in MAKC Monograph #1. Hill notes that the “cave lies on the axis of the southwest terminus of the westward plunging Rimersburg anticline… a mile and a quarter south of the axis of the Sligo syncline and only a mile and a half north of the Bradys Bend syncline.” The location of the cave on this structure provides an apparent flat lying occurrence of the Vanport for cavern development. Hill notes the lack of vadose features and the abundant features indicating development at or below the water table. The Monograph also describes additional cave features, cave fills, passage dimensions and orientations, minerology, speleogenesis, and development of other Vanport caves in northwestern Pennsylvania. (“Karst Development in Northwestern Pennsylvania” Monograph #1 Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy, 2021).

BIOLOGY

A preliminary faunal list of the cave was published by Ed Frank on May 10, 1984.

“Abstract: Casual observations … have shown that the cave is frequented by porcupines, raccoons, Little Brown Bats, and Eastern Pipistrelle Bats. Invertebrates observed include spiders, harvestmen, pseudoscorpions, millipedes, springtails, flies, gnats, mosquitoes, moths, and beetle larva.

Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to provide a listing of animals or animal signs observed during the past year by members of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Cave Survey. As of May, 1984 that group had been exploring, mapping, and studying … the cave, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, for approximately one year.”

One major ongoing study by Robert H. Frank examined the usage of the cave by bats during the winter.

Frank noted that “there is no active stream in the cave. This greatly restricts food influx into and through the cave’s ecosystem. Major food sources that are present include: scat left by mammals visiting the cave; debris washed into the cave through openings to the surface; and tree roots reaching shallow portions of the cave from the surface.

“Many animals found in the cave are not dependent on these in the cave food sources. These animals include: Those that only occasionally visit the cave such as raccoons; those which leave the cave to food such as crickets; and those which only use the cave part of the year such as hibernating bats in the winter.”

Frank noted the presence of Porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum); Raccoons (Procyon lotor); Little Brown Bats (Myotis lucifugus); Eastern Pipistrelle Bats (Pipistrellus subflavus) [now known as Tri-Colored Bats (Perimyotis subflavus)], Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians: Arthropods: Spiders (order Araneae); Harvestmen (order Phalangida); Pseudoscorpions (order Pseudoscorpionida); Millipedes (order Diplopeda); Beetles (order Coleoptera); Springtails (order Collembola); Crickets (Ceuthophilus stygius) Flies (order Diptera); Mosquitoes (order Diptera); Moths (order Lepidoptera).

MAKC camera, track, and scat monitoring in the cave’s entrance shows a variety of fauna there, including deer (Odocolieus virginianus); black bear (Ursus americanus); porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum); raccoon (Procyon lotor); fisher (Martes pennanti); red fox (Vulpes vulpes); coyote (Canis latrans); turkey vulture (Cathartes aura); eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis); and groundhog (Marmota monax). Porcupines, raccoons and fishers venture further than the twilight zone beyond the surface entrance area.

The MAKC will continue work to document all cave fauna.

BATS AND WHITE NOSE SYNDROME

In 2007, a disease nicknamed White Nose Syndrome, caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd, occurred in Albany, New York. It quickly spread through the northeastern United States. “Pd grows in cold, dark and damp places. It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating in a relatively inactive state. As it grows, Pd causes changes in bats that make them become active more than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. Bats with white-nose syndrome may do strange things like fly outside in the daytime in the winter,” according to the website https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org.

This disease eventually occurred in the cave on MAKC’s Barbara Schomer Preserve although the cave had been closed to visitation by a Mary Landi prior to 2007.

Prior to 2007, the Pennsylvania Game Commission documented the presence of two bat species in the cave, supporting  earlier observations. Those species, noted on the usgs.gov website (accessed October 14, 2018) were documented in the cave: Perimyotis subflavus and Myotis lucifugus. During the survey project numerous sightings of bats were documented but in all cases were of individual bats. The majority of these sightings were during the winter hibernation months, usually from October to March.

The MAKC will continue to study the cave in order to document bat species, populations, and behaviors. Due to our mission of the study, exploration and conservation of caves and karst resources, the MAKC also has a responsibility to our membership. Accordingly, on November 16, 2019, when MAKC’s Board of Directors adopted the original version of this management plan, they included the National Speleological Society White Nose Syndrome Policy. The Policy was approved by the NSS Board of Governors on April 17, 2010.

In part, the NSS policy reads:

“The NSS recognizes the serious nature of white-nose syndrome (WNS) and its devastating effect on bat populations in the eastern United States. The Society is committed to advancing scientific knowledge of WNS, helping to determine its cause, and limiting its impact on cave organisms. At the same time, the NSS will promote responsible study, management, and access to cave resources based on demonstrated risks and the latest available data. The NSS has a responsibility to its current members and cavers of tomorrow to do what it can to ensure that any restrictions on cave access are based on demonstrated threats, sound evidence, and recognition that risks are site- and strategy-specific.”

The entire policy is at this weblink.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY

The presence of mining relics in the cave have been described as dating from the mid-19th century. Disc-shaped fossils of crinoids partially embedded in the walls of the passageways, and the backbone of a vertebrate were among the fossils described in the cave by J. Hummer on a trip report. (NWPCS Journal, Volume 2, Number 2, April 1985, Page 30.) Further studies are needed in this area.

Additional investigations and photographic documentation of the “vertebrate backbone” led to evaluation by Ray Garton as a crinoid without genus or species identification.

Cave surveyors documented numerous iron ore mining artifacts from the 1860s, as well as photographing features that illustrate 19th century mining techniques.

MINERALOGY

William B. White reported anthodites, gypsum formations, and aragonite (“Wampum Mine & Porters Cave. April 5, 1958,” The Netherworld News, April, 1958, Volume 6, Number 4, pages 86-87.)

The colors found in the cave’s formations were described thusly: “One large stalagmite was jet black in color and topped by pure white flowstone, like syrup on an ice cream sundae. Small stalactites, helictites and anthodites were present in the cave as well.” (“Trip Report: May 16, 1983,” The Quarterly Journal of the Jefferson County Cave Survey, Summer 1983, Volume 1, Number 2, Pages 33-34.)

RESEARCH

The MAKC encourages research to explore the preserve’s historical, biological, geological, mineralogical, hydrological, paleontological and archaeological potential. Researchers who desire access to the preserve must complete a science permit application available at this link. The MAKC Science Committee will review the permit application and make a recommendation to the MAKC Board for its approval. The Board meets quarterly in November, February, May and August, so researchers should allot the appropriate amount of time for consideration prior to applying.

Researchers are required to submit a preliminary report documenting initial findings, data, and project progress no later than 30 days after access to preserve. A final report is required within one year of completion of project. A schedule of reports for longer-term projects can be established if necessary. The owners reserve the right to comment upon published papers which might reveal sensitive information, and specifically prohibit publishing reports on the internet without their approval. Any reference to the cave’s location must be approved by the MAKC prior to publication (see publication policy below).

PRESERVE MANAGEMENT TEAM

The MAKC board designates a preserve management team to oversee the property. The board will determine the size of this team. Recognizing the complexity and the large sizes of both the property and the cave, one team member shall be named as the Barbara Schomer Preserve Manager, and another as the Barbara Schomer Preserve Assistant Manager.

NEWS/PUBLICATION POLICY

The Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy, Inc., seeks to publicize caves only as befits our mission as stated in our bylaws and constitution: for education of the public about caves and karst resources; for published scientific studies in cave-related publications, and, depending on the sensitivity of the material, on the world wide web.

Specific cave location information will not be released to the general public, such as directions to the cave and maps of the cave. Persons unfamiliar with cave exploration should contact MAKC for information about local caving clubs (called grottos) in order to learn about caving in a controlled manner with proper equipment and experienced leaders. Grottos do not charge fees for exploration.

MAKC will furnish the Barbara Schomer Preserve’s address to group leaders of approved permit applications. Group Leaders should be MAKC members.

The MAKC can use the cave name in publicizing acquisitions and in its newsletter and other caving publications, such as the NSS News and local grotto newsletters. The management plan will be available for publication in these mediums. Redacted and edited management plan versions can be published on the world wide web.

Specific requests for publicity concerning the cave/cave preserve that are not covered under this policy must be approved by the MAKC Board of Directors.

OTHER CAVES ON THE PROPERTY

On March 22, 1969, Bruce Kirchner and John Hempel visited the cave. Hempel noted the discovery of Peter’s Disappointment Cave/Mine. This was a collapsed iron ore mine portal that once led into Sarah Furnace. It is located near MAKC’s southwestern boundary line.

SURFACE MANAGEMENT

  • Fike Associates, Inc. of Clarion, Pennsylvania surveyed MAKC’s property and installed steel corner and line pins. MAKC encased these pins in concrete and piled stones around them so that Barbara Schomer Preserve managers can easily located them. Preserve managers maintain detailed surface maps in MAKC’s archives.
  • Trees along the boundaries of MAKC’s Barbara Schomer Preserve are marked with purple paint blazes, a widely-known and commonly-accepted method that notifies trespassers of private property, codified in Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 18, Section 3503. Criminal Trespass. Barbara Schomer Preserve managers will periodically inspect and refresh MAKC’s boundary lines and property corner markers.
  • MAKC installed sturdy steel posts and gates at the Barbara Schomer Preserve’s vehicular entry driveway. Informational, address, and No Trespassing signs appear on the gates. These gates are painted in the ANSI standard “Safety Yellow,” enhanced by high-visibility adhesive reflective warning tape.
  • This vehicle access gate is chained and locked.
  • Barbara Schomer Preserve managers will periodically install, inspect, and refresh signs.
  • MAKC’s board designated specific driving areas for use by visitors and their guests who are approved for vehicular access beyond MAKC’s driveway gates.
  • ATVs, UTVs, dirt bikes, and tractors are prohibited, unless approved by Barbara Schomer Preserve managers for management purposes such as mowing the camping sites, hauling materials to work sites, and general property management.
  • Upgraded signage and an informational kiosk will be installed on the Preserve.
  • Visitors should walk on the pedestrian trail leading from the designated parking area to the cave entrance. Barbara Schomer Preserve managers will periodically inspect and maintain this pedestrian trail.
  • Camping on the Barbara Schomer Preserve is permitted for approved permit applications, and during board-approved events. Barbara Schomer Preserve managers will delineate driving and camping areas, and will instruct campers where they can drive and where they can camp.
  • Deadly weapons, including bladed and edged weapons, blunt instruments, explosive devices, firearms, and projectiles are prohibited.
  • Alcoholic beverages, non-prescription ”recreational” drugs, and controlled substances are prohibited on the surface and in the cave.
  • Hunting is prohibited.
  • Approved cave permit applicants are permitted to drive on designated roads beyond MAKC’s vehicular access gate.
  • Volunteers maintain a portable toilet on the Barbara Schomer Preserve.
  • At the request of MAKC’s predecessor in title (James Kapp), Central Electric Co-op installed a utility pole very close to MAKC’s southwestern property corner. Currently, MAKC does not maintain any utility services on the Barbara Schomer Preserve, but utilities could become available in the future if approved by MAKC’s board.
  • Visitors must take home their trash and waste from both the surface and underground.
  • Collection of flora, fauna, rocks, minerals, fossils and soils is prohibited.
  • Be respectful of wildlife. Exercise caution when approaching and photographing wild animals. We are guests in their woods. Black bears, bobcats, fishers, porcupines, and vultures have been documented on the Preserve. Historic and anecdotal records suggest that copperheads may be found.
  • The Barbara Schomer Preserve is open from dawn to dusk for typical day trips.
  • Barbara Schomer Preserve managers serve as MAKC’s liaisons for interactions with Madison Township and Clarion County, including Clarion County’s 911 center and the local East Brady and Rimersburg Volunteer Fire Departments.
  • Armstrong Trails of Kittanning, maintains the Allegheny Valley River Trail through MAKC’s property along the Allegheny River. This rail-trail is accessible from the road southwest of MAKC’s Barbara Schomer Preserve. Barbara Schomer Preserve managers serve as MAKC liaisons with Armstrong Trails.
  • Barbara Schomer Preserve managers serve as MAKC’s liaisons for interactions with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), who maintain Allegheny River Lock and Dam Number 9 downstream from MAKC’s property.
  • The Barbara Schomer Preserve’s Allegheny River frontage is located at the extreme upstream edge of the northernmost extent of the USACE’s Lock and Dam Number 9. The river may, at times, appear to be a languid impoundment, while at other times, a vigorous current is visible and audible. Along MAKC’s riverside boundary and the rail-trail, a steep slope consisting of 19th century railroad fill materials, overgrown by thickets of brush, lines the river’s edge.
  • MAKC members, along with all other purchasers of lots subdivided from the James Kapp property, can access the Allegheny River at a designated beach and boat dock located along the Allegheny River Trail. Currently, this communal river access is overseen by a neighbor whose camp buildings are located nearby. During MAKC events and upon request, Barbara Schomer Preserve managers will show this designated river access site to MAKC members. This river access is not owned by MAKC, nor is MAKC responsible for maintaining the designated beach and boat dock area.
  • During the spring and early summer of 2025, Earthmovers Unlimited, Inc, of Kylertown, fulfilled a PA DEP contract to reclaim an abandoned coal surface mine formerly located on MAKC’s property. The steepest part of the former coal mine was planted in trees, while the remaining relatively level area was sown with grasses and legumes.
  • During July of 2026, Barbara Schomer Preserve managers will inspect the reclaimed coal surface mine area, and work with PA’s DEP and the contractor to resolve any issues which occur during the reclamation’s one-year warranty.

CAVE ACCESS

  • Entry into the cave  on the Barbara Schomer Preserve shall be by permit only.
  • All cave visitors must be properly equipped: hardhat, three sources of light, extra light batteries, gloves, and boots. At least one light source should be helmet-mounted.
  • Trip leaders should perform a head count of everyone entering the cave, and again after the group has exited.
  • MAKC does not permit COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY on any of its owned and leased cave preserves. Please report anyone charging a fee to visit the cave to a Barbara Schomer Preserve manager and to MAKC’s board.
  • ALL cave visitors must check in with a Barbara Schomer Preserve manager prior to entering the cave and then they must check out after exiting. The cave is an extensive maze featuring over ten miles of passageways contained within a small area. Visitors who are unfamiliar with the cave’s passages could potentially experience time-consuming challenges while seeking a route that returns them to the cave’s sole entrance and exit. To prevent this from happening, all permitted trips must include an Approved Experienced Caver. These cavers are familiar with and are proficient in using the “tourist routes” established by the Cave Survey Teams. Names of Approved Experienced Cavers appear in the Permit Application.
  • The complex maze may tempt inexperienced casual visitors to mark the passages in an effort to avoid getting lost. Inexperienced cave visitors should refer to the Pennsylvania Cave Protection act and note that it is illegal to spray paint or damage the cave walls and formations. A link to e law is provided on MAKC’S website. This law is also described in this management plan.
  • Cave visitors who desire to distribute temporary removable markers to assist them during their exploration must plan to use these markers only during their approved trip. Temporary markers must be removed as these permitted cavers work their way back to the cave’s entrance. These temporary markers must not be left for subsequent cave trips. Use of temporary removable makers must be noted on the Cave Permit Application.
  • If you pack it in, pack it out.
  • Anyone permanently marking the cave, other than survey stations, or removing anything but litter and their own possessions from the cave, will be subject to prosecution.
  • Visitors should follow the credo of the National Speleological Society: “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.”
  • MAKC maintains a Visitor Registry at the cave entrance. This is a simple notebook with pens, kept inside a porcupine-resistant steel ammo can.
  • MAKC permits recreational trips to the cave, especially those trips with a focus on properly-supervised litter/graffiti cleanup. Previous visitors spray-painted arrows and, at one time, placed string or fishing line in the cave to help negotiate the passages. MAKC volunteers have invested many volunteer hours removing trash, spray-painted arrows, graffiti, string and fishing line from the cave. Current caving standards strongly discourage such vandalism.

PENNSYLVANIA CAVE PROTECTION ACT

Pennsylvania Cave Protection Act (1990), No 1990 -133, SB 867, Signed into law Nov. 21, 1990, prohibits removal of any type of material or species and organisms from a cave: remove, deface, tamper with or otherwise disturb any natural or cultural resources or material found within any cave; kill, injure, disturb or otherwise interfere with any cave life, including any cave roosting bat, or interfere with or obstruct the free movement of any cave life into or out of any cave, or enter any cave with the intention of killing, injuring, disturbing or interfering with life forms therein, except where public health may be threatened and willfully or knowingly break, break off, crack, carve upon, write, bum, mark upon, remove or in any manner destroy, disturb, mar or harm surfaces of any cave or any natural material which may be found therein, whether attached or broken, including speleothems, speleogens and sedimentary deposits.

NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY

The MAKC promotes a policy of non-discrimination for everyone. That policy, adopted by the MAKC Board on February 16, 2019, is as follows:

The MAKC does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, granting membership, selection of project volunteers and serving on internal committees. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all board of directors, officers, agents, members, volunteers, and contributors.

ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY

The MAKC follows the National Speleological Society’s anti-harassment policy:

The National Speleological Society and the MAKC are dedicated to providing a safe and harassment-free (experience) environment for our members and attendees at our events, on social media and within our organization. We will not tolerate harassment in any form. Any attendee that violates this policy will be (told) asked to leave the event and may be subject to further disciplinary action at the discretion of the MAKC Board.

Harassment includes but is not limited to inappropriate comments, inappropriate sexual behavior that warrants intervention, unwanted advances and touching, invasion of personal space in a sexual manner, deliberate intimidation, and unwelcomed sexual advances. In addition, harassment includes unwanted verbal, physical, cyber, or social aggressive behavior. The action of our members and guests will be closely monitored and if an incident of harassment is reported the event staff, volunteers, or MAKC representatives will (may) take corrective action against any offenders at the time of the incident, ranging from verbal warnings to expulsion from the area and/or event and a referral of the offender to the MAKC Board for consideration of expulsion from the MAKC.

If you are being harassed or witness another person being harassed, please contact MAKC board members immediately. MAKC’s board will be happy to assist you and provide protection for our members and attendees. We value all of our members and attendees that come to caving events and we want to ensure that your safety and well-being is a top priority.

LIABILITY DISCLAIMER

The Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy, its board of directors, the Barbara Schomer Preserve & Cave management team, the National Speleological Society or its local chapters (grottos) and individual members thereof will not be liable for any damages, accidents, injuries, or death on the surface or subsurface of the property. All the above-named organizations will also not be liable for any damage or loss of personal property while visiting the preserve.

FUTURE UPDATES

MAKC’s board approved Version 1 of this plan on this management plan on November 16, 2019. The board approved Version 2 on August 9, 2025. MAKC’s board will review this plan at least every two years, and will publish updates and amendments on its website and in its printed newsletter.